Stacey Leasca is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Be a Travel Writer, an online course for the next generation of travel journalists. Her photos, videos, and words have appeared in print or online for Travel + Leisure, Time, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many more. You'll usually find her in an airport. If you do see her there, please say hello.

A flight attendant's advice for forgetful travelers? We'll take it.

In a quick, 47-second clip shared on TikTok, Esther, a KLM crew member shares “6 Hotel Hacks from a Flight Attendant” — with one suggestion seeming quite random: put your shoe in your hotel room safe.

"Worried about forgetting something from your locker? Put your heel/shoe in it so you won't forget it!" she wrote while showing herself putting a heel in her hotel room safe. This way, you can’t go without retrieving your shoe and your valuables alongside it. 

Among other tips, the flight attendant shared one of our favorites — using a hanger to clip your curtains closed to create total darkness. (Of course, this one only works with the hangers that have attached clips.) Next, Esther explained that if your international charger isn’t working, you can always take your phone’s USB plug and charge it via the hotel’s TV by plugging it into the back. 

“What else is a shower cap useful for?” Esther continued in her video. “Use it as a cover over your shoes!” she added, placing the cap over her dirty shoes before putting them back in her luggage. 

As for her final two tips, Esther said you can also use your shower cap as a makeshift protective barrier over the remote, which is a notoriously germy place in hotel rooms that rarely gets cleaned. And finally, Esther added, you don’t actually have to use your hotel room key to turn on the electricity. As she showed, you can use any card (think credit cards or ID) to keep the lights on no matter what. 

Clearly, Esther’s tips resonated as the video has more than 48,000 likes and counting. And she gave the people what they want, with a “Hotel Hacks Part 2” video that you can find and view on her account right now. 

As for other tips from flight attendants, thanks to their globetrotting jobs, they’ve got the goods on what to eat (and what not to eat) on planes, freebies you never knew about, and how to make the entire travel process smoother.

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