Forgetting your suit, shoes, laptop, cellphone charger, passport or even a favorite toiletry item at the hotel can make you grumpy or send you into a state of alarm. Turns out nearly a third of American travelers have left something behind in a hotel room, with clothing, toiletries and electronic chargers at the top of the list.
Here are a few key tips from our years of travel experience to ensure you never forget your favorite items in the hotel room:
Be a creature of habit. When you know your phone is always on a bedside table or your shoes are beside the bed, you learn where to look.
Put all of your little things, like jewelry, smartphone or chargers, in one place, either on a nightstand or a corner of a desk.
Instead of unpacking, just hang up a few clothes that need to de-wrinkle but live out of your suitcase. Use the packing cubes we so love so you can organize items in your open suitcase.
To remember items hanging in a closet, leave a sliding closet door open. If the closet is behind a hinged door, hang something on the doorknob or over the top of the door.
Put ONE shoe in the safe with your valuables. You won’t get so far without it!
Place a note on the inside doorknob or on the floor next to the door with a reminder on it, such as “cellphone charger next to bed.” Hard to get out of the room without seeing it.
Don’t overlook a hotel balcony. If you put something out to dry, use the above note trick or put one shoe out there with your other stuff.
To not forget toiletries in hotel rooms, rely on a kit with compartments – we prefer ones that you hang and hold everything. Just unhang, zip and pop into the suitcase.
Do one last room sweep. If traveling as a duo, both of you should do what we call a “room sweep” and look under beds, in bathrooms, on balconies and behind nightstands.
Stop and think for a minute before you step out and consider anything out of the ordinary. Is your suitcase lighter than normal? Was it suddenly easy to get everything in? Then take a last glance for the essentials, like chargers, cell phones, tickets and your passport.
You can easily replace a toothbrush or deodorant, but a few extra moments of care mean you won’t panic when you realize a charger or jewelry is still on the table of a hotel now two cities away.
HI Travel Tales, Michael Hodgson and Therese Iknoian, are husband-and-wife senior travel experts. The two are veteran journalists, award-winning writers and photographers with a lifetime of globetrotting behind them. Together, the pair offers readers a glance at popular destinations and uncommon places. From mountain trails and remote islands to urban neighborhoods and small villages, their backgrounds blend together to create a compelling travel blog that not only sparks inspiration but educates the reader about the world around us all. Stay connected to Hi Travel Tales by visiting their blog.