There is something fun about staying overnight in a hotel room at a mid-class hotel. You’ve arrived to your destination after a long day of travel. You’re finally off the road. You’ve hauled all the luggage in. You’ve got your room key card. You swipe the card, the light turns green, you hear a lock unlock, and there in front of you are two perfectly made beds, clean towels, a desk, lamps, and TV. There is a particular clean smell that you remember from hotel stays past, but can’t quite put your finger on what it is. You’ve paid handsomely for the right to call this home for a night or two, and it’s time to make it yours.

For the next two days, the rules of your normal home no longer apply. Someone else will be making your bed, picking up after you, and tending to your room service needs.

What would you do first? Run to the toilet? Collapse on the bed? Open the window and admire the view (or lack thereof)? Flip on the TV? Find your swim suit and head straight to the pool? Plug in your dying phone? Locate the ice bucket?

According to a study, most hotel tenants sit on the bed and take their shoes off first. This gives the weary feet a chance to breathe and feel some relief after what was likely a long journey. Next, the traveler will find a place to set luggage, whether that is on a bed not being used, on the floor next to a bed, or a chair. Many people will open their suitcase and examine their belongings, ensuring everything arrived safely.

Many adults will take this opportunity to relieve their bladders, splash some water on their face, and then return to sit on a bed. Men will commonly reach for the TV remote at this point, while women will begin to organize their clothing and toiletries.

While these are all excellent first things to do when arriving, do any of these truly achieve the goal of “breaking in” the hotel room? You are trying to make this feel like home, after all!

The best way to break in a hotel room depends on if you are the lone occupant or not. Most solo travelers will break in the room by strutting around in just underwear, if not the nude. Nothing says “Ah, I’m home,” like kicking off clothes and letting it all hang out. If you were fortuitous enough to plan ahead and bring alcohol, now is an appropriate time to crack open that bottle of wine or whiskey.

Couples or families will often break in the room by remarking to each other about how they are happy to be settled in, and then begin discussing the first meal they intend to eat. If check-in was very late, however, everyone may prefer to simply claim their sleeping areas and begin rotating through the bathroom to brush teeth and change into night garments. Whereas families may not normally permit kids to watch TV late at night, a special exception could be made in a hotel room.

What would you do to break-in a hotel room? Let us know in the comments!

My Hot Take:
There are few moments that I enjoy more than when a hotel room door unlocks and I walk in to see a sparkling clean room. Over the next few days, Lord only knows what’s going to go down in this room. But for now, the possibilities are endless. Being a large, sweaty man, I almost always head directly to the shower at a hotel, due to the rigors of travel, especially when it’s over 45º.

tl;dr
The key to breaking in a hotel room is to do something that makes you feel at home.