I’m a flight attendant and here are my secret hotel tips

A flight attendant shared her best travel secrets, including using shower caps for shoes and a hanger for your curtains.

Esther Sturrus, who works for Dutch airline KLM, has stayed in hotels around the world and regularly updates her TikTok followers of over 180,000 people with ways to make travel easier.

From a young age she always dreamed of becoming a flight attendant and at the age of 16 she completed three years of aviation training before joining TUI in 2019 and moving to her current company in 2020.

Now Esther, 22, from Rotterdam in the Netherlands, has revealed her top tips and tricks to keep in mind while travelling.

In a clip uploaded on TikTok, which has garnered 1.2 million views and more than 52,000 likes, she shares insights into the top 10 things to remember while abroad. Here we explore some of her methods…

LEAVE A SHOE IN THE SAFE

Many hotels, hostels and holiday homes have a safe in which holidaymakers can store expensive items that they want to keep under lock and key.

Esther said, “My biggest tip is to leave your shoe in the safe. This way you will never forget anything from your safe again. You’ll notice when you want to leave that you’re missing a shoe, it’s quite funny too!’

PLEASE PUT A LITTLE TOWEL WHEN YOU GET TO YOUR HOTEL

Esther said, “When you’re on airplanes, the dry air always bothers you. And it’s not nice if you also have dry air in your hotel room.

‘So another big tip from me is, when you arrive at your accommodation, wet a small towel and put it in front of the heater. That water evaporates and in a small hotel room that can bring some relief.’

CREATE SPACE BY ROLLING CLOTHING

When it comes to packing, most travelers will try to fit as much as possible into bags and suitcases, and rolling your clothes will allow you to fit as much as you want.

Esther added, “It always seems like there’s never enough room in your luggage when packing for a great trip. However, one of the best travel tips for packing is to roll your clothes instead of folding them.”

CHEAPER AIR FLIGHTS WITH PRIVATE BROWSING

Often travel sites and airlines record your browsing history by installing cookies in your browser.

“These companies know how often you visit their site and will typically raise the price because of your frequent visits,” she noted. “Therefore, by using private browsing, nothing can be tracked or traced.”

EMAIL A SCAN OF YOUR PASSPORT TO YOURSELF

This is one of Esther’s greatest tips as it can be very useful. The 22-year-old said: ‘Having proof of who you are is vital on international flights. Especially if you are the victim of a burglary or loss.’

USE A HANGER FOR YOUR CURTAINS

She added, “Do your curtains not close properly? Use a clothes hanger! You clip this on the curtain so that no more light comes in between.’

CHARGE ELECTRONIC DEVICES VIA A TV

“One of the most innovative travel hacks is to charge your electronic devices through a TV,” says Esther. “This is very useful if you’ve forgotten or lost your charger plug.”

DO NOT PUT YOUR TOOTHBRUSH ON THE LUMP

Esther adds: ‘I never find sinks that fresh. So I turn a paper cup upside down and stick my toothbrush in it. Then I don’t have to put it on the sink.’

USE YOUR HAIRDRYER ON YOUR MIRROR

The 22-year-old said, “If your mirror is steamed up after a shower, put a hair dryer on it, or hair dryer next to it, and it will go right away.”

USE A SHOWER CAP FOR YOUR SHOES

Use a shower cap over your shoes, the flight attendant said. “This way your clothes won’t get dirty when you put your shoes in the suitcase,” she said.

In the clip, she demonstrates how to close your curtains with a hanger, before going on to show that you can charge your phone by plugging it into a television.

She then shows that a shower cap is useful not only for your hair, but also for wrapping your shoes around before putting them in a suitcase, keeping your clothes clean.

Esther then demonstrates putting one of her heels in a locker, showing that this way you won’t forget because it’s a pair.

She also shows off a shower cap wrapped around her remote control to prevent it from spreading germs. Esther also reveals that any card can be used for electricity in a hotel room, by inserting one of her own cards into her room key lock.

She captioned the video: “Hotel hacks from a flight attendant.”

Users flocked to the comments to share their reactions, and many were impressed by the hidden tricks.

One person said, ‘Where can you put ANY card for enlightenment???’ Another commented, “Wow! These are really cool ideas. Thanks for sharing!’

Someone else wrote: “High heels shoe hack great idea.” While another said, ‘The pendant! Thank you, I hate light in the room at 6am and as a man I don’t have accessories for girls.’

“One of the most useful videos here,” another user added. “To use the shower cap – never thought of it!” someone else said.