Flush the Toilet the Moment You Walk Into a Hotel Room — Here’s Why

How’s your room temp? If it’s freezing, turn up the heat. If it’s stifling, check the A/C. If it feels perfectly temperate, check both anyway (amazing how “fine” becomes “WHY IS IT SO HOT IN HERE??” when you’re trying to sleep). Wait for the whirr to tell you the system is working. Put your hand up to the vent to feel what’s coming out—climatized, or just air? Some hotels disable air conditioning outside of summer, while others limit how much guests can adjust the temperature year-round. Either way, it’s worth checking your room’s climate control in case you need to request a fan or an extra blanket before bedtime.

You know the mornings you get up to find your phone dying because the outlet you plugged into was a dud? Us, too. So, plug into outlets ahead of time. Make sure they click solidly, and don’t forget to test the USBs as well. Look for the little lightning bolt that tells you the magic is happening because no good day starts with the words: “low battery.”

Sure, you could stream on your trusty phone or your tablet, but there’s a big screen right there. Some of us still watch broadcast (don’t judge). If you plan to do either, you’ll want to know well before game time that the power turns on, the remote has working batteries, and your screen is actually smart.

Did you know your room can be a dead zone? I didn’t. There I was, all cozy and ready to play Wordle, when the word “offline” appeared on my device, followed by the sad news from the front desk that my room was in an apparent dead zone. A rarity? Sure. But I’m living proof that it can happen. So, it pays to verify on arrival that your room is a place where the device and Wi-Fi play well. While you’re at it, check your bars. You’ll need them if you plan to use a personal hotspot instead of the hotel’s unsecured Wi-Fi (traveler side note: beware of public Wi-Fi). A true dead zone will likely require a room change. But it sure beats doing yoga poses to try to get a signal—or decamping to the lobby every time you want to order eats.

It’s a sad night when you return to the room intending to chill the remains of that amazing sandwich, only to open the fridge and experience stale air and the pungent waft of someone else’s leftovers. Sometimes a seemingly busted fridge is just unplugged. Other times, a dud can be removed and replaced without moving you. Both can be quick fixes. But it’s not something you want to do in the middle of the night. And you won’t know unless you stick your nose in ahead of time. Bonus reward: a chill check will also answer the question, “Do I have a fridge?” The rare hotel that doesn’t will sometimes provide one upon request.

A funky smell is telling you something. Trust it. I once wrote off a vaguely musty odor as my imagination, until hours later, when I sloshed through a patch of wet carpet, thus confirming the mildew smell wasn’t in my head (it was a randomly dripping ceiling). Your nose knows. If you smell something, say something.

For all that is holy, check the room’s alarm clock. True, the discovery of a leftover 3:30 a.m. wake-up call won’t necessitate a room change,  but left undiscovered, it will definitely ruin your good night’s sleep. No one needs to wake up before dawn for someone else’s 6 a.m. flight to Boise that was completed yesterday. You definitely don’t need to spend the wee hours desperately trying to figure out how to shut the thing off—or worse, finding out the hard way that in your delirium, you only hit “sleep” instead of “off,” so you get to repeat the whole experience again ten minutes later (true story).

Check carefully for any enduring alerts. Better yet, make it foolproof and unplug the clock, remove it, and bury it under a pile of towels (can you tell I’m still traumatized by this experience?). You can save the bigger question—why do hotels still have alarm clocks?—for another day.