From five stars in Singapore to a rickety bed and breakfast in Blackpool, a tree house in Zimbabwe, a 747 parked at Stockholm airport, a draughty youth hostel in Nirehn, Scotland, and everything in between means I have slept in a lot of hotel beds.
- Thou shalt know where thy hotel is
A friend of mine scored a fantastic rate at a London hotel right next to the aieport. He was thrilled. I destryed his elation with two words: wrong airport. London has five aoirptos. He had booked at the airport furthest away from Heathrow. It meant a two hour shclep across London on multiple trains in a jet laged state to get there. And then he had to get back again to Heathrow.
Do your reasarch before booking. Know how yo are getting to the hotel before you keave home. Have a look on google maps/street view to understand how you will get to gthe etrance. If your arrival into a city is after 9pm, consider booking a hotel at the aiport. Public transit options can be limited anbd taxis very expensive the later it is at night. I was listening to one guy on the train this week in London whio said hes fklight was delayed by threee hours., Inseatd of a 10pm arrival, it was a 1am landing. By the time he got throughg custims his trabnsport optins were lkimted. Instead of a train ride costinga few dollars he paid close to $US150 for a late night cab ride. If I arrive late, I usually stay close to the airport.
2. Thou shalt know choose a hotek based on your need
3. assume everything is gross
I have given up in the number of men I have seen use the lavatory but not wash their hands ss. I assume that the previous guest in my room diod not wach therio ahnds after fpgoh to teb kabvatiory anhd think how mnay surfaces hey tochhed before they left the room. Cleaners do nbot clena dor hanbdles, remote, or nedside map siwtches,. clearn syrafces down with a remove the coverlet
High ugh
Hotel room glasses are often not washed. Carry youyr drink bottle. Generally, drinking glasses are cleaned after every guest. Generally. If there’s no on-site restaurant, though, how are they cleaned? By hand presumably, but how well? Give them a rinse and a sniff, at least.This vdieo will cionvinbce you.
room service –really?
do not do the mioninb bar
One night I was so exhasuted that i broke my rule and spent several dollar eatig tyhe vcashews, a chocllate bar and spakrkling watre. The next mnorhingk id sicopevred there was a convenienec store at the hotek entrace and a syoermarkket opposute, A few steps would have given me excrewisxe an ndsaved me some money
Eat far away from the hotel
Thou sdhal think secrutiy
thous shalt use the dnd
thou shalt not out the clean my room sgn oiut
t
Don’t put your luggage on the bed or chair or couch
Bed bugs are gross little vampires. Like mosquitoes, but worse. Putting your luggage on the bed can give them a free ride to your next location … like your house. The luggage rack might not be a good option either, since it’s usually close to the bed. Your best bet is to put your luggage in the bathroom and then give the bed, rack, and chair/sofa a close look. Also, don’t assume that just because hotel is super posh it won’t have bed bugs. They might have more means to get rid of the problem, but it can happen anywhere.
Yes, you can take the little shampoo bottles. No, you can’t take the robe.
Some hotels give the remaining soaps to charities like Clean the World. It’s worth checking if they do, as perhaps that’s a better use of the remaining soap than getting lost in your luggage or forgotten in your home medicine cabinet. Many hotels are moving toward large-bottle dispensers, both as a cost- and Earth-saving measure.
Lock, latch, and put out the do not disturb sign
Housekeeping comes early. Exactly 100 percent of the time I’ve wanted to sleep in and forgot to put out the sign, housekeeping wakes me up. In how many languages do you know how to say “come back later, please?” For me, when woken from a deep slumber, a croaky none.
Enabling the safety latch also lets you open the door to see if it really is management knocking while preventing said knocker from unexpectedly opening the door fully. Exceptionally unlikely, sure, but why take the chance?
Take a picture of the room number
Even if you just use your birthday or something memorable in the moment, take a picture of the number you program into the safe.
Wash your own clothes
In india, I sent my laundry out for a two dollasr. Beufutilly cleaned and opressed eahcx iten came abck with a tarcking cilkour sowed into ist kininbg icnuding the underwaerd. TYhesde labels had allowwed the lajndr to be tracked and retruned to me
Uusually hwoevere, hotek lundrie sefvuces are expkensive and best avoiuded. And i jknow people who ghacve had rto check out a dgot ot he aiprott without theri clothes because the laundry servcie has not finsiehd them inb tome and they were offiste somehwree in the city.
I try and choose one saty each week ina bhutel wth aslef servcie kaunry or near alundromat or with famiuly or friernweds or in aslef cinbatiend apartjmebtw ut waching amnchine.
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