From check in to check out, be the best guest ever in 2011

With New Year’s resolutions offering the chance for a better you, here are a few more for the mix. These resolutions will ensure that in 2011, you’ll be the best hotel guest ever.

While part of the beauty of not sleeping in your own bed is that someone else makes it, keep in mind that the person cleaning your room is not making enough money to clean up after a sloppy you.

The kind of resolutions I’m talking about are those that will have the hotel staff saying after you check out, “What a lovely guest. What a splendid human being.”

It doesn’t take much. I used these myself at our New Year’s Eve stay in Findlay, Ohio at the Hampton Inn.

Resolve to:

1. Put  trash in the trash can. If not all trash fits, put it next to the can for easier pick up.
2. Keep toiletries in one area to make cleaning the vanity around the bathroom sink easier.
3. Put dirty towels in a pile in the bathroom unless you’re staying for another night. If you can use a towel again (good for the environment) hang it on a hook.
4. Pick up clothes and belongings that may be scattered across the floor. You don’t need to put them neatly away, but make it easier for the housekeeper to navigate your room.
5. Put the ironing board away if you’ve used it.
6. Ditto for the iron
7. If hangers have fallen to the floor, hang them back up
8. If you dribble food or liquid on the counter or floor of the breakfast area, wipe it up with a napkin.
9. Leave a tip. Even at an inexpensive hotel, $3 to $5 for a one night stay is a welcome gesture.
10. If something is not working properly, remember your manners to get a problem solved.
11. Smile.
12. Use words like“Excuse me” “Please” and “Thank-you.”

Happy lodging in 2011! Here’s to being the best guest you can be.

Photo credit: Lisa Brewster

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