I love coming across different kinds of “hacks”. Whether they be useful in everyday life or to help with my travel obsession, it’s always great to learn a new trick or two.
I came across an article (with a video) from Yahoo Travel which shares a few hotel travel hacks. Only one of these tips was new to me while the other two I wouldn’t typically think of as a hack.Either way, all of these hacks can be helpful and potentially save us some money during our hotel stays.
Here are the hacks:
- Charge your phone using the TV: According to the article many new HD TV’s have a USB port next to the HDMI port. You can use this to charge your phone. I’m just about always complaining to Kim about the lack of outlets in hotel rooms. This is a great trick to use an extra charging option. (I checked the TV in the room of the hotel we are currently staying. There was no USB port present…)
- Stock up before you go: Rather than use your hotel room’s mini-bar, go to the store and purchase what you think you will need. You can also stop by the hotel’s fitness center to usually fill up your water. I’ve never used an item from a hotel mini-bar. With the crazy mark-ups why would I! This “hack” should probably be more of a given for most.
- Join the hotel rewards program for free Wi-Fi: The article says that major chains like Hyatt, Hilton, Fairmont and Marriott offer various perks for joining their loyalty programs. Wi-Fi happens to be one of them. This isn’t always the case and sometimes you might need to use the free Wi-Fi in the lobby. (This was the case during our stay at the Hilton Helsinki at the end of the summer.) Either way, it (obviously) always pays to join loyalty programs for hotels. You never know what perks might come along with membership!
What do you think of Yahoo Travel’s Hotel-Hacks? Are these things you already do or did you learn something new?
If you have any other hotel-hacks to share, please let us know what they are in the comments below!
Find out more about Yahoo’s Hotel-Hacks here.
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Regarding charging your phone via the TV, just beware that TV’s are hackable too. I wouldn’t plug my device into a semi-public TV. It’s like plugging your phone into a public computer. You never know who has been there before you and what they’ve done. So beware, that hotel hack could lead to your life being hacked.
guest- Thanks for the warning! Interesting stuff. I had no clue that a TV could be hacked.
DaninMCI- I agree that these tips can seem obvious but my guess is that not everyone thinks to go out and shop for snacks/ drinks. You could also say that joining rewards programs are a given but I’d bet loads of people are not members!
Megan- You’re very welcome! Glad you could get some new ideas from the post! I’ve never heard of the Seychelle bottle before. It looks pretty good!
I like the free filtered water tip. Thanks!
(Though I must say, I bought a Seychelle filtering water bottle a year ago and love/use it everyday. Absolutely makes tap water drinkable.)
They are ok and a use some of this but the shopping to avoid minibar is too obvious. It’s like saying run out to mcdonalds to avoid room service. Of course you can many times.
While #1 is a good idea for some TVs, using the USB port with certain VOD systems will actually disable the TV (and can be a pain to get it back running again). Just keep that in mind …
Thanks for the tip! I haven’t tried to use a TV’s USB to this point.