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The scorching summers are here, and the urge to throw everything behind and run off to a hill station or a beach resort is stronger than ever. At least for us, all we want is to take hours-long dips in the sea (a swimming pool will work too) or make snow fairies incessantly.
But, if only things were as uncomplicated as they sound or read.
Planning trips, whether for vacations or business purposes, is always a complex process comprising many variables. We need to choose a destination, apply for leaves, book tickets & hotel rooms, and whatnot.
And even after putting in all these efforts, we only hope there will not be any further disappointments. But mishaps are always there, whether they come as a delayed flight/train or an underwhelming hotel stay experience.
The reviews do not tell the whole story, for there are times when adjusting even to a great hotel room might be a bit too much for us.
Knowing some ingenious hotel room hacks in such scenarios can help you tremendously. This is precisely what we bring to you in this article – a list of 13 awesome hotel room hacks for your next trip. So without further ado, let us look at what genius these tips are hiding.
Hotel room prices are notorious for fluctuating a lot! So, you need to time your booking to ensure you get the best bang for your buck, especially if you are planning to head out during the travel seasons.
The sweet spot for booking a hotel room is typically two-three weeks before your departure date.
And before you commence the booking, do not forget to check Cleartrip for best offers on hotels online!
Checking out a hotel’s cancellation policy is also a prerequisite you should never skip over.
Even after booking a hotel room, keep checking websites and apps for great deals and price cuts.
If you find one, which we hope you do, do not hesitate to cancel your previous booking(s) (this is why we told you to review the cancellation policy).
Another way to score a booking discount is to call the hotel directly and ask about their prices and any current offers. Who knows, you might find cheaper rooms this way.
We cannot help you if you love to carry excessive luggage, but we can help you pack things better. Introducing packing cubes, small nylon bags that do not resemble an actual cube much but are great for organising luggage items.
Packing cubes are like that weird ice cream flavour that everyone is hesitant to try at first but gets hooked as soon as it hits the tongue. You might initially question the viability of packing cubes. But, when you open your bags and instantly figure out where your underwear is, you will appreciate them even more.
Hotel rooms have this apparatus that switches on the room’s power supply when you insert a key card into them. Hotels call it a hotel key card switch.
You might think of it as a cool, sophisticated piece of tech that only works with your room card key. But in reality, you can use any card that fits into the switch slot to keep the power supply on in your room.
Thus, if you want to keep the room power turned on when you head out – to charge any devices or fire the AC to keep the room cold upon arrival, just insert a credit card or any other similar plastic card you have, and voila!
Streaming movies on a bigger screen is always better. But we do not always have large screen devices – tablets or laptops – to watch Netflix on when travelling. What we do have, instead, are in-room TVs. Most modern TVs have an HDMI at the back. So all you need now is an HDMI cable to connect your phone to the TV.
How do you make your morning bathroom trips better? You put on some upbeat music and dance to it when brushing your teeth or taking a shower. However, in hotel rooms, we cannot have big speakers, and we all know how teeny sounding a phone’s speaker is.
But music is a necessity, so the next best thing you can do is place your phone in a mug or glass and play songs on it. It will amplify the sound coming out of your phone.
Hotel room bathrooms have these tiny tubes/pouches of toothpaste, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, etc. They are perfect for travel as they have enough content to last us a few days and are easy to dispose of.
Moreover, there is no reason why you cannot carry them out of your room when you check out. The hotel will replace them anyway, so it is better to use them.
Disinfecting wipes are always a better alternative to spray or gel-based sanitisers because:
So carry wipes instead of sanitiser bottles.
If your phone has an IR blaster (infrared blaster), you can use it to control in-room appliances such as TVs, ACs, thermostats, etc. If not, you can go for aftermarket universal IR blasters.
Next, you need to download a universal remote app, set up the device you want to control, and you are good to go.
This will save you the trouble of wiping the remotes with sanitisers and still being paranoid about contacting a pathogen or two.
You never know if your hotel room will have multiple electrical outlets or just one. And since we are used to carrying multiple devices around, having an extension lead will help us charge them all at once.
So make sure to add a long and relatively safe (even if expensive) extension lead to your travel bag.
Shower caps are one of the most underappreciated bathroom commodities (if there was such a category). Yes, they prevent our hair from getting wet or shampoo entering our eyes. They also act as excellent emergency storage pouches.
If you are in a hurry and have not washed your undies, consider wrapping them up in a disposable shower cap provided by the hotel. Since they are waterproof, the smell of the undies will not, hopefully, permeate other clothes in the bag.
Hotels are a goldmine of consumer data, something that hackers want at any cost. It is, thus, no wonder that hotels are increasingly becoming victims of cyberattacks.
Hence, no matter how tempting it may seem, do not connect to the hotel Wi-Fi unless it is an emergency.
Hotel Wi-Fi, just like at other public places – bus stops, airports, etc., is not secure. And since our lives revolve around the internet, any data breach can cost us dearly.
The final hotel room hack on this list is a clever one that can come in handy in tight situations.
If you are travelling in a car, you can use your car freshener to liven up your hotel room if it smells funny. Just clip the freshener to the AC vent and let it do its job.
We can all agree that a hotel room is a home far away from home, even if we are planning to stay for just one night. Thus, it makes sense to ensure we have the best stay experience.
Now, we cannot control all the aspects of our journey, but we can always make our hotel room more welcoming. The above list of hotel room hacks, though not exhaustive, offers a great means to make our hotel stay less cumbersome and awkward.
So keep these hotel hacks in mind, stalk the web for more such hacks and enjoy your hotel room stay.
Each medium has its advantages and can get you benefits the other cannot. Hence, as a rule of the thumb, check a hotel online and call it up to see the difference between the quoted price and the price on the app/website. Then book a room where it is cheaper.
Hotel Wi-Fi is open to many guests and, thus, is not private and well encrypted.
It is better to use our mobile data rather than allow attackers to snoop on our information.
The nastiest items in a hotel room are always the ones that get touched the most. For example, the remote control, the electrical switches, the utensils, etc. Keep yourself safe by not using these items too much and using wet wipes wherever necessary.
Look for great booking discounts, use the in-room amenities & complementary services to their fullest and do not hesitate to ask the staff for anything extra.