Hotel Hacks To Make Your Trip Better Part 1
Tags: Holidays, Hotel, Trip, Tips, Life Hacking

Whenever we’re doing anything, we always try to make our experiences just that bit more enjoyable and memorable. This is especially the case when we’re on holiday; we want to make every penny count! There are small steps that you can take to stretch your hotel experiences a little bit more, but it sure adds up fast when you’re on that dream vacation, or even a business trip. Today, let’s see some ways we can improve your hotel experience, whether it’s a classic hack or a slightly unorthodox one!

Photo by Solen Feyissa on Unsplash

Forgot Your Charger? Borrow One From The Front Desk!

It’s the 2020s, where forgetting your phone charger pretty much means the end of the world. This is especially true for business trips, where having your phone run out of juice means that you pretty much can’t communicate with your clients or company! If the inevitable happens, you can try your last lifeline: the front desk! Ever wonder what happened to that charger you left plugged in when you checked out a couple years ago? Well, it’s probably in a big box in the office, sitting among the other chargers with forgetful owners. Hotels will be more than happy to loan you one of those chargers, provided they have any on hand. What’s more, if you didn’t sign for it, they’ll probably even forget that you took that charger, which means you can bring it to the next leg of your holiday around the world!

Photo by Bluewater Sweden on Unsplash

Bring A Reusable Water Bottle

Most hotels provide free water bottles, but what if today just isn’t your lucky day? Do you really want to pay a couple of dollars for one bottle of water? Coupled by the fact that you’ll probably need even more throughout your stay, why should you risk it? Instead, do a solid for the environment and bring a reusable water bottle. Boil some water with the kettle in your room, let it cool, and now you have a safe amount of drinking water to bring with you through your long and arduous day of exploring or working! Bring a stainless steel or heat resistant bottle, and you have yourself a quick fix if you’re rushing out of your room without worrying that your bottle will warp or melt from the hot water. Just remember to blow on it before drinking, or else you could leave yourself with a burnt tongue that can’t taste anything for the next day or two.

Photo by Anete Lūsiņa on Unsplash

Don’t Unpack Too Much

Save yourself some trouble on those one to two night stays, and unpack only what you need. The more you unpack, the more nooks and crannies you have to check before checking out. Instead, organise your baggage vertically instead, and you’ll be able to browse through your portable wardrobe without having to take out 3 days worth of clothes just to get to your underwear. This tip applies especially to destination hoppers who may stay at multiple hotels for very short stints. Don’t unpack anything you don’t have to, and you won’t risk losing something important in your hurry to check out in the morning. However, if you do have to unpack for longer stays or if you just have to, make sure to

Bring Alcohol Wipes

You do not want to know how filthy hotel rooms are. Just trust us, you don’t. What you do need to know though is despite regular cleaning in the form of vacuuming, wiping down all surfaces, and changing your towels and linens, hotels don’t actually clean your room in depth. Hotels make more money if all their rooms are 100% booked every day, so they’re incentivised to stack bookings as closely as possible. The last guest’s 10am checkout and your 12pm checkout leaves a tiny two hour window to get your room ready for you, on top of however many guests are checking out that day. So do yourself a favour, and bring some wet wipes. It will be better if they’re alcohol based thanks to their disinfecting properties.

Spend about 10 minutes and just wipe down every surface and commonly used items, such as remote controls, the handle to the kettle(careful it may still be hot from the last guest’s morning brew), and clothes rails, just to name a few. Your room may not be clean enough to welcome doctors for an operation, but it will be cleaner than when you checked in.

Or Just Cover The Remote In A Plastic Bag

But what if you’re too lazy to wipe down everything so meticulously? Well, you can use the classic hotel hack and wrap your TV or air conditioning remote in a plastic bag. Actually, anything clean works, some other wrappers we’ve heard include shower caps, a torn piece from the hotel laundry bag, a face towel, wrappers for your soap turned inside out, or even a scrap piece of cloth originally meant for cleaning, held together by some rubber bands. There’s always room for safety, even when watching TV!

Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash

User The Ironing Board As A Table

Do you ever feel like hotel tables are never the right height? And that you can feel your knees on your chest when you’re writing on the provided table? Well, try using the ironing board instead! You can easily adjust the height of the ironing board to your desired height, making working much more comfortable, especially on those pesky stay-in report writing days. Do be careful though; the ironing board isn’t very stable! For a bit extra stability, lean it against a free wall in the room, but even so, you should still be cautious with the things you put on your “table”.

We hope that this has helped you make your experience a little better, and be sure to be on the look out for the second part of this guide! Check out more blog posts from TripCandy here!