An investigation of the hygiene conditions of home stays in Shenzhen, China

Objective To investigate the current hygiene conditions of home stays and the issues in supervision in Shenzhen, China, and to provide a reference for supervising the hygiene of home stays.

Methods From December 2020 to March 2021, 80 home stays were randomly selected in Dapeng New District and Baoan District of Shenzhen for questionnaire survey and hygiene monitoring. Hygienic assessment for indoor environment and public utensils, tableware, and drinking water was performed according to GB 37488-2019, GB 14934-2016, and GB 5749-2006, respectively, and hygienic conditions were compared between home stays and hotels.

Results Among the 80 home stays investigated, 16.25% (13/80) were issued with a hygiene license. A total of 938 items of indoor environmental quality indices were monitored, among which temperature, noise, relative humidity, and PM₁₀ had qualification rates of 39.00%, 71.19%, 67.80%, and 72.88%, respectively. A total of 1 801 items of quality indices for public utensils were monitored, and the total bacterial count of sink had a qualification rate of 82.05%, while others had qualification rates of above 90%. Only 2 of the home stays monitored provided catering service, and 20 items were monitored in total and were all qualified. A total of 1 440 items (45 samples) of quality indices for drinking water were monitored, among which microbial indicator and residual chloride were unqualified with qualification rates of 97.78% and 95.56%, respectively. Compared with hotels during the same period of time, home stays had lower qualification rates of cups, temperature, noise, relative humidity, and PM₁₀.

Conclusion The overall hygiene conditions and management level of home stays in Shenzhen vary greatly. Moreover, the overall qualification rates of home stays are lower than that of other accommodations. So, further supervision is needed so as to promote the health development of home stays.