Once upon a Time, a hotel was a place for retreat, relaxation, and renewal while away from home. Unfortunately, some practices are no longer prioritized to save time and money. Here are several astonishing facts that will make you think twice about being at home in a hotel room and a few tips to make your stay more enjoyable.
A Dirty Hotel Room
Purportedly there are several unsettling and unsanitary secrets as told by hotel staff and other experts. For instance, one hotel staff member anonymously disclosed that hotels don’t wash the pillowcases or the Outer blankets, the comforter. Rather, they only change the sheets between guests unless something is badly stained. Moreover, it may be a good idea to travel with your pillowcase from home to avoid any use overlap.
2. Hotel Eggs aren’t Real
One person shared their refusal to eat hotel eggs. “I worked the night shift at a hotel and had to prepare breakfast. I will never eat scrambled eggs at a hotel again unless I see the cook breaking the eggs,” they explained.
“How much food can be bought en masse and prepared in under 5 minutes is disgusting. Ready-to-cook egg mix. Just pour it into a pan and heat the ooze up… 5 minutes later: scrambled ’eggs’. Doesn’t taste good at all.”
Read More: You Might Want to Think Twice About Leaving Your Luggage on a Hotel Room Floor. Here’s Why.
3. Fix your Cancellation Window
If you’re past your cancellation window, you can call to push your reservation back then call again within that cancellation window to avoid paying costly fees or getting a partial refund.
4. Apparently, Luxury Doesn’t Matter
One person reported seeing odd food practices despite working in several 5 star top hotels. They share they’ve seen people change expiration dates or use food coloring in place of saffron for rice. They also shared that fish isn’t always what it’s advertised as. Rather, “white fish” comes in a pack and the menu might say something like “Pan-Fried Sea Bass.”
5. Change your Hotel Room Discreetly
You can change rooms if you’re unhappy with yours. All you have to do is mention the word “bedbug.” That’s one of the most alarming words in the hotel and hospitality industry and they’ll quickly do everything they can to rectify the situation. However, be sure to “complain” quietly so you don’t inappropriately cause mass panic among other guests.
6. Bigger Bathrooms
While this tip isn’t exactly ethical, it can be advantageous under the right circumstances. You can ask for a handicap accessible hotel room and bathroom. This will give you a larger shower and more open bathroom concept. However, it’s best to ensure the handicapped rooms aren’t all needed or booked by other guests because it’s bad karma and unkind to take a handicapped accessible room away from someone who rightly needs it.
7. Hotel Products are Often Expired
Most people think of those little bottles of soap in hotels as free samples or travel sizes. However, a former hotel staff member explained that in most cases, those bottles are filled with expired products that the hotel is desperate to get rid of.
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8. Better Rates on Your Hotel Room
In some cases, you may be able to ask the concierge for a cheaper rate for a room that you already had booked. “Depending on the property, if you’re nice, the front desk has the power to do a lot with your rate. At one property I worked at, if we were almost full, and it was past 9 pm I could cut $50 off the rate if I felt like it, at most though I can only really give a 10% discount, I can do it for almost any reason,” one anonymous source wrote.
Additionally, you can request that hidden fees such as for the pool or WiFi be removed to make your stay more cost effective.
9. Don’t Leave Your Belongings at a Hotel
While most people would hope their things are safely cared for when they accidentally leave them behind, one staff member shared an infuriating truth about luggage that’s left behind. “We keep it in a small room, not visible from the outside. There, your luggage is manhandled in the worst way possible. If it’s big enough, we sit on it. If it’s small enough, we play football with it,” they wrote.
10. A Hotel has Noise
Although there was a time when noise complaints were taken seriously at a hotel these days less is done about the matter. Rather, when you make a complaint to the hotel front desk, it often goes ignored because “sound carries from several rooms above you, and most people don’t know which room is loud even when it’s right next to them,” an anonymous source explained. “Being one room off is the difference between asking someone to keep it down, and waking up the Rage Lady at 3 am. I’ll go up and listen to see if I can pinpoint the room, but if I can’t, then you’re just gonna have to deal with it.”
Alternatively, you can drown out noise and excess light by rolling up extra towels or blankets and placing them along the door frames and windows.
11. Put Towels Down
Unfortunately, some have reported that housekeeping uses the same rags for the counters, floors, toilets, and showers. As such, putting towels down under your things can create a barrier against any potentially harmful bacteria, according to Brightside.
12. An Unexpected Use for the Hair Dryer
Almost all hotel rooms have a hair dryer in them. While a microbiologist suggests avoiding them on your hair because they’re “pretty germy” you can use them to dry wet shoes.
Read More: The Moment You Step Into a Hotel, You Have to Complete This Simple Task
13. Stay Safe at Your Hotel
You can hang a glass on the doorknob of your hotel room door before bed to prevent any intrusion. The noise from the glass falling will wake you up and likely scare away any intruders.
Brightside explains you can use the ironing board for several things including a makeshift workspace and an extra place to lay out luggage or clothes.