Hotels have many little secrets they don’t want you to know about. There are also secrets you might learn about that hotel staff doesn’t care about you knowing. They don’t mind taking a movie or minibar charge off of your bill. While we are not advocating theft, the hotel minibar is the most disputed charge in the hotel industry. If you complain about a charge for something that was missing from the minibar, without discussion, the charge will be removed. This is just one little secret. Read on for a many more:
Hotel maids are human, and they have human bodily functions that occur during their shift. So, the toilet you are using may have also be used by your maid.
While some maids admit to even trying on clothing in rooms, most maids just like to look and see what you brought along to wear.
Hotel maids will tell you those comforters, duvets, coverlets, and sheets rarely get washed. If they find a small stain on a comforter, a maid is likely to use soap and water, a small hand towel and do her best to remove the stain.
Hotel maids are given an allocation of time to get a certain number of rooms cleaned. If she falls behind, she may have to work through her break to catch up.
Hotel housekeeping staff fight over who gets to clean what room. Obviously, premium suites and rooms generally have bigger tips left at the end of a guest stay. Hotel maids will call dibs on more expensive rooms and private suites. Also, in many hotels, if you leave an item behind and don’t claim it within 30 days, the maid who cleaned your room can keep it!
If you need some extra shampoo or soap for your trip (or to use at home), just ask your hotel maid. They don’t mind giving you extras. The hotel doesn’t mind either. They love when you take hotel branded items as it is a form of marketing for the hotel chain. While it is unlikely that you would be charged for taking a hotel towel, don’t try that with the iron in your hotel room. You will get charged for that.
Call it human nature. You have probably wondered if hotel maids snoop around your room. With long and boring days, they love to explore your possessions and figure out what kind of person you are based on the condition of your room, your clothes and personal effects left out.
Obviously, the hotel maids have your name on the list of rooms assigned for cleaning. Sometimes they use your name to take it a step further and they search for your social media accounts to learn more about you if you have an interesting room.
It’s not that they don’t want to give your tub a scrub. They just don’t have time. When cleaning the shower and tub area they just run the faucet or shower and rinse it out. There is no detailed scrubbing. If you plan to take a bath, ask for some extra shampoo and wash the tub first.
You probably already knew that the TV remote control is the dirtiest object in the room. It’s dirtier than the doorknob or light switches. Maid rarely ever clean remotes and they are covered with germs and bacteria.
Hotels collect hundreds of chargers each year from guests who forget them and rarely come back for them. Thus, if you forgot your charger, the hotel probably has your brand in lost and found and may even give it to you to keep forever.
If you misbehave in a hotel, you can be put on a “black list” that is shared by all major brands of hotels. When you attempt to book a reservation anywhere, you will be told the hotel is filled to occupancy and not be allowed to reserve a room.
Sometimes we all need to do a last-minute reservation cancellation. Depending on the hotel policies, you may forfeit your first night stay or deposit. Here’s a hack for dealing with that. Rather than cancel, call the hotel and change your reservation date to a later date. Call back later in the day and cancel the newly reserved date since you will be more than 24 to 48 hours out.
While you might not need the bellman because you have fancy luggage with wheels, interacting the hotel bellman can improve your stay. Tipping your bellman well can get you noticed by hotel staff. Bellmen are well connected to everyone in the hotel and can get you anything you need, from free water bottles, to dry cleaning and restaurant reservations. They can also get you a free room upgrade.
This is another one of those hacks that questions your honesty. If you don’t want to pay for a movie, call the front desk and tell them you accidentally started the movie by mistake, or the movie froze in the middle, or never played. They just remove the charge rather than investigate any technical glitches.
Hotels offer free toothbrushes, toothpaste, slippers, feminine hygeine products and shower caps. If you forgot something at home that is an essential, they likely have a replacement for you at the front desk.
Most hotel room safes aren’t actually safe. Hotel staff, including the housekeeping department have access to it. Since these safes aren’t safe, ask the front desk to store your valuables when you are out of the room.