The One Thing You Should Always Do in a Hotel Room

When you check into your hotel room, there are several things you should do right off the bat. You’ll want to make sure the locks work and clean high-touch surfaces, of course, but perhaps more surprisingly, you should also put your suitcase in the bathtub. Yes, the tub. While it may sound like an unusual suggestion, putting your luggage in the bathtub is a far better option than placing it on the bed, as many travelers automatically do. Find out why you should follow this one simple tip to enjoy a stress-free hotel stay on your next trip.

Watch Out for Bed Bugs

There’s one culprit that can quickly derail a hotel stay: bed bugs. While hotel bed bug infestations are relatively rare, it’s still worth taking a few simple precautions. Most importantly, if you throw your suitcase on the bed without checking for bugs, you risk those tiny critters crawling into your luggage. Once they’ve found a home in your suitcase, you may unknowingly bring them back home with you, which can create major complications after your trip.

Bed bugs thrive on fabric and make their homes in the dark crevices of the bed. They may also be lurking in other hotel room fabrics, such as carpets or drapes. The bathtub, on the other hand, is an inhospitable environment for these bugs, as it’s impossible for them to survive on the glossy ceramic surface. By putting your luggage in the tub, you’re guaranteeing that your clothing will be safe from infestation until you’ve had enough time to scan the room for these tiny mites. Once you’re assured that there are no bed bugs in the room, you can theoretically place your luggage on the bed. However, there are other sanitary reasons unrelated to bed bugs as to why doing so is still a bad idea.

Avoid Contaminating the Bed

Think of all the different surfaces that our luggage comes into contact with while traveling — the floor of the airport, the plane’s cargo hold, and the dirty streets of an unfamiliar city, just to name a few. This leads to an accumulation of dirt on the outside of your luggage, which is another reason why you should put your luggage straight into the tub upon arriving at the hotel.

If you put your suitcase right on the bed, you’re introducing those contaminants to the clean sheets where you’ll be sleeping. But if you put the luggage in the tub, you have a chance to wipe off your bag and remove any dirt straight into the tub, where it’s easy to wash that dirt down the drain afterward.

Tub vs. Luggage Rack

Many hotel rooms feature a dedicated luggage rack where you can unpack your suitcase. This begs the question — why not use that instead of the tub? The luggage rack is definitely a better option than the bed, but it’s usually pretty close to where you’ll be sleeping. Also, some luggage racks are partially made of fabric, which means that bed bugs could be living there. Therefore, it’s recommended to use the luggage rack only as an alternative when the tub is in use or your room doesn’t have one. 

What If There’s No Bathtub?

If you don’t have a tub in your room, you can simply leave the suitcase in the dedicated shower area or another spot in the bathroom, which should also be adequately clean. It may be unconventional, but given the potential concerns with germs and bed bugs, it could be worth keeping your luggage there for the duration of your stay. The tile surfaces in the bathroom are typically easier to clean and won’t hide potential critters. Just make sure you leave a note for the housekeeping staff that you intentionally left the suitcase there.