10+ Hotel Hacks to Boost Your Travel Experience

While you’re on a vacation or any purposeful trip, the last thing you want is for your hotel stay to be a nuisance. Sometimes it can be a noisy room or bad views from the window. We’ve gathered some of the best tips for you to make your hotel stay easy peasy. Bonus: We’ve also included more tips on what things you can take from the hotel and it goes beyond coffee and tea packets. Read on to find out more.

1. Use a shower cap to pack your dirty shoes.

Sometimes your shoes are soiled when you arrive to your room from outdoors and you do not wish to pack them dirty. In that case, grab a shower cap from the hotel bathroom and place them in it. The tight elastic will ensure that the shoes stay in place, not ruining other clean things, and the light weight of the cap will not add more to your luggage.

2. Bathrobes can be taken home but it depends on your hotel type.

In cheaper hotels, bathrobes are not allowed to be taken home. If you try to take them, they will charge you. But in some more expensive hotels, the bathrobes are included in the price of your room. Some of the hotels may even embroider your initials or the hotel logo on them. This means that they are yours and only yours and you are free to take them with you.

3. As soon as you arrive in the room, put your luggage in the bathtub first.

After a long flight, you may just want to get your vacation mode on. But it’d be wiser to stay on the safer side. Begin by keeping the luggage in your hotel room bathtub instead of the floor or the bed. The reason is bed bugs. Your luggage has come a long way with you and has been through so many unknown spots. It’s better to avoid the infestation beforehand and keep yourself and your loved ones safe.

4. Avoid using the “Clean Room” sign at the door.

This is for those who don’t like the housekeeping barge into your room when you’re not there. You can use the “Do Not Disturb” sign instead. This tip comes in handy if you wish to give an impression that you’re still inside. This is also helpful when you want your room cleaned by housekeeping while you’re present.

5. Some hotels keep disposable slippers, you can take them home for free.

Usually the slippers that are provided by hotels are disposable. If you leave these used slippers in your room, they will get thrown away after you are gone. So there is no harm in taking them home. However, this only applies to cheaper disposable ones. In more expensive hotels they sometimes use expensive slippers that they clean and sanitize after their guests leave — and those can’t be taken.

6. You can also keep the shoeshine kit.

This is another very helpful item for many travelers that can sometimes be found in hotel rooms. If you don’t have one, you can ask for it at the hotel’s front desk. Most hotels will provide their guests with shoeshine sponges, napkins, shoehorns, or even whole kits that they can keep.

7. Ask for the corner rooms.

This is because these rooms have better views and bigger bathrooms. And the best part is, corner rooms aren’t usually deemed an upgrade, so you might be able to get it for free! If corner rooms are not available, then you can also ask for a room on the top floor if you wish to stay away from the noise.

8. If the hotel provides disposable combs and hairbrushes, you can take them home for free.

Some hotels will put disposable hairbrushes and combs in the rooms for their guests. After you leave, used ones are getting thrown away. So you can opt to keep these complimentary items for yourself and your future trips!

9. You can ask the receptionist if you wish to keep the hotel umbrella with you too.

You can get umbrellas at the front desk of some hotels. Although, they are usually not free to take, you can talk to the receptionist and ask them if you can have one. Sometimes they don’t mind. After all, umbrellas also have the hotel’s logo on them and can serve as a good advertisement.

10. Ask for two room keycards even when you’re traveling solo.

This is because when you’re out, you can keep one key card in the slot and keep the AC running and keeping the room temperature stable. It also helps in charging your other electronic devices you’re carrying like a camera and/or laptop too.

11. Make the most of the other common freebies.

Apart from sugar, coffee, and tea packets, there are more underrated things you can take home like pens, pencils, envelopes, and sewing kits. And when it comes to toiletries, you can take lotions, creams, shampoos, conditioners, dental kits, soaps, etc.

If you wish to have the mug or other tableware, you may want to ask the hotel staff if they allow doing so. And when it comes to bottled water, you may want to ask the receptionist if it’s part of the minibar. If not, it’s free of cost.