Bethenny Frankel has done it again, not with a scandalous breakup or a new product launch, but with a dramatic declaration that she will never use a hotel towel or sheet again.
The former “Real Housewives” cast member publicly stated on TikTok that she will no longer be using hotel towels and sheets. This decision follows her development of a bacterial infection on her face.
At first, though, she assumed it was “facial chlamydia (not a real thing) and said as much on a previous post until she was corrected by a medical expert.
“I need you to know that a doctor had to come on here and clarify the facial chlamydia – and no, this is not a recognised medical diagnosis, which I became the unpaid spokesperson for, does not exist,” Frankel said, petting her dog like she was explaining rocket science.
“The internet is a very scary place. So I had a bacterial infection from towels. It happened once to my daughter. She was the one who recognised it when it happened to me, and it started to happen to her. And towels hold bacteria, so do sheets.”
She went on to explain that even in the best hotels, towels aren’t immediately washed but are stacked in bins with heat, moisture, food and beverage residues, “I’m not gonna get into it,” she added, making them far from sanitary.
And you want to dry your crack with hotel towels because the ones at home aren’t good enough. No more people!
@bethennyfrankel ♬ original sound – Bethenny Frankel
Soft, absorbent surfaces naturally trap bacteria, just like make-up sponges and brushes, which she also mentioned.
“You can clean them out as much as you want. They hold bacteria… you can’t live inside a bubble, but I’m just telling you that I will never, ever in my life use a hotel towel or sheet again, so you’re welcome,” she concluded.
Professional hotel laundry systems use industrial washers and dryers with high‑temperature cycles and strong detergents designed to kill bacteria and viruses and remove oils, sweat and cosmetic residue from fabrics.
Hot water at around 60–80 degrees is generally required to effectively sanitise towels and linens, and commercial detergents and enzymatic cleaners are far more powerful than what most of us use at home.
Even with good laundering, textiles naturally trap moisture, oils and microbes – that’s just how absorbent fibres work. Damp towels left folded or stored can harbour bacteria if not fully dried, and studies show cotton towels can still contain microbes like Staphylococcus or E. coli after use.
In short, while bacteria can linger in soft fabrics, good hotel laundry practices significantly reduce risk, and most bacterial infections linked to towels come from prolonged reuse of damp towels.
Of course, Frankel has a way of making even a dubious claim sound completely convincing, and maybe she meant “facial chlamydia” as a metaphor, or just a dramatic way to describe her unlucky encounter with hotel germs.
Leave it to Frankel to turn a minor bacterial irritation into a headline-making declaration that she will never go near hotel linens again!
