Staying in a hotel can feel like a fantastic break from the monotony of adult responsibilities. Suddenly, you’re not responsible for cleaning your kitchen multiple times a day. Forget about vacuuming during your stay! Run out of clean towels? Skip the hours-long laundry chore and simply walk down to the front desk and ask for more. Seriously, there’s no end to the benefits a hotel stay offers, especially if you book an extra fancy room with a jacuzzi tub. But regardless of whether you’re staying in a 5-star joint or the local Budget Inn, there are ways to make your stay even more relaxing and memorable. Travelers love finding ways to enhance their experiences, and this list of hotel hacks will provide you with everything you need to know to elevate your stay. Once you read this list, your hotel experiences will never be the same! Let’s dive right in.
Worried About Germs? Not Anymore!
Despite the thorough cleaning hotels rooms undergo in between guests, many people are still concerned about germs. It’s an understandable concern, especially when you think about how long the hotel has been opened and the average number of guests each room has every year. You’re talking about tens of thousands of people potentially using that room before you, so we understand if you get the ick. If you find your hotel room doesn’t offer a specific place or hold your toothbrush (or you can’t get yourself to trust their toothbrush holder), try this trick. Grab one of the hotel’s little paper cups and place it upside down on the bathroom counter. Then, punch a little hole in the bottom and slide your toothbrush in. Doing it this way prevents the cup from tipping over from the weight of your toothbrush. This trick keeps those bristles high in the air, away from any germs on the countertop.
Ditch 3rd Party Booking Sites
So many people use third-party booking sites like Booking.com or Hotels.com, but these sites are often filled with predatory hidden fees that significantly bump the cost of your stay. Ditch those booking sites and make your reservation directly with your hotel. There are actually several benefits to this. The first is you have the opportunity to ask the hotel any specific questions you might have, like whether they offer free breakfast, have laundry facilities, or what the hours of their bar are. Another benefit is the cost. Many hotels offer better deals when clients book directly through them. This is especially true if you book later in the day when hotels are struggling to fill to capacity. Often, they’ll offer a discount if they have a ton of rooms still available. This is also a good opportunity to ask for a room on the exact floor you’d like or see if a room is available next to a fire exit or other preferences you might have.
Use A Clothes Hanger To Keep Sunlight Out
Whether you’re working late to seal a business deal or you’re trying to recover from jetlag, you might want uninterrupted rest during the day of your hotel stay. This can be problematic, but don’t worry; we have an easy solution for you! Many hotels have these awesome blackout curtains, but they often don’t stay completely closed in the middle. This can allow a sliver of sunlight to peep through and completely disturb your rest. Easily prevent this problem from happening by grabbing a clothes hanger with clips out of the hotel’s closet or wardrobe. Use the clips to seal the curtains together and keep that sunlight out. You’ll get a full day of sunlight-free rest with this trick, and it only takes a second to set up!
Use The Ironing Board As A Table
You check into your hotel room for the night and go to set up your workstation, makeup station, or whatever activity you want to indulge in, only to discover there’s no desk in your room! First, don’t panic. Second, look around the room. You’ll likely find an ironing board leaning in the room’s closet or wardrobe. Thankfully, ironing boards are the perfect height and length for a makeshift desk. Set it up in the bathroom with your makeup like the original poster did in this photo, or set it up at the edge of your bed to get some work done. You can even use it as a replacement TV tray if you bring some takeout into your room. Just make sure you’re careful to avoid creating any permanent stains on the ironing board because you don’t want to see a cleaning fee charged to your card after your stay!
Make Use Of Those Extra Sugar Packets
This tip is perfect for travelers who want to cut down on the products they bring with them. Most hotels leave a ton of sugar and sugar alternative packets in the rooms right next to the coffee makers. Even if you’re not a coffee lover, you can still make use of those extra sugar packets! Leave your exfoliator at home by learning this simple DIY trick. Here’s what you need to do. Squeeze a normal amount of your facial cleanser into a paper cup. Next, pour a sugar packet into the cup. Stir it up until the sugar is evenly distributed throughout the cleanser. Then, get to work exfoliating your face! This trick will help you cut down on some of the facial care items you need to travel with and give you an awesome DIY face exfoliator recipe you can rely on anytime!
Tell Your Hotel About Special Occasions
Many people feel shy about letting their hotel know when they’re booking for a special occasion, but you should always let them know! Whether it’s your birthday, anniversary, retirement party, or some other special time, don’t hesitate to let the hotel know when you make your reservation. Most hotels will give you a special treat to make your stay even more memorable. They may offer a free room upgrade, a discount, a complimentary bottle of champagne, or some other sweet treat. Hotels are all about excellent customer service and they’d love nothing more than the opportunity to make your stay even better so you can tell all your friends, family, and colleagues about it!
Use Dryer Sheets To Keep Your Luggage Fresh
There’s nothing worse than traveling for hours or days and arriving at your hotel with a suitcase full of musty-smelling laundry. We don’t know what causes this phenomenon, but there’s something about clothes sitting in an airtight container for an extended period of time that leaves them with an unpleasant odor. The last thing you want to do when you start your vacation is make a trip to the laundry room or purchase some fabric freshener spray! You can prevent that musty smell by being proactive. When you’re packing your laundry, add a couple of dryer sheets to your luggage. Place them between the layers of clothes to keep everything smelling clean and fresh.
Take Advantage Of The Mini Soaps, Shampoos, Etc.
One of the most novel parts of staying in a hotel is using all those mini soaps, shampoos, conditioners, and other toiletries. The tiny containers are adorable and they often have unique, luxurious scents like lavender lotus flower or mandarin honeysuckle. While you aren’t welcome to take the towels or bathrobes in your room home with you, it’s absolutely recommended to take all of the mini toiletries with you! Not only does this save you a little money by providing you with items you’re going to use, but it’s also the only way these toiletries will get used. Most hotels have a policy that states that any toiletries left behind must be thrown away and replaced with fresh ones, even if they haven’t been opened. Save the mini shampoos from the landfill and take them home with you!
Use The Coffee Makers For Instant Noodles
Travelers working on a tight budget are probably aware that one of the biggest travel expenses is eating out for every meal. You can drastically reduce your spending by bringing along some instant meals with you. Many hotel rooms have a microwave available, which is great for plenty of meals you pick up at the grocery store. But if you happened to pack a few cups of instant noodles with you, then there’s an even quicker way to enjoy this meal in your hotel room. Use the coffee maker for instant hot water that will cook those noodles to perfection in no time! If you’re really in a pinch and forgot to pack silverware, you can always use the complimentary plastic spoons next to the coffee maker to dig into your meal.
Put Those Laundry Bags To Good Use
Many hotels offer complementary laundry service and they’ll provide a couple of laundry bags in each room for guests to use. However, if you don’t plan on having the hotel staff do your laundry during your stay, then there are plenty of other ways you can make use of these bags. Use them to store your dirty laundry separately from your clean packed clothes or take them with you and use them as trash bags for the long drive home. These plastic laundry bags get tossed after each stay, just like the mini toiletries, so you might as well use them if you can think of a use for them. Even if you want to take them home and use them in an arts and crafts project, you might as well! You’ll save on materials costs and help eliminate some unnecessary waste from the landfills.
Hack For Germy Remote Controls
Did you know the remotes in hotel rooms are often one of the most contaminated objects in the entire room? This is because they don’t usually get cleaned between each guest, so all the germs accumulated from previous guests are just sitting on the buttons and waiting to be transferred to you! Sorry if we freaked you out, but it’s true. Thankfully, there’s a super easy hack to keep those germs separate from your hands. Grab the hotel shower cap or ice bucket bag and wrap it around the remote. Tie it off with a knot or twist-tie and voila! You can still use the remote without having to go through a bottle of hand sanitizer during your stay.
Keep Your Dirty Shoes From Messing Up Your Laundry
Picture this: it’s the end of your hotel stay and you’ve had a marvelous time exploring the city or country you’ve been visiting. You’re packing for the trip home with one eye on the clock, determined to catch your flight. Suddenly, you realize your spare pair of shoes are filthy and you don’t have time to run to the store to find something to store them in. Thankfully, your hotel room as everything you need to keep your shoes separated from your laundry. Simply grab a spare shower cap or ice bucket bag to wrap up your shoes before packing them in your luggage. If you’re out of shower caps and ice bucket bags, here’s a pro tip. Remove the garbage bags from your trash cans. Many housekeepers leave spare trashbags in the bottom of the trash cans! You can use the trash bag to wrap up your shoes and keep them from messing up your laundry.
Use Soap To Keep The Bathroom Mirror From Fogging Up
When you’ve got a big business meeting or an extravagant event like a bridal shower coming up, you want to make sure you look your best. But those hotel bathroom mirrors are notorious for fogging up with every shower, and it takes ages to get them cleared off enough for you to be able to assess your appearance. Save time and stress by coating your mirror with simple bar soap before your shower. The waxy, alkaline layer of soap will prevent the water molecules in steam from sticking to the mirror and making it foggy, which gives you instant access to the reflective surface after your shower. You’ll never run late for a meeting or event again after trying out this trick!
Baby Proof Your Room With Bandaids
You finally make it to your hotel room, completely exhausted from traveling with a little one, and realize the room isn’t baby-proofed! Most hotels don’t have outlet covers and other baby-proofing materials on hand, so unless you feel like dragging your baby back out to the nearest store, you’ll need to improvise. Thankfully, a small pack of bandaids is all you need to baby-proof the major issues in your hotel room. Bandaids work like a charm for covering electrical outlets and securing cords out of the way of little hands. Most people travel with a small first aid kit containing bandaids, but if you didn’t think to pack this particular item, check with the front desk. Many hotels have bandaids in stock for guests and employees, and they’ll happily part with some so you can baby-proof your room.
Use The Do Not Disturb Signs To Protect Your Belongings
Many travelers probably feel those “Do not disturb” signs are one of the best ideas hotel chains have ever come up with. Whether you’re on vacation or working hard on a business deal, you’re likely to want some peace and quiet in the mornings. It’s a great way to signal to hotel staff that you don’t want to be bothered, but there’s another use for these signs. Put the sign on your door whenever you plan to leave your hotel room unattended for the day. Leaving the sign up makes it look as though someone is in the room, which is an excellent deterrent to potential thieves and people up to no good. This helps keep your belongings safe, even when you’re not in the room!
Take Extra Steps To Secure Your Hotel Room Door
The fancy-looking device in this photo is actually a simple door lock mechanism. They’re super cheap and can easily be found online. These tools will keep your door locked even in the event that someone tries to access your room with a master key or keycard. However, if you’re in a pinch, you can create a DIY mechanism using one of the hand towels in your room! Just place a piece of the hand towel between the door and the latch lock. Close your door securely and lock it. Then, wrap the hand towel around the door handle. Use a hair tie or rubber band to make sure the hand towel doesn’t wiggle around. This will prevent anyone from being able to pick your lock and access your room!
Take Advantage Of Digital Room Keys
This sounds like something straight out of a sci-fi movie, but we promise it’s a real thing! Some hotels are now offering digital room keys for their guests. That’s right, all you need to get in and out of your room is your cell phone. No more dealing with losing your keycard. No more dealing with keycards that randomly stop working, which sends you running to the front desk to get them reactivated at the most inconvenient times. Check with your hotel when you’re making a reservation to ask if they offer digital keycards. If they do, make sure you take advantage of it! It’s so much more convenient than using traditional keys or keycards and it gives you one less thing to worry about during checkout time!
Get Creative With Your Free Breakfast
Many hotels offer free breakfast buffets every morning. Having access to a warm, free meal sounds great, but it’s often not as exciting as it sounds. Many hotels lay out a nice spread with plenty of options, but you’re left to figure out what you want to eat for yourself. A classic breakfast of buttered toast might sound perfect one morning, but then you’re left to struggle with miniature packets of super cold and hard butter. You can easily soften these little packets of butter by putting them on top of the toaster while you toast your bread! Make your breakfast easier on yourself with little creative ideas like this. Another pro tip: don’t be afraid to ask if there’s more of something if you get to the breakfast late. There are usually extras ready to go in the back, and hotel staff will happily bring it out for you if you ask.
Space Saving Hack For Cosmetics
We already gave a great tip for creating an on-the-go DIY exfoliator, but what about the rest of your makeup routine? It’s such a hassle to carry around bottles of foundation, concealer, primer, etc., especially when you have to worry about whether they pass fluid limits when you’re traveling by plane. And no one wants to arrive at their destination to discover their bottle of foundation broke and stained all of their nice clothes! This hack will save you space and significant stress! Before you leave, grab a few contact lens cases. Fill the spots with your cosmetics and seal them up. They’re much easier to travel with and far more durable than glass bottles. Plus, you’ll never bring more than you need, so they save on space!
Use The Shower To Steam Your Clothes
No matter how neatly you fold your clothes, they’re bound to get a little wrinkled by the time you arrive at your hotel. You don’t want to head out to an important business meeting or a once-in-a-lifetime conference while wearing wrinkled clothes! But don’t worry because we know how to solve this issue without making a trip to the laundry room. Take the bathrobes off their hangers and hang up your clothes instead. Then, take a long hot shower. The steam from your shower will help smooth out your clothes and eliminate any wrinkles. This is a great way to make sure you’re looking your best without having to spend a bunch of extra time or money laundering your clothes.
Keep The Electricity In Your Room On
Over the last several years, many hotels have dedicated themselves to reducing their carbon footprint. While this is great for the environment, it can be hard on travelers. If you aren’t in your room and don’t leave your keycard in this specific slot, then the electricity turns off. This means coming back to a room that’s too hot or cold, and none of the devices you left behind charged! Thankfully, there’s an easy way around this. The first and most obvious solution is to ask for a second keycard. That way, you can leave one card in the slot even when you leave the room. However, there is another option. One Twitter user discovered that any card will work in the slot! You can use a spare business card or appointment card to trick the slot and keep your electricity on.
How To Pack A Wet Swimsuit
One of the most fun aspects of staying in a hotel is having access to a large, luxurious pool! Hotel pools are often massive and the best part of any kid’s trip. However, sometimes when we’re enjoying ourselves, the logistics of things slip our minds. If you’ve ever found yourself in the position of needing to pack up and go with a sopping wet swimsuit, then you know what we mean! If you don’t have time to let the swimsuit dry but don’t want it to soak the rest of your luggage, this trick is for you. Simply grab an ice bucket bag and drop your wet swimsuit inside. Make sure to tie the bag up really tight so the water can’t leak or drip out. Then, pack it in your suitcase and be on your way. This trick is a must-know for all travelers, but especially parents with kids who love the pool and haven’t quite grasped the concept of packing wet clothing.
Create A Makeshift Toddler Bed With A Couch
Traveling with children isn’t for the faint of heart. Parents need to think of every contingency, including where their little ones will sleep! It’s easy to bring a travel bassinet for an infant, but what about toddlers? Thankfully, there’s an easy way to transform the couch in your room into a makeshift toddler bed. All you have to do is flip the couch around so the cushions are against the wall. This gives your toddler a secure place to sleep and ensures they can’t roll off and get hurt in the middle of the night. Plus, your toddler will love having a super special place to themselves to sleep for the night! Just make sure you pack a solid waterproof cover just in case of accidents. Even fully potty-trained toddlers can have accidents when jet lagged or in a new environment, and you definitely don’t want to get hit with a cleaning bill for that couch when you leave.
Never Be Without A Charged Phone
Picture this: You get settled into your hotel room for the night and begin unpacking the things you’ll need for the evening. Suddenly, you realize you forgot to bring your charging block! Maybe it’s late in the evening and there are no 24-hour stores around or perhaps you’re exhausted from traveling and don’t want to go back out. You don’t have to go without a charged phone! As long as you bring your USB cable, you’ll be fine. You can plug the USB cable into your hotel room’s smart TV to charge your phone. Some hotels even have USB ports on the power strips where the lamps are plugged in. If that fails, go down to the front desk and see if they have a spare charger you can borrow. There’s often a ton of chargers left behind that sit in lost and found for weeks, so you might get lucky.
Use A Medicine Box To Pack Jewelry
Packing jewelry for a trip can be a huge hassle. All those tiny, delicate pieces can easily get wrapped up in your luggage and lost. If you want to make sure your jewelry is safe and contained, try this trick! Grab a medicine dispenser box like the one in this photo and use it for packing your earrings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. This will help you keep everything separated, organized, and safe. Of course, these boxes are notorious for not being the most reliable, so you might want to tape down each individual slot to make sure they don’t pop open during your travels. This is a super easy, cheap trick that guarantees you’ll never lose your favorite pair of earrings again.
Don’t Let The AC Freeze You Out
Some hotel rooms are equipped with these large AC units. They work super well, but sometimes they work a little too well. If the bed is placed too close to this unit, then you’re likely dealing with a cold blast of air coming directly at you while you’re trying to sleep. That’s not going to help you get a good night’s sleep, but don’t worry! There’s an easy way to redirect the flow of air coming from the AC so it doesn’t freeze you out of your room. All you need to do is rearrange some furniture. Try putting a chair, couch, desk, or ironing board in front of the unit. The air will hit the furniture and get redirected around it. This will more evenly distribute the air and prevent it from coming directly at you all night, so you can enjoy a good night’s sleep!
Use The Door Hinge As A Bottle Opener
Even when you make a list and check it twice, there will still be times when you forget something important. It’s usually something small and non-essential that gets forgotten, but often whatever it is that you forget to pack makes a big difference once you arrive. When you’re relaxing in your hotel room and ready to quench your thirst, you reach into your suitcase for a bottle opener- but you forgot to pack one! Most people’s reaction would be to groan and head out to the nearest store, but with a little ingenuity, you can solve this problem without ever having to leave your room. Just use the door hinge as a bottle opener instead! You’ll want to be careful to avoid pinching your fingers, but this hack works perfectly.
Put A Towel At The Bottom Of Your Door
Weary travelers know the struggle of staying at popular hotels. While you’re more likely to be guaranteed a fantastic experience at popular locations, you’re also more likely to deal with issues from the other excited guests patronizing the hotel. It can be hard to get a good night’s rest when your neighbors are being loud, and the hallway light is flooding into your room through the crack at the bottom of your door. Here’s where this trick comes in. Take one of the big, fluffy towels from your bathroom and roll it up. Place it against the bottom of your door to block out light and noise! You’ll be able to get a full night’s rest without having to be ‘that guy’ and asking your neighbors to keep it down. It’s a win-win for everyone.
Invest In Travel Wash Bags
When you’re going on a long trip, you’re likely bringing a ton of toiletries with you. You’ll want your usual shampoo, condition, face wash, and everything else that goes into your typical hygiene routine. But keeping track of all these items can be mentally draining, and when you’re dealing with a small bathroom, you might not have enough counter space to set everything up comfortably. That’s why you need to invest in these travel wash bags! They’re perfect because they’re designed to hold all your toiletries in one place and they can easily be hung up in the bathroom, which saves you precious counter space. You’ll never forget your expensive face cream again when you use this tip!
Instant DIY Humidifier
Have you ever arrived at a hotel room and realized the air felt dreadfully dry? Most travelers don’t carry a humidifier with them, but that doesn’t mean you have to suffer! You can easily create a DIY humidifier with this simple hack. Here’s what you want to do. Grab one of the towels from the bathroom and dampen it. You don’t want it soaking to the point where it’s dripping on the floor, but it should be nice and damp. Then, move the luggage rack, ironing board, or chair in front of the AC unit. Drap the damp towel over the luggage rack or whatever piece of furniture you’re using and voila! The water from the towel will get circulated as the air from the AC unit hits it, giving you an easy DIY humidifier for your room.
Hide Your Cash While You Travel
Traveling with cash can be really helpful, but it definitely comes with some risks. If you’re worried about hotel staff rummaging around in your room or a malicious passerby taking advantage of your unoccupied room, you need to try this hack. You can hide your cash in an empty chapstick tube to keep it safe from other people’s sticky fingers. Just make sure to thoroughly empty and clean the chapstick tube first. Then, roll up your bills and slide them into the tub. Put the tap on tightly and go about your day knowing that your cash stash is safe!
No Ice Bucket? No Problem!
Most hotels have an ice bucket available for guests to use to keep their drinks cool, but if your room didn’t come with one, you can still make a DIY cooler for your favorite beverages. Simply grab a few bags of ice from the nearest store or the hotel’s ice machine and use them to fill the bathroom sink. Then, place your drinks inside the sink and let them chill. This is a great, easy trick for travelers who were looking forward to a cold drink but didn’t have access to an ice bucket.
Use Clothing Hangers To Keep Your Door Open
Experienced travelers know the hassle of bringing a bunch of luggage into their rooms. You’re constantly having to stop and use your keycard to reopen the door, and this can make the entire process take longer than it should. Most hotels have a clothing rack right behind their doors, and there are typically a handful of clothing hangers lined on the bar. Use clothing hangers like those shown in this photo to keep your door propped open. You’ll cut your loading time in half by using this trick! This is the perfect way to settle in faster and avoid dealing with issues like leaving your keycard inside and having to visit the front desk with your luggage in tow to get a new one!
Make Your Pillows The Perfect Height
Have you ever settled into your hotel room for the night and realized the pillows were too low? You want to sleep comfortably, but you don’t want to run out and buy your own pillows! Try this easy hack instead to make your pillows the perfect height. Grab a few towels from the bathroom and fold them up. Put them underneath the pillows to raise them up to your ideal height. Pro tip: put the folded up pillows inside the pillow case so they don’t move around as you’re sleeping.