Health security

Hazard hotels: What’s lurking in your guest room?

Aura Berciano-Reyes has worked as a housekeeper at the Wyndham Boston Beacon Hill for nearly two decades. The hotel, located just a few blocks from Massachusetts General Hospital, offers discounts to patients at nearby medical facilities and attracts a steady stream of people who are recovering from procedures or receiving outpatient treatment.

More than once, said Berciano-Reyes, she has “cleaned up blood in the morning and used the same gloves to clean the rest of the rooms.” Her employer, one of 41 large hotels nationwide owned by real estate investment trust FelCor, didn't reliably provide gloves or other protective equipment, she said. At times, she has used dishwashing gloves she’d purchased herself.