Have you ever stayed in a hotel room and woken up in the morning with swollen, red puffy eyes? Perhaps you notice that when you arrive and have been in your room a little while, you begin to sneeze. Maybe your asthma becomes exacerbated when staying in a hotel. Yes, it very well could be that your hotel room is full of allergens and it’s causing your own allergies and asthma to act up. After all, do hotels take the same careful cleaning and allergen removing precautions that you do at home?

Surprisingly, the answer is becoming more often, yes. A Buffalo, NY based company, Pure Solutions, N.A. has been implementing a system to create what is known as PURE Allergy Friendly Rooms in hotels across the country. A patented technique is used to completely clean and disinfect the air filter system and all of the carpets, bedding and upholstery to remove the dirt, bacteria and mold from the environment. Next, the room is “shocked” and followed with a treatment of a special shield to repel any bacteria and allergy causing organisms. A PURE room also includes special casings on the mattresses and pillows, and even filters in the showers to remove chlorine from the bathing water.

Of course, these rooms won’t save you from your hay fever or seasonal type allergies, but if you are suffering from dust, mold or chemical allergies, this may be just the thing. The indoor air quality is consistently maintained at very high standards with constant high tech monitoring to ensure it. The systems will notice even if the wrong cleaners have been used within the rooms.

A surprisingly high number of people are affected by allergies while traveling, approximately one in four. Many of the national chains, including Marriot and Hilton are opting to provide these rooms to their guests. Usually the PURE rooms run about $25 more than a regular room, but that may be a small price to pay for travelers suffering from allergies. The hotels usually begin by converting a small number of rooms to the PURE system; sometimes an entire floor may be converted. The process doesn’t take long, only about 24 hours and once the rooms have been cleaned this way, the process is repeated usually on a quarterly basis to maintain the allergy free environment.

Many of us can remember when our only hotel choice was a single king bed or two queens. Then came the option of the smoking or the non-smoking room. Now there is the PURE allergy free room. Though these rooms are not offered at all hotels everywhere as of now, I would take a bet that it’s not far off that this is just one more option we all will have in keeping ourselves healthier and more comfortable, even while traveling.

For more information on the PURE process and participating hotels, see www.pureroom.com.

- Heather Legg