CY Coffee in the Room Rant:

I'll take a pass on using the in-room coffee maker. Many CYs keep the coffee maker in the bathroom or inches outside. When a toilet is flushed, bacteria circulates. I'll pass on toilet coffee.

Even if the coffee maker is far from the toilet, the coffee maker isn't cleaned. Have you ever seen a carafe on the maid's cart? Do you think vinegar is ever run through the actual machine?

I was at the otherwise great Montreal CY. There was a fancy Keurig machine in the room. It seemed new, so I used it. The coffee had a chemical taste. The hotel was supposed to bring a new machine, but later that day, I could still smell the chemicals. The hotel claimed they had swapped out the machine but brought a third machine up, which was still in the box. As the maintenance guy took it out, I asked if they ever rinse out the machine. He said no. I showed him the first instruction in the owner's manual, in red bold, warned it was dangerous to use the machine before running empty cycles a few times. Not only that, but there was tape in both machines that should have been removed. Lesson learned. The hotels have no idea how to safely put the machines in rooms. BTW, after that the hotel delivered as many brewed carafes as I wanted. I was concerned about drinking the coffee until the woman delivering it told me, unprompted, that she totally understood.

There are articles on the internet instructing how to cook pasta, clean underwear and mix Theraflu in the hotel coffee maker. Who knows what disgusting thing it was used for in the past. Yuck.

In room coffee: pass! End of rant.

Yes, the lobby machine can be dirty and unclean, but the chances seem lower.