Beyond Bleach: How Hotels Really Get Their Towels So White | Alsco (2024)

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Beyond Bleach: How Hotels Really Get Their Towels So White | Alsco (1)

Beyond Bleach: How Hotels Really Get Their Towels So White | Alsco (2)

Beyond Bleach: How Hotels Really Get Their Towels So White | Alsco (3)

Hotels maintain the whiteness of their towels after multiple washes by using careful laundering techniques, high-quality detergents and optical brighteners.

To keep towels smelling fresh, hotels use scented laundry products, prioritize proper drying and store the towels in clean and dry spaces. They maintain the towels’ softness after heavy use by choosing soft and durable materials, using fabric softeners, employing gentle washing methods and using specialized fabric conditioners.

The best practices for keeping towels soft and white include the following:

How Do Hotels Keep Their Towels So White After Multiple Washes?

Hotels employ various strategies to maintain white towels even after repeated wash cycles to meet guests’ cleanliness and quality standards.

Hotels keep their towels bright white after multiple washes by doing the following:

  • Prioritizing towel quality: Hotels invest in high-quality towels crafted from long-wearing and absorbent materials like Egyptian cotton or combed cotton. These materials offer exceptional softness and resilience, allowing for frequent washing without altering their appearance.

  • Separating towels from other laundry: Hotels separate towels from other items for laundering to prevent lint transfer and discoloration caused by other fabrics during the washing process. This process ensures that the towels remain free from stains and undue wear.

  • Sorting towels by color: Hotel staff sort towels according to color, washing white towels separately from those featuring colors or patterns. This process reduces the risk of colors bleeding onto white towels, helping to maintain the brightness of all the towels.

  • Implementing proper washing techniques: Hotels take great care to use specific washing techniques to protect the towels’ pristine appearance, such as using warm rather than hot water to avoid yellowing or fabric damage. They also measure detergent quantities carefully to prevent excessive abrasion that leaves residue.

  • Using bleaching agents carefully: Hotels may use mild or oxygen-based bleaching agents to tackle stubborn stains on towels and maintain bright radiance, but their concentration and frequency must be closely monitored to prevent fabric damage.

How Do Hotels Keep Their Towels Smelling Fresh?

Hotels use effective strategies to ensure the towels they provide their guests have a fresh and inviting scent, creating a positive experience and upholding high standards of cleanliness.

Hotels keep their towels smelling fresh through the following practices:

  • Routine laundry: Hotels prioritize routine laundry to prevent bacteria, sweat and unpleasant odors from building up on towels over time. By sticking to a laundry schedule, hotels ensure their towels always smell fresh.\

  • Thorough drying techniques: Hotels understand the significance of proper drying to avoid dampness or musty odors in towels before storage or use. Hotels use commercial-grade dryers or air-drying methods to ensure each towel is completely dry before being stored.

  • Quality laundry products: Hotels use top-of-the-line detergents and fabric softeners. Our products remove unpleasant odors while leaving the towels smelling fresh.

  • Separation of laundry: Hotels separate towels from heavily soiled or strongly scented laundry items to reduce the transference of odors.

  • Subtle fragrance enhancements: Some hotels add subtle fragrance enhancements to elevate the pleasant scent of their towels. For example, they may use scented sachets or keep natural essential oils like lavender or eucalyptus in their storage area.

How Do Hotels Keep Their Towels Soft After Heavy Use?

Hotels use established practices to guarantee their towels remain soft and fluffy after heavy use. Below are a few strategies that hotels employ for this purpose:

  • Controlled detergent use: Hotels use an appropriate amount of laundry detergent. Excessive residue left by too much detergent can leave towels stiff and coarse. By choosing an optimal amount of detergent, hotels can prevent buildup while protecting the softness and comfort of their linens.

  • Gentle washing techniques: Hotels use gentle laundry practices to extend the life of towels. They use delicate cycles and avoid harsh processes that could harm fabric fibers and compromise their softness.

  • Fabric conditioners tailored specifically for towels: Hotels often use fabric conditioners or softening agents designed to keep towels soft despite years of heavy use. This strategy helps to maintain their soft texture even in extreme use conditions.

  • Proper storage procedures: Hotels store their towels in an environment free of moisture to preserve the towels’ luxurious texture and achieve maximum softness. Careful folding or hanging will reduce creasing and maintain surface texture for maximum softness.

What Are the Best Practices for Keeping Towels Soft & White?

Here are a few strategies that will ensure towels stay soft and white:

  • Choose towels made of high-quality materials such as long-staple bamboo or cotton fibers that feature soft yet long fibers for plushness to achieve maximum softness and comfort.

  • Pretreat towels that have stains.

  • Experiment with innovative laundering techniques, such as using ultrasonic cleaning devices or adding laundry pods designed to whiten fabrics. These often feature detergents containing enzymes to remove dirt, grime and discoloration while maintaining softness in fabric fibers.

  • Enhance your laundry experience with aromatic essential oils known for their antibacterial and soothing properties, such as lavender, tea tree or eucalyptus oils. Add a few drops into the fabric softener or dryer balls to give towels an inviting fragrance.

  • Take an intentional approach to folding and storing towels. Avoid overstuffing linen closets because too much stuffing can cause towels to lose their plushness.

Alsco Can Ensure Your Towels Are Always Fresh, White and Clean

When you work with Alsco, your towels will always be fresh, white and clean. Our custom NPE-free laundering formulas are designed scientifically to suit your fabric type and laundering needs, ensuring hygienically clean linens while removing even the toughest stains. With fewer harsh chemicals used, your linens last longer, providing a neater, cleaner and more comfortable experience for your customers.

By choosing Alsco’s linen cleaning services, you save time and money. With less frequent linen replacements and no laundry tasks to worry about, you can streamline your business operations. Join our long list of satisfied clients who have benefited from our exceptional services.

Contact us today to learn more about how Alsco can tailor our towel solutions to meet your requirements. Experience the convenience, cost savings and impressive first impressions that come with partnering with Alsco.

References

Laundering Problems & Solutions. American Cleaning Institute.

Laundry Detergents. American Cleaning Institute.

Don’t Bother Using Hot Water to Wash Your Laundry. (August 2016). Consumer Reports.

How to Wash Towels to Keep Them Soft and Smelling Fresh. (July 2023). Better Homes & Gardens.

Beyond Bleach: How Hotels Really Get Their Towels So White | Alsco (2024)

FAQs

Beyond Bleach: How Hotels Really Get Their Towels So White | Alsco? ›

Hotels maintain the whiteness of their towels after multiple washes by using careful laundering techniques, high-quality detergents and optical brighteners. To keep towels smelling fresh, hotels use scented laundry products, prioritize proper drying and store the towels in clean and dry spaces.

What do hotels use to get their towels so white? ›

Most hotels use peroxide-based laundry detergents to keep their sheets and towels bright. While these compounds are extremely successful at preventing white linens from greying or yellowing, they do necessitate some amount of knowledge. When used incorrectly, they might cause damage to your linens.

How do hotels get their linens so white? ›

Hotels keep their linens so white by using a combination of high-quality detergents, bleaches, and fabric softeners.

What is the hack for whitening towels? ›

How to Whiten Towels (3 Methods)
  1. Add half a cup of baking soda to the detergent compartment of your washing machine.
  2. Pour half a cup of white vinegar into the fabric softener compartment.
  3. Wash your towels using hot water and run a complete cycle.
Mar 15, 2022

Do hotels use OxiClean? ›

For an extra boost in stain-fighting power, hotels often turn to stronger products like OxiClean and Borax. OxiClean is a versatile laundry booster and can be easily added to the washing machine cycle to remove stubborn stains.

What do hotels use to keep whites white? ›

Bleach plays a significant role in maintaining the bright white colour of hotel sheets. Hotels often use a diluted solution of bleach in the washing process to remove any lingering stains and to disinfect the fabric.

Is it safe to use hydrogen peroxide in laundry? ›

At a temperature as low as 40 °C and a relatively short exposure time as used in household washing, hydrogen peroxide does not damage the textile fibres despite its high concentration.

What kind of laundry detergent do hotels use? ›

Most hotel establishments like to use gentle laundry detergents that fight stains while also leaving a pleasant aroma the first time it is used. Yes, they also use regular, store-bought laundry detergent, which is comparable to what many people use in their homes.

Is it safe to wash sheets with bleach? ›

Chlorine bleach is quite harsh and can degrade the fibres and shorten the lifespan of your bed linen. If you use it regularly, it can actually turn your sheets more yellow as it reacts with body oils and proteins present on the fabric.

What is the best product to whiten towels? ›

Quick and Dirty Whitening Product Review
ProductPros
Oxiclean– Widely available – Works on lots of stains – Gentle on fabrics – Color-safe
Out Brite White– Very good at removing clay and iron based stains on cotton and synthetics – Only use on white – Inexpensive
2 more rows
Aug 21, 2022

Does OxiClean whiten towels? ›

Whitening linens with OxiClean™

OxiClean™ White Revive™ gives you 40% more whitening power versus chlorine bleach per load. Add it to every load!

How do you make towels white without bleach? ›

Use Vinegar

Adding between half a cup and a cup of white distilled vinegar to each wash will help remove stains and whiten your towels: you can add it to the fabric-softener dispenser. Diluting one part vinegar in four parts water and spraying it directly onto stains is also a way of pretreating them.

How do hotel rooms smell so clean? ›

Hotel scenting is normally achieved by the diffusion of fine fragrances of essential oils into the lobby and other common areas. High volume and sophisticated scent diffusers coupled to the hotels air handling system can ensure that any sized space in your hotel can be easily and affordable scented.

How to get yellowed sheets white again? ›

Mix ½ cup of vinegar with 1 gallon of hot water. Soak the sheets for at least an hour. Machine wash as usual. Air dry your sheets to eliminate any hints of vinegar smell (optional).

Why are hotel sheets so white? ›

Overall, white linens are an easy way for hotels to set their standard for cleanliness. White is an easy color to get dingy and stained, so when a guest sees a perfectly white set of sheets, they'll feel more comfortable and confident in the hotel cleanliness and housekeeping.

What makes white bedding white? ›

The best way to prevent yellowing is to wash white sheets regularly — about once a week is ideal. If needed, you can also pre-soak your bedding before each wash with a chlorine-free bleaching agent like OxiClean, hydrogen peroxide, lemon juice, borax, baking soda or distilled white vinegar.

What makes white linen white? ›

Whitening Methods: Several household items and techniques can help restore the whiteness of your sheets, including borax, vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, hydrogen peroxide, liquid bluing, and even sunlight. Avoid using bleach as it can cause yellow spots.

How do you get vintage linens white? ›

Remove Old Stains

Before laundering, try soaking the fabric in an enzyme textile cleaner diluted with water, or add a non-chlorine bleach to the wash water. Sometimes an old-fashioned method for bleaching white fabrics can be a gentle yet effective technique: Rub lemon juice and salt over the stain.

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