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2022 Summer Travel Etiquette: How To Be the Perfect Hotel Guest

20 Jun 2022 By: Diane Gottsman

Travel is back in full swing, with families booking trips to their favorite vacation spots or finally checking off destinations from their bucket lists. It’s important to pack your hotel etiquette along with your favorite swimsuit and sunscreen. While staying at a hotel should feel like a home away from home, only better, because there is less to worry about, appropriate guest behavior is expected for everyone staying in a public or private facility, regardless of the price point. Be a dream hotel guest with our best 2022 summer travel etiquette reminders.

2022 Summer Travel Etiquette | Beautiful tropical beach front hotel resort with swimming pool, sun-loungers and palm trees during a warm sunny day, paradise destination for vacations

2022 Summer Travel Etiquette: How To Be the Perfect Hotel Guest

Keep Your Room Tidy, and Don’t Forget to Tip

Some hotels are still experiencing shortages when it comes to staff, especially housekeeping, and regardless of how many attendants may be on duty, it’s courteous to keep your mess to a minimum. Don’t toss your trash on the floor or leave wet towels on the bed. Some hotels request you leave your dirty towels in a specific part of the room, so there is no confusion around which towels are ready for a wash. Housekeepers greatly appreciate you handling the basics such as flushing the toilet, placing trash into the receptacle and putting your personal belongings in a place that makes sense, where there is no room for confusion. If you leave money on the nightstand, it may look like a tip. And, speaking of tips, always leave 3 – 5 dollars per night for the housekeeper with a simple note indicating it is for them.

black and white flip flops on a sandy beach

Put On Your Shoes

Avoid wearing your pajamas to breakfast, even if you are staying on a concierge floor and your room is next door to the hospitality room. If you want to run out for a cup of coffee or a bagel or buffet, dress as if you are going to see people because you will. Even early in the morning, or late at night, you are not in your own home. Please put on your shoes when traipsing through the hotel; it’s not your living room. Wear pool shoes (at a minimum) when walking through the lobby, out to the pool for sanitary and safety reasons.

Lower Your Voice

When making your way through the hallway to your room, remember that the walls are thin, and the door is flimsy. Guests can most likely hear everything you are saying as you walk by, even when you are speaking in a regular voice. As the night goes on and the drinks start to flow, walking back to your room can be a loud experience unless you are aware of your volume. Your kids may be having the time of their life at the pool and enjoying all of the attractions, but don’t let them use the hallway as a racecourse or a play yard.

Housekeeping cart in the hotel corridor. Horizontal, light blue toning

Stay Away From the Hotel Supply Cart

As the housekeepers clean each room, they often leave their carts outside the door. This is not your opportunity to raid it for all of the pretty smelling lotions and shampoos. While you are offered complimentary amenities in your room, loading up on extras is not the purpose of the small bottles of gel and soap. The same goes for grabbing multiple towels and washcloths that you don’t intend to use but want some extra “just in case.”

Keep Your Fingers Out of the Buffet

If your hotel offers complimentary breakfast, by all means, enjoy. Use the utensils provided to serve yourself, and make sure the children keep their little fingers out of the cheese, fruit and cereal until you help them serve it on their plate.

Address Concerns Right Away

If your room isn’t what you expected—perhaps you requested two double beds and were greeted with a king bed when you opened the door—bring it to the attention of the front desk team right away. Similarly, as you settle into your room, if something doesn’t meet your expectations or seem right, promptly communicate with the staff and allow them an opportunity to resolve things. The management team would prefer to exceed your expectations rather than remedy the damage of a poor online review.

Following a few simple rules can make every hotel guest feel more comfortable and allow you and your family time to enjoy your stay.

For more information about working with Diane, America’s “Go to” social and professional (manners) skills authority, please visit The Protocol School of Texas. 

You may also like The Rudest Things You Can Do At A Hotel. See what Diane is up to by following her on Instagram and Facebook. Find etiquette inspiration on her Pinterest account and keep up with her latest tweets. For more of Diane’s etiquette tips, refer to her posts on Inc. and HuffPost. 

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Diane Gottsman

Diane Gottsman is a national etiquette expert and modern manners professional, sought out industry leader, television personality, accomplished speaker, Huffington Post blogger, author, and the owner of The Protocol School of Texas, a company specializing in executive leadership and etiquette training. Diane is routinely quoted in national and international media including The New York Times, The BBC, CNN, Bloomberg Business Week, Kiplinger, Huffington Post Canada, U.S. News and World Report, and Forbes. She is the resident etiquette expert for two popular morning talk shows, SA Living and Good Day Austin. She has been seen on The TODAY Show, HLN Headline News, WGN Chicago, and CBS Sunday Morning. Her clients range from university students to Fortune 500 companies and her workshops cover topics ranging from tattoos in the workplace to technology at the dinner table and the proper use of social media.