I'm staying in an extended stay hotel. It's nice and clean with friendly helpful staff. I have noticed one possible issue though. On a couple of occasions I've turned on the fan to "constant mode" during the night. On those occasions I've woken to a pretty good headache. Despite the use of allergy and headache meds I can't rid myself of the headache for an entire day. On nights when I don't have the air unit's fan on constant I might wake up to a slight headache which goes away fairly quickly. Overall any headaches I tend to get are quickly resolved with some headache meds. Outdoors I tend to get headaches if out in the country setting if I haven't taken allergy meds before hand.
There is no smoking allowed in the hotel and they'll fine a person $250 if they are caught smoking in the hotel. I've checked the air unit and it's clean and free of any noticeable signs of pollutants.
My options for a temporary place to stay are somewhat limited. I could go somewhere else I suppose but don't intend to. Complaining to the front desk staff would likely be useless as they are little more than store minders. What I intend to do is contact the corporate office and tell my story and see what if any actions they take. Furthermore I intend to write a public review of this place pointing out my experience to those that might want to use this same facility. Overall I can't prove anything. It's simply cause and effect that led me to a conclusion that the hotel's air duct work may in fact be, shall we say, unclean. I don't get headaches like this at my home despite using a fan all night every night. The hotel isn't exactly ancient either.
Anyone have a similar experience?
You might try removing the AC screen, if you can, and even if you don't see any dust or mold, there might be spores you can't see. If you have a way of washing it, pouring boiling water or dousing it in bleach or disinfectant of some kind (and then rinsing thoroughly) if might kill whatever irritant is giving you the headache. Make sure it's dry completely before reinstalling. I've heard from people in the AC business say that the first thing they do when they arrive to a motel/hotel is to disinfect the AC filtering screen.
The fan for white noise? Perhaps mold spores or the cleaning solutions housekeeping uses. Carpeted? They hold a lot of microscopic particles. Use your own fan & see if there is a difference. Try a different room. Try not using a fan. See the results of these suggestions.
I've never had a hotel experience like that, but if course, it's what you can't see in the duct work that might be most harmful. I think I would start with the hotel front desk, just to document it, then go to corporate offices. Maybe they could move you to a different unit in the complex. IDK if that would help.