Avoid Using This Common Hotel Room Item During Your Stay

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Sometimes it's best not to think about what goes on in the places you stay on vacation. Some of the details of the average hotel room are horrifying: the bedbugs that travelers deposit as they pass through, reports of two-way mirrors, and the many more people who have access to your room than you think. Never mind that there's a solid chance bodily fluids have recently been exchanged right on the spot where you're about to lay your head.

One thing you might not think to worry about, though, is the kettle. Now for the bad news. Over the last few years, stories about hotel guests' peculiar kettle practices have been cropping up on social media and reported in various media. Some of these stories stretch the bounds of normal imagination.

In the Life Pro Tips subreddit, a user warned people to avoid hotel kettles during their stay because they're used for almost everything but making tea or coffee, be it warming towels, cooking food, or washing underwear. Other users backed up the claims, with some saying that they had coworkers who regularly used hotel kettles for cleaning their undergarments or had even found a pair of boxers left in the kettle itself. Other unusual kettle-related behaviors have spread across the internet, like a video of a man cooking raw meat in one, later shared on the 8days TikTok channel. All of this is put into perspective by the many hotel staff who claim that most items are not thoroughly disinfected by housekeeping.

If you don't want to find a pair of undies flavoring your morning cup of joe, your best bet is to avoid using hotel kettles altogether. But if you're caffeine dependent and there's no breakfast bar, coffee shop, or diner within reach, you may have to get creative. A deep clean is one option, though not many travelers come equipped with bleach, scrubbers, and rubber gloves (a dishwasher tablet is a decent alternative). You could boil water in the kettle, which, in theory, should eradicate almost all pathogens, if not the horrifying images dreamed up by your imagination. 

You can also ask hotel staff — and see if you can trust their answers — about general housekeeping practices regarding the room kettles. And while you're at it, you could extend your enquiry to the dirty surfaces spread throughout your hotel room.

Bringing your own kettle might sound cumbersome, but there are some great portable electric kettles on the market, which is perhaps a natural response to the deluge of hotel kettle horror stories. Options include the Bluelark Electric Kettle by ShineMe, which can be squeezed down like an accordion into a compact disc shape, or Balbali's Portable Electric Kettle, which resembles a mix between a kettle and a thermos flask. It might feel like an unnecessary expense, but generally, travelers pack items they should just buy instead. Ditch one of these to make room for your new portable kettle — so you don't have to try to piece together the backstory of the one in the hotel.