In last week's Hacker Challenge, we asked you to share your best hotel room hack. We received some great entries, but the winning hack shows us some clever ways to automate a hotel room.
Check out the description of the winning entry below and read about some of our other favorite entries.
Winner: Automate Your Phone With Old Hotel Key Cards
Ashwin travels for work all the time, so he has acquired a bunch of spare NFC hotel keys. He uses the Android app NFC ReTag to repurpose those keys into NFC tags that he can use to control his rooted, NFC-enabled phone. Root is required to control certain phone functions like Airplane Mode and GPS.
In Ahswin's own words:
I usually place at least 2-3 tags (keys) in the hotel room I stay in. The first tag goes by the night stand to use before sleep. That tag turns off Bluetooth, GPS, dims the screen, and then makes sure my alarm is set for the next morning. Another tag goes by the door and I swipe it before starting my day. I've also at times placed one in the bathroom to quickly enable Wifi, turn volume up, and launch Pandora while I get ready for work.
Honorable Mentions
We got a lot of great entries and we'd be remiss if we didn't share some of our favorites. Here are some of the entries that really impressed us.
Open a Bottle
Charlie reminds us that there's no need to damage expensive hotel furniture trying to open a bottle. Most hotels have a built-in solution attached right to the door.
Test Your Room Card Before Heading to Your Room
Greg suggests a great way to avoid getting to your room and only then discovering that your keycard doesn't work. Test it by opening the business center door first. Hotels that provide these usually place them near the lobby.
Turn Your Ironing Board Into a Standing Desk
With so many articles in his news feed reminding him that he should be standing and moving more, Ryan was looking for a way to reduce the amount of sitting he was doing for his consulting job. Sitting in cabs, planes, offices, and hotel rooms was taking its toll. So he converts the ironing board found in most hotel rooms into a standing desk. Here's to your health, Ryan!
Use a Google Voice Number on Your Luggage Tags
LaurelNevans has a beautifully simple suggestion for us?use a Google Voice number on your luggage tags. You can forward that number to your cell phone, a local hotel phone, and even the office where you'll be working. This helps ensure that the people who have your lost luggage have the best chance at tracking you down.
Bring Binder Clips With You On Your Travels
Noah reminds us that we should always bring a few binder clips with us whenever we're staying in a hotel. In his words:
These engineering gems are cheap, small, and have dozens of uses. Some of these include:
- Maximizing your shades and curtains in your room to keep is dark.
- Making a simple drying rack for small items, using a binder clip and a hangar.
- Making a "private" room for a kid or a baby. Or when a work colleague when your company is cheap.
- Keeping your charging cords visible so you don't forget them upon exit.
- As weights for nice shirts, to minimize ironing.
- Clipping to your key, then the "do not disturb"'sign, so you always know where it is.
- Clipping to the coffee sacks to hang up make a stale room smell homier.
- Marking your towel, so others know which not to use.
- And they pack well, inside the flaps of your bags.
A big thanks to everyone who took the time to send us entries! Be sure to check back every week for a new challenge.
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