Do you have an established routine for when traveling and staying at a hotel? Many people around the globe have their secrets for being an elite traveler, below we've compiled the top seven tips for getting ready at a hotel.

Perhaps you are staying at a hotel during a customer visit or convention for work, booked a room for an out-of-town wedding, or you're on vacation. No matter if you're traveling and staying at a hotel for business or pleasure, having an established routine can help your hotel stay be more comfortable, enjoyable, and productive. Even if you already have an established routine that works for you, here are some useful tips and ideas for preparing to stay in a hotel room.

#1 Plan + Organize Your Outfits

Whether you have a dress code for an event or typical business casual attire pre-plan your outfits before you leave. (We've been told that packing cubes and rolling your outfits are the way to go.)  Planning your travel outfits can save you a lot of time on your trip and a lot of space on your luggage. And this goes for both men and women. While packing before you leave home, it’s good to think through the various parts of your travel itinerary to get an idea of what types of outfits you expect to need to accommodate the various weather conditions and types of activities you’ll be doing. Will you be in a climate that is cold and rainy climate or hot and humid? Will most of your time be spent on work, vacation, or a combination of both? When selecting your travel outfits, think about comfort, versatility, and style. Choose staple items that can easily be mixed and matched together to create multiple outfits so you can bring less clothing but still have lots of flexibility in your outfit choices.

#2 Sickness Prevention

Whether you have a tough immune system or not, it's smart to give it a boost before jumping on a plane or heading out of town. With new places and added stress, your body is weakened during travel and taking Emergen-C to ward off any sickness is a pro-traveler tip. Catching a cold or other illness while traveling for work or fun is one of the quickest ways to ruin your hotel stay and indeed your entire trip. Many travelers have found that an effective way to ward off colds while traveling is to take nutritional supplements before and during their travel time. One of the more popular examples of this is Emergen-C. Emergen-C is an over-the-counter nutritional supplement that contains vitamin C and other nutrients designed to boost your immune system and increase energy. It can be mixed with water to create a beverage and is a popular choice during cold and flu season—or anytime you are traveling—for extra protection against infections. 

#3 Keep Your Routine

Mimicking your at-home routine while traveling is an important way to keep your mind and body calm while traveling. If you are a person who typically drinks a cup of tea and reads before bed, bring your tea and a book in your suitcase. If you work out in the morning or go for a walk before work, don't skip that just because you're away from home. Following your routine will help keep your body regulated and will help with keeping your sleep schedule while traveling. 

#4 Wrinkle-Free Clothes

Keep your clothes fresh and not wrinkled. No one wants to wear clothes that are wrinkled and stale. Especially when traveling, keep your clothes fresh and wrinkle-free so you can feel more comfortable while away from home. The first thing you should do is unpack and hang up as many of your clothes on hangers as you can, allowing gravity to help pull out any wrinkles. An alternative to steaming or ironing is to use a wrinkle-release spray on your clothes after you remove them from your suitcase. Wrinkle-release sprays are specially formulated to relax the fabric's fibers, allowing you to smooth out any creases. Many also help refresh fabrics and get rid of static, while others are infused with fresh scents that make dirty clothes smell freshly laundered.

#5 Adjust the Temp

One factor that can make any hotel room feel more comfortable is setting its thermostat to the temperature in your home. Before you travel, take note of your home thermostat’s temperature setting. When you first arrive in your hotel room, look for the thermostat and adjust it to that same setting. Hotel thermostats can vary widely in the room temperature they produce at various settings, so you may need to adjust the setting up or down a bit to get it perfect. You can also adjust the fan setting to help get to the temperature you want more quickly. The right temperature mixed with comfy hotel pillows will help ensure you sleep perfectly!

#6 Set a Backup Alarm

Oversleeping while traveling can cause you to miss important work events or fun vacation activities. A good way to avoid oversleeping is to set more than one alarm. Most smartphones let you set multiple alarms, so if you sleep through the first one, you can be awakened by the second (or third). But what if your smartphone runs out of battery in the middle of the night? You’ll have no alarms to awaken you. An alternate way to handle this is to set a backup alarm on a secondary device. You might set a backup alarm on your smartwatch, on your hotel room’s alarm clock, or even go old school and ask the hotel’s front desk to give you a wake-up call. It's a great way to start your day off and the HIGRDT team is always happy to make the call.

#7 Pack Travel Sizes Products

Nearly all of us have beauty, toiletry, hygiene, and other similar products we use at home. But it can be cumbersome to take full-sized versions of those products when we travel. A way to avoid wasting precious space in your suitcase or travel bag is to bring smaller versions of those products. In some cases, your favorite products, or similar substitutes, can be found in travel-sized packaging at local stores or online. If you can’t find your favorite products or a reasonable substitute, you can purchase small bottles, tubes, and other travel containers that you can fill with smaller amounts of your products before you leave home. These bottles are refillable and reusable for multiple trips. In addition, using toiletry bottles when traveling allows you to bring your favorite beauty products in a checked bag when flying. Properly sized containers will meet TSA guidelines of a capacity of 3.4 ounces (100 milliliters) or less, allowing you to carry your toiletries onboard, as well as saving precious space.

Bonus Tip: Keep these travel sizes in your suitcase if you travel frequently so you don't have to get them around each time you head out

Traveling can be fun and thrilling, but also stressful and out-of-routine. These are just a few tips and ideas you can use to get ready to stay in a hotel and to help make your stay even more comfortable, enjoyable, and productive. Book a room in Grand Rapids today and stay with the Holiday Inn Grand Rapids Downtown team for a welcoming atmosphere.