20 People Share Their Best Hotel Room Hacks

Staying in hotels is super fun! But it's also weird to sleep in a bed that doesn't belong to you, in a room that countless others have slept (and done other things) in. There are classic hotel issues that we've all had to deal with in our time, from curtains that won't close all the way to air conditioners that blast icy air at all hours. Luckily, one tweet inspired lots of others to start a thread of their best, most effective hotel hacks to make your next hotel stay a breeze. 

Here's the tweet that started it all! If you're lucky enough to be staying in a hotel where you can take the hangers out of the closet, use the ones with clips to close the blinds and adjust your jet lag in peace!

This might work too, in a pinch, as long as that's one strong hotel pen clip. Plenty of women chimed into the thread to say that they use those claw hair clips to achieve the same thing. 

Binder clips work great too! And they're so easy to just plop into one of the small pockets in your luggage and leave there. Just don't forget about them and needlessly suffer! 

This is brilliant. The air conditioners in hotel rooms are always way too strong and directed straight at the bed, AKA your face, when you're sleeping. By putting the chair back in front of it, you'll divert the air stream and feel much less "assaulted by air" throughout the night. 

If you actually stop to think about how many people touch the TV remotes in hotel rooms, you might puke. And I doubt those things are regularly cleaned. A good way to preserve your health is to wrap it in a protective shower cap before you use it.

Or the ice bag! That works too. Not every hotel room gives you an ice bag, though. Most of them do give you shower caps, although those are becoming less and less common these days. 

I never even considered this! Some hotels offer free bottles of water at their gym. So stock up! If they don't offer bottles, they most likely offer a filtered water cooler, so bring a reusable water bottle and fill 'er up!

This is a very good point. Usually, the pillow cases are washed before you get a hotel, but who knows how many guests they allow to sleep on the actual pillows before washing them? Covering your pillow in the extra layer of the hotel towel is just a little more assurance that you're not face-down in someone else's drool. 

Hotel rooms are notoriously dry. One way to alleviate that is to soak a towel in water and hang it over the ironing board in front of the AC or the heater (depending on the season). This will add moisture to the room and make it so you don't wake up in the morning with a scratchy throat.

If your room doesn't have an ice bag or a shower cap, try finding a compatible TV remote app to control the TV from your phone. Your phone is also full of germs, but at least they're your germs. 

When you stay in a hotel, nothing is what it is. Hangers are laptop stands. Pen clips make blackout curtains. Shower caps are remote protectors. All it takes is some creative thinking to make your hotel stay as comfortable as humanly possible. 

I always try to pack an empty plastic bag in my suitcase for dirty laundry or clothing items like bathing suits that might get wet. But if you forget to do that, as I often do, use the bag that's hanging in the closet! It's meant for dry-cleaning, but who even does that?! 

If you know you'll be waking up in a hotel room for several days and you need your morning cup of coffee, ask for a bunch of pods when you check in. That way, you won't have to call down to the front desk and ask for more in the morning when you are so incredibly sleepy. 

This is brilliant. If you're on a work trip where you need to use your computer, it's a good idea not to rely on the wireless internet provided by the hotel. Plugging in is just so much more reliable. 

If you are extra sensitive to LED lights, keeping a roll of electrical tape on hand to cover them up is a good idea. There are bright little lights on almost every device in hotel rooms, and if they'll keep you from sleeping, it's much better to cover them up than to try to deal with it.

This is genius and sad all at the same time, but when things are desperate, you gotta do what you gotta do. I am not ruling out making hairdryer nachos someday. 

It's good practice to scan your hotel room for bed bugs before you set anything down. Bed bugs suck so much, and they're sneaky, so you have to check under the mattress and around the headboard as well. Better safe than sorry.

This is brilliant. I bet phone chargers are among the products most commonly left in hotel rooms. Just casually ask the front desk if they found one, and chances are, they'll just hand you one from the box. Boom! New phone charger.

It's common for people to steal soap and shampoo and the rest of the toiletries from hotels. But you probably don't actually need that tiny bottle of shampoo. It might be something that a homeless person would appreciate.

This is so true! I always feel like a small child when I sit at a hotel desk because the chairs are low and the desks are high. If you have to do a good amount of work, use the ironing board to prop up your laptop. You can adjust it to the height you want and put it anywhere in the room you want!