For those of us who are extremely committed to health and wellness, the reality is that maintaining this lifestyle is very difficult when traveling.
At home, we have much greater control over our environment, but we lose that control when we go on the road, regardless of how aesthetically pleasing the living conditions may be.
Fortunately, the world is starting to change, and there are now businesses entirely focused on meeting the needs of the wellness-minded traveler.
One such company that I recently discovered is Pure Wellness, whose main offering is a Pure Room — a hotel room unlike anything I have seen before.
After spending a few nights in a Pure Room at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Hotel, my strategies for healthy traveling have been significantly altered, and the availability of one of these rooms will now heavily dictate where I stay in a city that I am visiting.
HOW IT IS DIFFERENT
While there are many eco-friendly hotels throughout the country, what makes a Pure Room different is its emphasis on purified air, a hypoallergenic environment, and allergy-friendly bedding.
Here are the specific attributes of a Pure Room:
* From Healthway, the same company that makes the air purifier that I have in my apartment, a Pure Room has an HW 9-stage DFS Air Purification System.
Utilizing technology developed through a United States Military Grant focused on germ warfare, this air purifier has been proven to capture 99.99% of all particles as small as .007 micron in size, and it eliminates most gases and removes 94-100% of harmful viruses, molds, and bacteria.
* Tea tree oil in the air handling unit, which gets pumped out into the room, has antimicrobial and disinfectant properties.
* The company’s proprietary Pure Clean solution disintegrates biofilm and is designed to maximize the removal of dirt, bacteria and mold on all surfaces, tiles, fixtures, furniture, drapery, and carpeting.
* The coils, fan blade, condensate line and drip pan in the air-handling unit (air conditioner/heater) in each room is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected.
* When a standard hotel room is first converted to a Pure Room, the space undergoes a high ozone shock treatment for the complete elimination of viruses, bacteria, germs and odors.
* A Pure Shield is applied to specific surfaces in the room, which provides long-term protection from mold and bacteria growth. This Pure Shield is a patented bacteriostatic barrier used to repel microorganisms that can cause illness and distress.
* In order to provide protection from dust and dust mites, the room has allergy-friendly, soft, washable mattress and pillow encasings.
THE IMPACT
After staying in a Pure Room for two nights, what made the biggest impression on me was the quality of the air. It was noticeably clean, light and very pleasant, and I could breathe easily and comfortably throughout my entire stay, including when I was sleeping.
This is not how I would ever characterize the air quality of a hotel room, even the most expensive ones I have stayed in. Most hotel rooms either have some type of odor or do not get proper ventilation, both of which equate to poor air quality.
Given the incredible importance of clean air to our overall health, Pure Rooms have set a new bar for healthy traveling and will now greatly influence which hotel I’ll be staying at in various cities.
Luckily, many hotel operators across the country have also come to understand the importance of clean air and that is why leading chains such as The Ritz-Carlton, Marriott, Westin, Hyatt, Hilton and Embassy Suites are now offering Pure Rooms to their customers.
Without question, Pure Rooms will soon become a must-have amenity for any wellness-minded traveler, and to find one in your city, click HERE.
(After my stay in Minneapolis, I was so impressed by the experience that I decided to partner with Pure Wellness to help promote what the company is doing.)
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From the responses about the tea tree oil it seems my wife and I will be out of luck with scent free accommodations here in north Georgia. Outside of a Pureroom, we have had our share of misery, including walking out of our cabin room w Royal Caribbean because my wife got sick on the cleaning solvent(s). This coming after the promise that no scented cleaning agents or fabreeze type fragrances would be used.
I still plan on checking one Courtyard location but even if the tree oil was turned off days before our arrival I’m pretty sure the scent would still linger. While I applaud the cleaning I see is done on Pureroom locations, many people with serious sensitive asthma and other chronic lung conditions need !no scents at all! so as not to displace breathable air.
The amount of folks with breathing and asthma issues continues to grow (due to many factors I won’t cover), so it’s up to hotel chains to do their due diligence about better scent free/allergen free solutions.
And asthmatics … let’s keep raising the bar!
I stayed in a pure room in the Hilton in Sarasota FL a couple of weeks back. Incredibly, they had steam cleaned the carpet on the entire floor earlier that day. The carpet in our room was still wet! The hotel wound up not charging us at all for such a miserable stay. However, I am still concerned about the procedures to clean carpets in other hotels with pure rooms. Is there a procedure in place or is that left up to the individual hotel managers?
The problem for me was primarily the odors coming out of the still wet carpet all night. My throat was burning and I had other symptoms, even after trying to sleep most of the night with an allergy mask on. We left as soon as possible, but I had health issues drag me down the next week. So it was a horrible experience with a pure room. But the best I can tell this all came from the carpet being cleaned – perhaps incorrectly.
At this point, of course, I am a bit weary of booking another pure room . . .
Hi Joe,
First and foremost, I apologize for your recent experience in a Pure Room. We want to ensure every guest has a positive experience in Pure Rooms and we are disappointed that you were left unsatisfied. As a part of our close relationship with all of the hotels we are in, we work closely with housekeeping department to ensure an allergy friendly room. The housekeeping department maintains the same cleaning process as all other rooms, however for multiple chemical sensitive guests we can work with the hotel to take a few extra steps for your room. We advise them to not use air freshener in the rooms and refrain from any scent as much as possible. All of the Pure Rooms consist of a hypoallergenic environment including: allergy friendly bedding, purified air and treated surfaces. Currently, in the Pure Rooms the only scent in there is the Tea Tree Oil. The Tea Tree Oil is a small cartridge placed in the heating and cool air handling unit in each hotel room. The Tea Tree Oil is used in our program to minimize growth of bacteria, viruses, mold and mildew in the air handling system. We do understand that the scent from the Tea Tree Oil can be unpleasant or bothersome to certain individuals, therefore the cartridge has been designed to be easily removed by the engineering department. In the future, if you would like to enjoy the many benefits of a Pure Room, without the Tea Tree Oil present, we would be happy to make arrangements to have it removed prior to your arrival to the hotel. We can have this done as many hours as possible before you check in, to ensure the air purifier eliminates any remnants of the scent.
I am staying in one of those pure rooms. It is alright as far as clean is concerned but the lingering scent of the tea tree is nasty. It about punched me in the face when I entered the room. There was no mention of any scents or oils used in the room on the wellness room’s description.
The hotel offered to move me to a different room but I was too lazy todo so. Now I lay sleepless wishing I did move.
The OP did not mention that there is a premium charged for this type of room.
I like the intent. I appreciate the idea but I cannot stand the strong odor of the tea tree. I will be sure to avoid rooms that are “pure wellness” treated.
Hi Shawneea,
Thank you for your question regarding the use of Tea Tree Oil in Pure Rooms. The Tea Tree Oil is a small cartridge placed in the heating and cool air handling unit in each hotel room. The Tea Tree Oil is used in our program to minimize growth of bacteria, viruses, mold and mildew in the air handling system. We do understand that the scent from the Tea Tree Oil can be unpleasant or bothersome to certain individuals, therefore the cartridge has been designed to be easily removed by the engineering department. If you would like to enjoy the many benefits of a Pure Room, without the Tea Tree Oil present, we would be happy to make arrangements to have it removed prior to your arrival to the hotel. We can have this done as many hours as possible before you check in, to ensure the air purifier eliminates any remnants of the scent.
Fantastic, thank you Max.
H Max,
How are you doing these days? You have come so very far these past sixteen years, and I am grateful for how you make the world easier and better for me and others. I admire you for staying true to your vision. Congratulations!
Even if I use tea tree oil medicinally, the smell of it is certainly not my favorite. Did your room smell like tea tree oil?
Do they have any international hotels that may be having these pure rooms?
What are your thoughts on the Tuft & Needle mattresses in these rooms? Most organic bloggers seem to be divided and think it has to do with their promotion partnership. Most question the certification process and just how clean they really are. Interested to get your thoughts. I recently purchased one from LifeKind after much online researching.