When you spend 16+ nights in a hotel room every month, you figure out ways to make your stay more comfortable. Here's what I do every time I'm in a room to maximize the value of the room.
Check for Bedbugs
This is the literal first thing I do every time I walk into a room. I don't unpack until I've made sure my bed is bug free. I'll usually check at least two corners of the mattress by pulling all of the sheets and blankets apart down to the mattress. You're looking for little stains and dark spots, or even eggs or shed skins. Disgusting I know, but better to find it and get another room than risk it because it's just not worth the risk. You absolutely do not want to bring any home with you because they can infest your own bed and ruin your mattress. If you find that your room does indeed have bedbugs and you're a crew member, it's good practice to make sure your company knows about it as well so they can make sure the hotel handles the issue before other crews stay there.
Ironically enough, the general consensus is that the nicer the hotel is, the more likely you are to find them because the cheaper hotels are actually more thorough. A good way to add additional protective measures is to use only the luggage stands that are available in the hotel rooms to prop up your bag (check these for bedbugs too); don't put your suitcase on the bed or any other furniture in the room. This applies to when you're at home as well because luggage is always on the ground and you just don't know what you're going to pick up pulling it around. I don't even really like using the ottomans that are in some rooms that are meant for luggage, but it's better than the floor so I'll check those for bugs too before I use them. Worst case, you could always use the ironing board that's in most rooms. A final bit of protection you can take is having mattress and pillow covers on your own bed just in case you do bring any home.
Earplugs
I'm not sure what it is about hotels, but you'll fairly often have kids zipping around and yelling at weird hours which can make it difficult to sleep sometimes. I've also been placed in rooms where the AC unit makes a lot of noise or rooms where the piping in the walls is louder than normal. In most cases I could have asked for a different room but earplugs knocked out enough sound to where I didn't need to worry about it.
Entertainment
Sometimes it's nice on longer overnights to have the ability to watch whatever you want on TV, so I always keep an HDMI cable in my bag with me so that I can attach my computer to the TV for movies. I also have a little portable dock for my Nintendo Switch that I can attach to the TV with the cable. I know of some crew members who bring a Roku or Fire stick with them as well for streaming. These days it seems as though paying for wifi at a hotel is a thing of the past, so you don't need to worry about that.
Home On the Road
Being away from home so frequently can be tough, so I try to make the hotel as homey as I can when I am there. My coffee routine is something that I refer to as a little slice of home. It allows me to enjoy the same ritual of coffee making out on the road that I do when I am home. Another small slice of home is actually using my own shampoo. It might sound weird but scent is a powerful memory trigger, so using my shampoo just makes the experience of being gone that much better. Who really likes hotel soap anyway?
Other Tips
- I once flew with a flight attendant who told me about how she would bring candles for her room. It's certainly another great way to bring a little slice of home on the road!
- Make sure that when you settle in for the night, you lock your room and you put a Do Not Disturb sign on the door. Sometimes the hotel personnel will come through and check the rooms in the morning; you don't want a rude awakening if you got in super late and are trying to sleep in. I also once was given a room that was theoretically unoccupied but to my shock was not. If that person had locked the room I would have at least known they were there when I tried to open the door. Talk about awkward for all parties involved, especially because it was about midnight.
- It is good practice to make sure the hotel sets your key to work for the whole time you are there. We will often have show times that extend well into the evening and past the normal check out time, and sometimes they forget to enable the room key to work past noon.
- If you can't get the hotel curtains to close all the way, grab a clothing hanger with clips on it from the closet and use the clips to hold the curtains shut. It actually works pretty well for keeping the light out.
- If you forget a toiletry or something, you can always ask the front desk. More often than not they keep little travel sized toiletries on hand for that exact situation.
- This might be a slightly more obvious tip but when you’re checking out of your hotel, do a little walkthrough of the room to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything. I’ve personally left all sorts of stuff behind, mostly toiletries. I once left a pretty solid little portable speaker behind though, so since then I’ve been particularly thorough before I leave.
Enjoy your hotels and your overnights! Especially if you've got some time to explore.
Notes
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