Because I often host people for events and welcome visitors into my home, the details of being a host rarely escape me. My friends also say that my level of cleanliness is above average for someone in their 20s — something I always take as a compliment.
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For that reason, I tend to notice many details in other people’s homes when I’m a guest. Unfortunately, some of these details can negatively affect my experience if they don’t meet my standards — whether they’re mine or someone else’s.
According to The Spruce, an international reference in cleaning, organization, and home care, there is one specific detail that often goes unnoticed by many hosts but can completely compromise the guest experience.
There is one thing that always bothers me, though. I appreciate it when people pay attention to these details at home, and it really bothers me when I see people who clearly haven’t noticed anything. Here’s a tip to get your home ready to receive guests, according to a higher standard of cleanliness.
Clean hand towels in the bathroom
If you think clean hand towels in the bathroom are essential before having guests over, you can close this page right now. But if you believe people don’t notice details like that, I have a few points to make.
According to The Spruce, the bathroom is one of the spaces that most impacts the perception of cleanliness in a home — and hand towels are among the first items visitors notice.
I live in New York City and use public transportation every day, which means I’m exposed to more germs in a single day than most people who don’t live in New York encounter in a month.
I haven’t used an automatic hand dryer since 2020. I wash my hands every time I enter a “clean” environment — whether at home, in the office, at a restaurant, or in someone else’s house. And there’s nothing worse than leaving the sink with clean hands and being offered a towel that I imagine is full of germs as the only surface to dry them.
Unfortunately for everyone else, I’m quite comfortable shaking my hands to dry them and lightly patting them on the clean parts of my clothes; some friends have even asked me directly whether I refuse to use their hand towel (of course, I said yes).
As someone who truly notices this and changes hand towels before having guests over, I beg you to start doing the same.
How to make changing hand towels much easier
According to guidelines from The Spruce, keeping a simple and practical routine is the key to ensuring clean hand towels whenever guests are present.
Having multiple hand towels is the first step. To start, in my home we have about eight sets of hand towels, all specifically for the bathroom.
We also keep separate towels for the kitchen and a few attractive cleaning cloths specifically intended for wiping down countertops — although I sometimes suspect my guests use them as hand towels too.
Changing the towels immediately before the event also makes a big difference. As part of the cleaning and preparation before hosting guests, the bathroom is usually used quite a lot. One of the last things I always do is replace the towels.
Even if they’ve only been used for a few days, there’s nothing worse than walking into someone’s bathroom and realizing the towel is already damp at the very beginning of a gathering or party.
Most guests may not consciously notice this, but as The Spruce points out, this is the essence of being a good host: people don’t notice all the work involved, but they feel the difference in the experience.
There are also single-use options. Whether it’s smaller towels rolled up on a tray or disposable paper towels, offering alternatives for drying hands is always appreciated.
I personally provide paper towels in an elegant decorative box. They resemble larger, thicker tissues, and several guests have already praised my attention to detail for offering this option.
Finally, removing the towels as soon as the event ends is another recommended habit. As part of my post-hosting cleaning routine, I collect all the hand towels and place them directly into the laundry basket.
Maybe I’m too demanding, but according to The Spruce, avoiding the immediate reuse of these towels helps maintain a sense of cleanliness and organization in everyday life.
Source: The Spruce. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
