Hotels react to allergies

GO NICHE: ALLERGIES don't take a holiday just because you do. If anything, your hotel room could exacerbate them – all that carpet, all those cushions.

If the thought of it is enough to bring a tear to your eye and a wheeze to your chest, don’t book until you’ve done your research.

Opt for rooms with blinds rather than curtains, hardwood floors rather than carpets, natural ventilation rather than air conditioning and foam rather than feather bedding.

Next you’ll need to ask a few housekeeping questions, such as whether the linen is washed at over 60 degrees and non-scented cleaning products are used in the loo.

Or you can short-cut the entire process and opt for one of the growing number of hotels offering hypoallergenic hotel rooms.

Two big international hotel chains, Hyatt and Fairmont, have recently designated such rooms for guests with allergies. Many Four Seasons and Marriott properties have already done so and typically guests can expect to pay a premium of around €20 per night for the privilege.

Another option is to check Pure Room (pureroom.com) for a list of hotels which have signed up to a patented seven-step process guaranteed to remove 99 per cent of pollutants from your room.

Alternatively, Allergy Friendly Hotels (allergyfriendlyhotels.com) is an online directory of hotels that have made concerted efforts to ease the minds, and symptoms, of allergy sufferers.

It includes five properties in Ireland with the Galway Bay Hotel in Galway city topping the list with eight steps taken, everything from the provision of menus for coeliacs to high thread-count bedlinen (harder for mites to survive in).

Nice to know you don’t have to bring your allergies on the road with you.