Are you going on a business trip or vacation? Traveling is always fun, but only if you end up having a smooth drive or flight and end up getting accommodated in a delightful hotel with top-tier services. However, there’s a tendency of some difficulty you might face while staying at some hotels.
Many people have been wondering what to do when they encounter such troubles. But, don’t worry about that anymore. While you travel, maybe you haven’t thought of the following hotel hacks as your solution, but there are tons of things to help you. The following hacks will make your stay at the hotel more relaxing and pleasant.
1. Keep the Sun and Light Away to Enjoy Privacy
The hotel blinds function well to provide some privacy and in the morning block the sun from your room, but there’s always lots of light even before you decide to open the hotel blinds fully. You might find it frustrating at times, especially if when the ray of light is intense.
So, here is an easy, simple, and direct solution to your frustrations. Go ahead and take a few hangers. Clip them on the blinds so that you cover the gap. It doesn’t matter if it looks ugly; it’s all about blocking excessive light and the sun from the room.
2. Utilize On Food Apps Instead of Room Service
Yes, it’s allowed, and you can do it. You can balance it out by requesting room services, preparing your meals, and going out to a restaurant. Also, with technology all over, you can use various other options. Many hotels and restaurants that you like have developed food applications. All you need to do is make an order of your favorite dish, and it will be delivered to your hotel.
Additionally, some food apps can deliver groceries. It can suit you if you prefer preparing your meals. With many available services, take your phone and scroll to the app stores to get yourself a food app.
3. Find Yourself Toothbrush Clips
Travel containers are suitable when you travel, but only if they are new. Their inside tends to become grimy after a short while. You will then opt to place your toothbrush at the side of the sink. You can’t be sure about bacteria on that sink. You don’t need gingivitis or any other tooth problems.
So, here’s what you can do. Find clips that you can use to lay the toothbrush neck. Place it on a surface and ensure it’s rested in an elevated position. The process is much effective, simple, and cheap. Really try it next time, it is a really easy hack!
4. Turn Your Cup Into a Speaker
Are you bored in your room? Or have you planned on having people visit you in your room? If you like music and there’s no speaker in your room, then your cup can be the solution that you need. Select your favorite music playlist on your phone, take the empty cup and turn it to face down. Place the telephone under it while it’s playing music.
There you go! You already have an amplified speaker innovation within minutes. Despite the sound being a bit low, you’ll still enjoy the music with your visitors or while alone. The best part is you won’t cause any disturbance.
5. Make Maximum Use of the Free Hotel Conditioner
Most of the hotels put a free package in each room containing a conditioner, shampoo, and lotion. They come creatively uniquely decorated bottles. Do not be afraid of taking advantage of using the products. It doesn’t mean that you have to open it. Instead, take the conditioner and use it as a shaving cream, or for a lady, you can use it as a makeup remover or as a cuticle cream.
Conditioners help serves many purposes. If you leave it there, then the next visitor will be lucky to use them. Avoid letting the package go to waste; utilize to the maximum the services from the hotel.
6. Cut Down on the Internet Bill
Some hotels offer billing on the usage of the internet. If you find yourself in such a hotel, then be smart and ensure you do the following. Avoid paying any extra charges on the internet bills. Also, nowadays, the smartphone has been integrated with wireless hotspot features; you can instead use your phone to connect your laptop to your internet.
The following trick is much cheaper for you, and you will save a lot on paying to use the hotel internet. You can talk to your provider beforehand so that they can set you up with the payments of internet usage on your phone.
7. Bed-Sharing Options
Maybe you traveled with your kids or friends and want to cut on spending more to pay for another hotel room. It’s simple, book a superior room and creatively come up with a solution of how people will sleep on that single bed. You can separate the areas of the bed and request extra blankets and pillows. The hotel will surely provide them.
Design another area on the bed where your kids or favorite friend can comfortably sleep. When there are more people, you can design a comfortable place on the room’s couch if it’s available. This way you can fit many people in a single room and save some money for the rest of your trip.
8. Outfit De-Wrinkling via the Shower
Whenever you’re traveling, you can’t avoid having wrinkled clothes, and it’s not possible to keep carrying an iron box whenever you travel. Many people don’t know what to do whenever this happens. However, you need to cease stressing about wrinkled clothes. Here are tips for using to get a de-wrinkle your outfit.
First, you can request at the reception to have an iron brought to your room by the hotel staff, or decide to implement the following trick. Use a hanger to hang in the bathroom your wrinkled clothes as you take a shower. The hot steam will remove the wrinkles.
9. Unruly Kids Need a Dining Table
Whether you are at home or hotel room, kids aren’t allowed to sit either on their beds or a dirty floor while they have in their hand a plate of food. When you are in a hotel room with your kids and there’s no dining room, the situation might be awkward.
Well, now you have an option of innovating something in the hotel room. You can use an iron board that you will place near the edge of your bed. Place towels at the top of it to be a tablecloth. It’s an ideal and safe setup for the kids.
10. Temperature Control in the Room’
Sometimes, while you’re relaxing in your hotel room, it can be a bit hot in there. You can both suck it up and continue being uncomfortable with that condition, or you can decide to do something about it. Right! You’re wondering what you can do about the hotness in the hotel room.
Simply take a damp towel or ask the staff to bring you an air conditioning or window unit. Place the wet towel near the conditioning unit or at the open window. The water will help cool the air as it circulates in the room. Now you won’t have to suffer the too hot temperatures in summer.
11. Utilize on Using the Coffee Machine
Did you know that a coffee machine can do more than just making coffee? The equipment can also bet be used to do some cook-ups. If you’re in a hurry and need a snack, just take the coffee pot, add water and prepare yourself a quick meal.
Go ahead and prepare a sandwich with grilled cheese or boil eggs or water for instant foods like oatmeal and ramen. Let’s not forget about the steaming of your vegetables. To maintain hygiene, consider using aluminum foil. You can pack the remaining food or use it to have maintained cleanliness in the hotel room.
12. Take Advantage of Technology
Hotels charge their clients whenever they want to watch programs not included in their cable. If you’re a movie lover, then you might end up paying more costs to watch them. Sometimes, you’ll need to make extra payments whenever you’ve traveled with the kids, and they like to watch their favorite TV shows.
Remember always to carry your Roku or Chromecast if you plan to stay in a hotel room. You can quickly hook it on the hotel’s TV. You can also bring an HDMI cable along with your laptop so that you connect to the TV. This hack will definitely change your life.
13. Engage the Kids
Young children accompanying you on to trip might be a bit overwhelming. So, how can you make it work so that they become busy? It seems to be something light, but you can’t carry all the toys that will distract them on trips.
If you have some critical business and know that your stay at the hotel will be for long, you need to be creative. Let them carry a single toy or get one for them from the store. Create some lines using a tape for them to use when playing. Suitably use painter tape so that it can quickly come off.
14. There’s More to The Outlet
Shortage of outlets supply is something that can happen whenever your room accommodates less than what you require. You might need to charge your device before going anywhere, while at the hotel or any other device.
You are in luck because some hotels contain hidden ports, which many people don’t know about. You weren’t thinking about it, but there’s a USB port found on the back of the hotel room TV. You can quickly charge your phone without any issues through the port. All you need is your USB cable to complete the connection, and you are good to go.
15. Set Chrome to Incognito
The following hack is suitable if you have a trip outside the US. It’s practical, and you will love it. You know that sites do keep tabs on their visitors. They mostly do so via various targeting methods, including your browser cookies. Therefore, you can find massive help from the Incognito setting on Google Chrome.
You can open your favorite hotel’s website through your regular browser while on incognito mode. If you didn’t know about it, then here’s the main reason why you need the setting. The rates are much cheaper when you visit a foreign site using Google Chrome in incognito mode.
16. Enjoy Using Shower Caps
Is it necessary to use the shower cap in the hotel room? It doesn’t matter if you carried yours or not. Still, the shower cap in the room has an excellent use for you. When leaving the hotel room, you can pack it with your other clothes and take them with you.
You can also use it for packaging your pair of shoes. Maybe you brought more than a pair, and they are dirty after going for a walk or run. You won’t mix them with the clothes. That when you can wrap them well and place them under the clothes and not on top.
17. Easy Solution to the Dirty Diaper Issue
Dirty diapers contribute to a hectic trip whenever you have a child traveling with you. It’s worse when you are in a hotel room and stuck with dirty diapers. Also, you can go and throw them away by taking an elevator as you head to the dumpster somewhere outside the hotel. So unrealistic, right! Don’t fret though.
Plan first whenever you have a trip, and a baby is involved. When you get to the hotel, ask the management to give you a large trashcan. You can use it to create a plastic container where you deposit all the dirty diapers.
18. Baby Basic During Changing
You should always put in mind when you and your baby are in a hotel room is how often they need to change their pad. This is a responsibility that you can’t avoid. You might find the space to be tiny, or it’s risky changing them from the bed because it might be messed up.
Many hotel rooms put a desk where parents can change their baby’s pads anytime. Just take the changing pad if you have it, and then head to the surface. Lay the baby there and finish changing them. Such places are usually clean and sanitized because babies are sensitive.
19. Save on Laundry Bills
Handling laundry while in a hotel is always a complete nightmare for many people. It’s ridiculous because you might end paying a lot of money to the hotel so that they can do your laundry. If you have the patience, you can take the laundry to a Laundromat.
All these options are rather tiring. But, there’s a unique hack to do laundry. You can use the sink in your hotel room. Place over the drain a plastic bag. Use coins to weigh it down before you run the water in the sink. After doing this, you can begin washing the clothes.
20. Have the Best Sleep
Hotels are places where many people share a building. Therefore, there’s nothing you can about the situation but be respectful and considerate of the other visitors. Sometimes, there might be noises, and other times it might be very peaceful.
If there’s noise, let’s say of teenage kids in town to play a tournament, and they are all over the place screaming and making lots of noises, then you can use this trick. Take your bath towel; place it down on your door to block the space that’s constantly down there. It will help you eliminate any sounds from the outside movement and even light.
21. Cook Delicacies for Yourself
Many people find eating as a problem whenever they stay at a hotel. They experience limited choices of what they eat through room services. If lucky enough, you can head out and buy from another place.
Whenever you want to save money while on a trip or under a diet practice, it might be worse for you when you are at a hotel. Well, you can put effort into making a plan that involves cooking healthy meals while in your room. It’s much, a much cheaper and more beneficial method. Search online for various menus to use. If not, you can also opt for takeout food.
22. Maintain Fresh Smelling Clothes
Residing in a hotel can result in your clothes adopting some unwanted smells. You don’t want your belonging smelling weird. Also, it’s not like you will easily access a washing machine at the time. So, what solution is best to use for this issue?
Have a plan beforehand before you leave your house to travel. Ensure that you get loose softener sheets made of fabric. Pack them in your suitcase as you arrange your clothes. The sheets will help in keeping the clothes smell fresh and pleasant. Your shoes are also not left out. You won’t experience having any stinky shoes near your clothes.
23. Review the Hotel
Be sneaky and take advantage of active travel community sites like Trip Advisor and Yelp. When you arrive at the hotel, have a chat with the manager and tell him about the sites. Suggest to him about reviewing the hotel as you stay there.
If you’re into blogging, then tell them that you will do a write-up. Avoid mentioning to the manager if the review will be positive or not because they might decline the offer. Don’t hold back on being transparent. You need to receive the discount as you deserve on your review. Additionally, you are bound to help many other visitors.
24. Timing of the Booking
Make your vacation bookings at the right time. It’s something that most people take lightly, but it’s one of the common sense hacks. This will help you conduct early preparations on where you have planned to go for vacation. If it’s an exotic place, then set your heart and mind to spending severe cash.
Remember, timing helps you plan effectively. It’s recommended that you need to make your plans when it’s off-season. At the time, things haven’t been overpriced. Therefore, you will spend less than what you spend when peak season arrives or after. Therefore, make those reservations while the rates are still down.
25. Hotel Booking Method
Nowadays, you can find many online websites which offer you a chance to save up a lot when making booing reservations via their agency. However, there’s no confirmation about the provided discounts. Therefore, the most sensible thing to do is make direct contact with the hotel.
You have a higher chance of getting deals and upgrades related to the books when you do so. All it takes is a call and let the rest take effect. You’ll be surprised at your odds of saving up because the method acts much better. Make the booking when it’s off-season to enjoy more offers.
26. Join a Useful Organization
Be part of the AAA organization if you are a traveler. Members have the luxury of enjoying several discounts of tons of tons of domestic and abroad hotels. Easily access special features like International Driving Permits from the AAA. You can use it whenever you travel to another country, and you drive a car.
The organization’s work is to make your travel easier and seamless. It doesn’t matter if you are in a foreign country and need to hire a care. As their member, they will sort you out. Also, when you are questioned about your identification, AA will provide your passport.
27. Flexible Hotel Booking
Are you considering an agency or provider to book you a planned flight or hotel? Here’s vital information about your decision. Sensational discount offers can be found on Kayak and Expedia websites. They apply to those who need to make a booking together.
Another catch is that the full payment needs to be done in advance before anything else. Additionally, if you make any changes to your booking or cancellations, the process will be expensive. There’s a lot of saving but minimal flexibility. So, you need to make a final decision before heading to the third-party websites to making bookings.
28. Negotiating Power
If making a trip of more than seven days, then consider using this hotel hack. You need to make inquiries about various things like the discounted rates and other deals which last longer. They will help you make a reasonable budget because of the period you’re going to stay at the hotel.
As earlier mentioned, the best way is to make a call to the hotel and make direct inquiries of all the information you require. It’s not a big deal if they request that you make an advance payment. Most hotels recommend you do so for various reasons. The hotels allow weekly payments.
29. Avenge
Be chill! The hack isn’t about violence. You can use it as an advantage of your experience with a hotel. Let’s say that you stayed at a hotel that doesn’t have hot water. That’s the leverage that you can use with this hack.
In case you missed a flight because of the hotel, then it’s your time to directly complain to the marketing department or manager through their social platform. The aim is to catch their immediate attention because everyone will view it. If they take action, there will be free upgrades done on the issues. Also, they might offer you a voucher to compensate.
30. Speak Up Freely
In all situations, speaking up to be heard is terrific. It’s the best way that you can start perks to make a difference. You will end up getting a better room in the hotel when you take action. Take a step and ask. It’s better that way.
If you have an extent of fear, indirectly ask the hotel staff to let you view other rooms before you settle on the one they gave you. Possibilities of being given a room that doesn’t fit you are high; hence, it’s better to decide for yourself. Really try and do it next time, because it will have a large influence on the rest of your stay.
31. Consider Using Aggregator Websites
You need to consider this hack anytime. The same way you take your time to check on Kayak and Hopper to find various pricing rates of flights is the same that you should invest whenever you want to book a hotel room.
The process will help you check various outlet options and the offer available. If you need clarification on anything, then make a call to the hotel and inquire. Ask them to give a detailed overview of what you’ve seen on the website so that you can confirm the information. Some sites are known to misinform the clients on a lot of information.
32. Find an Alternative Mood
It’s nice to find a hotel room which is equipped with an outlet for playing music. You can use it to play music from your phone. However, the design of the outlets ensures that the music sound only serves you and not the neighbors. You can still enjoy it even if the range is minimal.
If the room lacks external speakers, then you shouldn’t worry about it. As stated earlier, alternatives like using the cup to amplify the sound of your phone work just fine. If you feel that won’t be enough, then go ahead and buy yourself a portable speaker.
33. Take Charge of the Steam
Whether you are taking a shower in the hotel or home bathroom, sometimes the steam fogs up until you can’t see yourself in the mirror. It might be annoying because sometimes you want to view yourself in the mirror when taking that home shower. It’s good to analyze your physical body and appreciate it.
Use this helpful hack that involves freely rubbing soap on the mirror before you take that slow shower. Preferably, use bar soap. After taking a shower, take a dry washcloth and rub it off from the mirror. It has a lot of steps, but it’s worth the try.
34. Avoid Disturbance
Many people appreciate their peace and quietness when they book a hotel room. The trick of this has been a thing that has been there for a long time. It’s worth it for a person who doesn’t spend much of their time in the hotel room.
You can make a sign that displays “Do Not Disturb” and hand it to your hotel room door. People will get the message immediately, whether you are in or out of the room. They won’t bother causing any annoyance because of the sign. Additionally, it will help you keep away unwanted cleaners and potential burglars.
35. Have a Climate Option
Some hotels have the habit of dictating the hotels’ temperature. Clients find it frustrating because they feel tortured by whether a thermostat regulates the coldness or hotness. One of the flight attendants, Glen Ward, has had such experiences.
The best way is to override such a system. When in the room, find the “display” button and hold it down. Then head to the “off” switch and releases it off. Next, press the “up “button while the whole time you are holding down the display button. Release all of them at once for an override. This is a really useful tip!
36. Request to Have Dishes
When staying for a while in a hotel room, you will need extra utensils like dishes to store snacks and other goodies. You don’t have to buy expensive snacks from the hotel; you can purchase them outside and bring them to the room. But therefore you will need some dishes.
You are allowed to ask for dishes from the hotel. You can place them in the fridge if there’s one in your hotel room. It’s an easy means of saving time and money while relaxing in your comfortable space. Also, for breakfast you were unable to finish, you can keep it in a dish.
37. An Additional Helpful Tip
When staying in Las Vegas, it’s wise that while you check into the hotel, leave a tip-off, let’s say, $20. Despite using a bit of cash, the hack is essential. Though you should be doing this in every hotel, you stay. It shows appreciation to receive better service as you stay in the hotel.
Elizabeth Houck is a lady who once pulled out a $20 bill, folded it, and placed it under the cup of her hands. The reception noticed it, and while she stayed at the hotel, she received an upgrade, a unique view, and other perks. This is something you should try on your next stay.
38. Special Occasion Treatment
During the booking process, you need to inform the hotel staff about any special occasions in your life within the period you will be staying at the hotel. It might be your birthday, anniversary, or even honeymoon. The information given can surprise you because you might receive an upgrade on the services or voucher.
For an anniversary or honeymoon occasion, Nicole Connolly, who likes traveling, confirms that many hotels prefer offering their guests an appreciative upgrade which assists them in celebrating. You need to inform them in advance so that they can prepare everything before you arrive at their property.
39. Match Prices
You don’t need to let a price match opportunity pass. It’s the best thing that can happen to you as a traveler. It involves informing the hotel about upcoming cheaper prices which their competitors offer. They can do something about their prices whenever you make a future visit.
Blogger Deia Bong states that various hotel chains such as the Hilton and Marriott match to the available lowest price. They then give the visitor further discounts with freebies. Deia has spent most of her time researching various ways in which people can travel more. Different hotels offer different things to the clients.
40. Try Procrastinating
Not so advisable, but this hack can still favor you. However, you need to be very brave to use the following tip. You need to have the nerves to know the consequences. It involves booking a hotel room deal during the end deadline or a day before. It’s hard to ignore such value at times.
Being a full-time traveler, Kristin Addis says that when you find in Las Vegas a hotel room on that particular day or a day before, you will pay much less cash for it. However, you need to be flexible to achieve this because it’s not as easy as it sounds.