Check for Bedbugs
Scrutinize your
mattress, bed frame, and headboard—you're looking for small brown stains.
Bedbugs are hard to see (they hide during the day and can run away quickly when
disturbed), but they leave behind brown bloodstains when they process the blood
of their victims. Be sure to check under the sheets and mattress pad,
too.
Sanitize
Your room may
look clean, but that doesn't mean it's sanitary. Hotel cleaners may
scrub the bathroom, but do they take the time to wipe down common safe houses
for germs, such as remote controls, light switches, and doorknobs? Give these
items a quick cleaning with an antibacterial wipe to stay healthy during your
visit.
Check Hiding Spots
Before letting
your guard down in your locked hotel room, check these hiding spots to make sure
you really are alone: under the bed, in the closet, and in the shower. An
intruder could have slipped in before you and could be lying in wait—or
something more gruesome. You think I'm being alarmist? Maybe, but Snopes lists a
number of actual
incidents in which guests
checked in to a hotel, complained about a horrible odor in their room, and later
discovered a human body hidden under the bed or mattress. They had literally
been sleeping on top of a corpse. Now who's the
alarmist?
Make Sure Temperature Controls Work
Your room
temperature may seem fine now, but it could become unbearably hot or cold once
you're trying to sleep. If you wait until nighttime to discover that your
climate controls don't work, you may be stuck if there's no maintenance staff on
call to fix the problem and no vacant room for you to switch
to.
Remove the Comforter
Sheets and
pillowcases: easy to wash. Bedspreads? Not so much. So some hotels just … don't.
Even between guests. According to Reneta McCarthy, a former housekeeping manager
for a major American hotel chain, it is possible that a hotel bedspread
might only be
changed four times a year.
And you're not even safe with a duvet that has a removable cover: McCarthy says
that if there is a top sheet between the duvet and the bed, the cover might not
be washed between guests. So before you get into bed, take off the dirty
bedspread!
Unplug or Reset the Alarm Clock
An absent-minded
or mean-spirited guest may have set the bedside alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. Make
sure the alarm has been turned off when you arrive in your room, lest you be
awoken or startled by an unexpected noise. Unfamiliar clocks may be tough to
figure out, so if you have a cell phone, you can use that as an alarm clock
instead. In that case, just unplug the bedside clock
completely.
Put the 'Do Not Disturb' Sign on the Door
Unless you want
housekeeping or a turndown service barging in on you unexpectedly, put the "Do
Not Disturb" sign on your door as you enter. Just remember to take it off the
doorknob in the morning if you want your room
cleaned.
Study the Fire Escape Map
It's unlikely that
you'll ever need it, but you need to have a plan for how you will get out of the
hotel in the case of an emergency. Take a minute to familiarize yourself with
the fire escape route from your room—it could save your
life.
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Special Thanks
goes out of one of our valued readers, Valerie Lapin
for sending this to us.
We thought is
was SO GOOD, we decided to make it a feature
article.
Thanks
Valerie.
Dick &
Allen
Anthem
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