4 tips for a More Comfortable Hotel Stay

There is nothing more enjoyable than discovering a great hotel room. The bed is soft and comfy, the dressing gowns are fluffy and white, and the bath is deep and inviting. Pure bliss.

On the other hand, is there anything more disappointing in life than a poor hotel experience. You’ve handed over your hard-earned cash and you come away feeling worse than if you’d stayed at home, for free.

You can read review after review in advance but quite often you never know if your hotel stay is going to be a good one until you arrive. There are just too many variables to take into account. That said, I have found however that if I prepare a little in advance, I can increase the odds that my hotel stay will at the least be comfortable.

Read on below and I will give you my top 4 tried and tested tips for improving the comfort of your hotel stay.

1. Make friends with the hotel staff

This one is such an easy win that I can’t believe everyone doesn’t do it. Whenever you check in anywhere always make sure to get the names of the staff on the door and reception. Afterall they will know your name from your reservation, it’s only polite for you to know theirs.

Plus, every single time you enter and exit the hotel you will be greeted by these same faces, why not put a name to the face. Not only will the smiles be more genuine, but also should you need to make any special requests, they are going to be far more likely to make an effort to deliver. Believe me it’s worth building a little bit of a relationship. Plus being nice is nice.

Why do we feel so comfortable around our friends, because they know us. It stands to reason if we get to know our hotel staff we will feel a bit more comfortable around them too. Wouldn’t you agree?

2. Unpack

Even if i’m only staying in a hotel for two nights, I always make sure to unpack fully and tuck my empty case away in a cupboard. There is something very relaxing about coming back to a tidy room.

I don’t have much more to say on this one, apart from it works for me. Why not give it a whirl and see if it works for you too?!

3. Bring creature comforts

Researchers have discovered that our brains are hardwired to sleep poorly in strange locations, including hotel rooms. That’s why we often don’t sleep very well on the first night or two of a holiday. Apparently a section of our brain stays on alert, as a lookout for danger. This is an evolutionary hangover from our hunter-gatherer days living among the beasties in the woods.

While useful for our caveman ancestors it’s a little bit of an annoyance for the modern hotel guest. Fortunately there are ways to trick our brains into relaxing, these mainly involve bringing along creature comforts from home. Pillow cases in particular do wonders as they will both smell and feel just like home, fooling the brain into thinking it’s safely tucked up in your normal bedroom.

If you sleep with any sleep aids at home, such as eye mask, ear plugs or ambient sound generators then by all means bring them along.  They will be very helpful in helping you have a more comfortable stay.

4. Don’t be afraid to swap

Many of us are just too nice, often to our own detriment. This is especially true when it comes to hotels. If your room is noisy, too dark, too bright or just has a strange vibe, then please don’t be afraid to ask to swap.

Most hotels will go out of there way to ensure you have a pleasant stay and even if they can’t swap your rooms they may be able to do something to make your stay a little bit more comfortable.

Also, if your pillow is a bit weird, say something about, a lot of hotels will have a secret menu of pillows to suit a lot of different sleeping styles. I mention this only because I only recently found this out and as someone who favours a hard pillow at home, I was amazed how my establishments had one to suit me on standby.

As with anything, you can’t do any harm by asking. The worst that can happen is they say no. If you’ve taken my advice from tip 1 and made friends with the staff on arrival they are far more likely to go above and beyond to make your stay more comfortable.

Well, there you have it – 4 ways to make you next hotel stay a little bit more comfortable. Give them a spin. After all what do you have to lose? Happy travels!