The Clean Score: How We'll Rate Hotels and Spas

Most hotel coverage tells you about the view and the bar. We care about those too. But the hours that matter most in a hotel are spent breathing its air, sleeping in its sheets and washing with its soap. The Clean Score is how we will look at those hours, property by property.

No hotels or spas have been scored yet. This page sets out the method in advance, so that the first score, when it comes, can be read against a published standard.

Where a score comes from

The Clean Score is a rating we assign as editors. It is not a laboratory measurement, and we do not run tests of our own. We build each score from:

• What the property publishes: its website, sustainability and wellness pages, spa menus and product lists, and written answers to our questions from its staff.
• Verified press materials: fact sheets and press kits issued by the hotel or its official representatives, which we cross-check against the property's own published information.
• Certifications and brand disclosures: for example, the certifications a linen or bath-product maker holds, confirmed on the certifier's own records with the date we checked.
• Reputable reviews: established travel publications and critics, credited by name, and verified guest reviews read in aggregate for patterns.
• First-hand notes, only when an editor has actually stayed. When that is the case, the review says so plainly, with the dates of the stay and the room category. If the stay was hosted or offered at a media rate, that is disclosed at the top.

Every score lists its sources and shows a "Last checked" date.

The checklist

Each property is assessed on eight points.

1. Air and ventilation. Whether the property publishes how rooms are ventilated and filtered, and whether windows open.
2. Linens. Fiber and weave, and any certifications the hotel can name, such as GOTS or OEKO-TEX STANDARD 100. We ask what detergent is used and whether it is fragranced.
3. Bath products and ingredients. Which brand is supplied, and whether its full ingredient list is published. Fragrance-free options available on request count in the hotel's favor.
4. Water. Whether filtered drinking water is offered in the room or on the floor, and whether it arrives in glass, refillable containers or plastic.
5. Fragrance policy. Many hotels scent their lobbies and corridors. We note what the hotel discloses and whether a fragrance-free room can be requested.
6. Food. Whether the menus offer whole, seasonal, clearly described food, and whether ingredient questions get a real answer.
7. Quiet and light for sleep. Blackout shades, soundproofing and room design, as the hotel describes them and as reputable reviewers and guests report them.
8. Housekeeping products. Which cleaning products the hotel says it uses in the rooms, and whether low-fragrance or fragrance-free options exist.

How we score

Each point is rated on a simple scale of 0 to 5 confirm scale, with a sentence explaining every number and the source behind it. The Clean Score is the total, shown alongside the eight individual ratings so you can weigh what matters to you. A hotel can be glorious and still score modestly here; we will say both.

Where we could not verify something, we say "not verified" rather than guessing. We note which answers came from the hotel, which from press materials or reviews, and which, if any, from an editor's own stay.

If a property changes its products or policies, we revisit and update the score, with the change dated at the top.

Hosted stays and disclosure

Some hotels may offer to host us. If an editor accepts a hosted stay, a media rate or any other benefit, the review says so at the top and in every caption and video. A hosted stay does not buy a score, a ranking or a kind word. Some links to hotels may earn us a commission; those are disclosed the same way, and rankings are set before we check them.

A note on health

The Clean Score describes materials, products and policies. It makes no medical claims, and it is not advice for any health condition. If you have allergies or sensitivities, please talk to your doctor and contact the hotel directly before you book.