“I tend to completely unpack in hotel rooms and keep all the clothes hung in the closet or laid out neatly in drawers. If the closet is awkward though or I’m just staying for a single night, I’ll just leave the clothes in the suitcase. Dirty clothes go in a designated drawer or bag, which makes it easier when it is time to return back home.”
This is what Melinda Danielsen wrote in this article at Magic of Miles when talking about using the closet in a hotel room — which prompted me to think about how I use the closet or drawers whenever I am a guest at a room in a hotel or resort property.
Closet
Most of my stays are one or two nights. While I never completely unpack my trusty bag, I do tend to hang a shirt or two, pants and a coat as I use them or am about to use them; and I will place my bag on the top shelf of the closet so that it is out of the way when a member of the housekeeping staff cleans and maintains the room in which I am staying as a guest.
If there are zippered pockets on one side of my bag, I will face that side against the wall on the top shelf in the closet. This is a way for me to detect whether or not anyone has rifled through my bag — as well as keep the zippered pockets hidden.
Another tactic I might do is to place items on top of my bag — such as a folder with papers, for example — to again detect if my bag had been touched.
In all of the years in which I stayed in hotel rooms, I have never had an item stolen or pilfered — and I do not recall the last time I used the safe behind the front desk at a hotel property.
You might wonder why I do not use the safe in a hotel room if one is available; and the answer is in this article pertaining to 6 tips on how not to lose your personal belongings while traveling.
Drawers
As for drawers, I do not use them for three reasons: I am not confident that they are clean; I prefer to hang my clothes instead of fold them and place them in a drawer; and I do not want to forget anything and leave any items behind when I leave. Out of sight, out of mind, as the saying goes — and yes, I know I could open every drawer in the room and check before I leave…
…and yet, the trend with hotel rooms for the future seems to be without desks. I find a desk with plenty of electrical outlets is far more useful than a chest of drawers or a dresser.
Summary
I travel light — typically with one bag; although I also now carry a small camera bag — so although I do use the closet in a hotel room, it is usually minimally; and I virtually never use drawers in a hotel room.
If I have any items which I do not plan to use while I am a guest at a hotel or resort property, I simply will not unpack it; and it will usually be packed at or near the bottom of my bag.
I suppose that I am an anomaly; but I do not see the point of packing and unpacking. I would rather save time and effort towards the reasons why I am a guest at a hotel or resort property in the first place.
Do you use the closet or drawers in a hotel room? Please post your thoughts in the Comments section below.
Photograph ©2015 by Brian Cohen.
