What's on your television remote?

For travelers who have dubiously eyed the bathtub or fretted about bugs in the bed, it seems that there is a bigger threat to worry about.

The humble hotel television remote harbors more germs than anywhere else in the hotel room, according to US firm Gluvi. The company is set to begin sales of its plastic remote control case on April 2, describing it as a "sanitary solution to germ-infested TV remotes."

Germophobic travelers can simply slip the plastic case over their hotel remote and channel-surf away, safe in the knowledge that they are protected from the germ-laden buttons. The Gluvi, says its maker, fits 95 percent of hotel cable TV remotes and is made of "yoga-inspired reflexology material."

The device will cost a reported $9.99 (€7.48) when it launches in the US next week. And will a product described as essentially a "condom for a remote control" catch on? If the 70 percent jump in hand sanitizer sales during 2009 is anything to go by, quite possibly.

Website: http://www.gluvi.com