10 Hotel Hacks To Make Your Vacation (After The Pandemic) Even Better

From Redditor /u/RecycleThisMessage

If you'll be in the same hotel for four or five nights, be sure to leave a nice tip each morning for the maid who cleans your room. Nice extra things, like fluffy bathrobes, will start appearing. Don't wait until you are checking out to leave the tip.

From Redditor /u/7laserbears

Most hotels don't wash their duvets after every guest. If you want to make sure your room is completely cleaned, request an allergen-free room. Housekeeping will have to do a separate load using a special soap, ensuring you get fresh bedding. I liken it to ordering french fries without salt at McDonald's to force them to make a new batch.

As a housekeeping manager, I roll my eyes to requests like this because it's more work but I get it. I'm surprised the industry gets away with not washing duvets every time. It's gross really and even the fancy hotels do it.

From Redditor /u/Peacockblue11

If your plans change and you need to cancel your hotel reservation against the hotel's cancellation policy, don't call and cancel. I've tried to barter with hotels many times, but truthfully unless you have a good relationship with the hotel, they have no reason to refund you.

Instead, call the hotel and move your reservation to next week. Even if it is against the cancellation policy, most hotels will allow you to alter a reservation without issue. Then (usually a few hours later to guarantee you talk to a different hotel rep) call and cancel your "new" reservation.

From Redditor /u/AdequateSteve

Book through the hotel directly. Don't use Priceline, hotels.com, Orbitz, or any of those things.

Why? Better service and free upgrades. It may cost you an extra 10-15 bucks to book with them directly, but they KNOW you're paying full price.

There's a thread in r/askreddit about hotel concierge services. Pretty much everyone in the industry said the same thing: if you're paying full price, we'll upgrade your room for free, give you other random perks, and if you call the concierge - They'll drive across town and pick up dinner for you if you want.

I've booked hotels both ways before and I can testify to this with certainty.

If you're getting the hotel room simply to have a bed, great, book with a discount service. If you want to enjoy your stay and be treated well, pay full price.

From Redditor /u/hippiebanana

• If you expect to stay in hostels, travel with a little padlock. They often don't provide them for the lockers.
• Get a microfibre towel. It dries about 500 times faster than a regular towel and folds up really small.
• Solid shampoo and other traditionally liquid cosmetics are amazing for preventing leakages in your bag. Go to Lush or other similar natural shops. Dry shampoo is a gift from the gods.

From Redditor /u/Bas7ard

As a front desk supervisor, I can offer a few tips. Always make a reservation for 1 adult as most hotels will charge you around $10 for every extra person. Also, you can always almost book at AAA rate or AARP rate even if you don't have a membership, front desk staff usually don't care enough to look and see if you have your card on you.

Most hotels will allow you to haggle with them as long as they aren't almost sold out, just tell them how much you're willing to pay and they can work with you. Hotels also receive a lot of business from Hotwire and other third-party sources which have negotiated rate codes with the hotel. Whenever someone books a hotwire room at my hotel we only make $49 off the room even though it might be listed for $119 or more on our website. Hotwire will then advertise this room for $60 or so on their website, sometimes you can negotiate a great deal with the hotel by offering to eliminate the middle man.