What to Do When You Arrive at Your Hotel

Hello Explorers! I missed you all last week as I had to take a much needed rest and get my schedule back together. But I'm back this week with a travel tip of what you need to do when you arrive at your hotel room for the first time!

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Now onto today's topic!!!!

It is important when you arrive in your hotel room (or any room that isn't yours i.e. AirBnB) you check or do certain things so you don't end up with a miserable stay. Here is my list of things I do once I check into my hotel room:

Check for bed bugs

This is something you just don't want to deal with. If you end up with bed bugs in your hotel room, they can bite you and you can take them home. And if you get those things in your home, it could cost you a couple of hundred dollars to over a thousand dollars to remove them. So to prevent this from happening, when you walk into your hotel room, leave the lights off and place your suitcase into the bathroom (preferably a bathtub as its harder for them to latch to those surfaces). Then head over to the bed, lift the mattress to see if any are underneath. Also, lift the sheets and look into the crevices of the mattress. Then, look into the cracks of the headboard. After that, pull back the sheets and turn on the lights, you will then see them scatter (if there is any). If you do have bed bugs, go to the front desk or contact AirBnB corporate to get you to a new place ASAP! Do not stay there! Luckily I haven't ran into any but I do know of people who have! Yikes!

Below is a picture of my glass of wine I enjoyed after checking the bed and room upon arrival!

Check the entry doors

You need to check the entry doors to make sure no one can enter while you are asleep or away that isn't authorized to do so. The main door to the hotel room should have some time of deadbolt lock and the peephole to the door should not be removed. In my first hotel room in Alice Springs, Australia, my hotel room door didn't have a deadbolt lock and the peephole was removed. With the peephole being removed, that meant anyone from the outside could see into my room. No bueno! Also, be sure if there is a balcony door, that is locked as well. If not, try to get another room as I did in Alice Springs.

Below is a picture of how I tried to cover the peephole before deciding to go complain to the front desk.

If staying in an AirBnB, be sure the locks are decent and you have the proper keys. If the home has a keypad, be sure the number can be changed so no prior guests can walk in on you.

Check to see if it is a joint room

Some hotel rooms are able to be joined to another room so your entire party can stay together. But sometimes you may get one of these rooms and do not have your party attached to you. These doors in between the rooms are supposed to be locked but they may not always be. My friends and I went to Puerto Rico back in 2014 and was supposed to have attached rooms. That did not happen! We opened to door only to find a man in his underwear that we did not know! Yikes! He should've made sure that door was locked!

Ensure nothing is on the floor

I always wear flip flops which is one of my Packing Essentials but some people like to go barefoot. Now, you know you don't want to step on anything that could hurt you or just isn't sanitary, so be sure you check the floor of the room. Back in Puerto Rico, one of my friends almost stepped on a nail....a large nail on the floor. Luckily she saw it right before putting her foot down as that would've definitely ruined her vacation.

Below is a picture of me enjoying our upgraded room after bringing up the issues of the room.

Do a complete walk through

After checking the major items listed above, be sure you do a complete walk through of the room. Check areas such as the closet for possibly someone in there or ensure the bathroom is sanitary. I have never encountered these problems but it is better to be safe than sorry.

Sanitize your room

At the end of everything, be sure to sanitize your room to make yourself feel comfortable. Keep in mind people clean those rooms and may not always do the best job. Multiple people may have touched that remote you will be touching or they may not have properly cleaned those sheets before your check in. For me, I bring a travel size of Lysol to spray down the bed and surfaces I will use. I also have Wet Ones to wipe down anything in the bathroom and the remote (obviously I use more than one) before use.

Doing this probably takes me all of 5 - 10 minutes if it is a normal size hotel room. Hmm...maybe I will record a video when I check into my next hotel room of how its done lol! What do you do to ensure your room is safe, clean and free of creatures? Comment below!

Thank you for reading!

~ Kita the Explorer

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