Ingenious Hotel Hacks, According to Twitter

In addition to being a forum for arguments sent across the world, Twitter can sometimes be a source of helpful information. For travelers, this was illustrated recently by Twitter user Rick Klau, who passed along a helpful hotel hack garnering over 400,000 likes. The trick? To close stubborn hotel room curtains letting in light and disrupting your precious sleep-in time, use one of the industrial-strength clothes hangers from the closet. Their clips will pull the fabric together and keep it shut.

This doesn’t work in rooms with hangers permanently affixed to the coat rack, but that’s OK. Users who caught Klau’s post provided a number of other tips that can be deployed by hotel occupants to make their next booking more comfortable, according to The Washington Post. Among them:

1. Use the USB port on the television.

If you can’t find a free outlet or one within easy reach, there might be a USB port on the hotel room set to use for charging electronic devices. (@MichaelHeide)

2. Isolate remote germs with a shower cap or ice bucket baggie.

If you’re apprehensive about touching the TV remote—long considered one of the most germ-infested surfaces in any hotel room—wrapping it in the shower cap or plastic wrapper for the ice bucket might ease your concerns. (@mshilary)

3. Use your ironing board as a desk.

Hotel desk or chair too low? You can break out the ironing board and adjust its height to make a temporary workspace. Keep it high enough and it’ll act as a standing desk. (@acroll)

4. Use the shower steam to press out clothes.

Take advantage of the steam from your shower by hanging your suit, shirt, or other wrinkled clothes from your suitcase on the back of the shower door. The steam will loosen the wrinkles. (@DrCSpencer)

5. Put the dry cleaning bag to good use.

Got dirty clothes? Grab the dry cleaning bag from the closet—apparently an endless MacGyver resource for hotels—and stuff your used attire inside so you know what to wash when you get home. (@ohmercy_me)