Question: what does a coffee maker do?
If you answered “make coffee”, you are correct. If you answered “wash delicates”…you might be someone spreading damaging “travel hacks” online. (We’ll circle back to this.)
How about a water kettle in your hotel room? Do you use it to boil noodles, corns or sausages – putting such foods straight inside the kettle?
If you answered yes…
This is getting worrying.
We’ve seen those “hacks” online where hotel guests film themselves cooking food using kettles. It must be emphasised that they stick the food inside the kettle; not simply using the kettle to boil the water hot enough to be poured over the food they intent to cook.
Housekeeping staff have been sharing their woes online regarding such guests – with accompanying visuals that are hard to stomach. (Let’s just say rotting corns covered by ants, stuck to the inside of a kettle, is not a pretty sight.)
This “hotel hack” really shouldn’t be followed.
Another hotel hack to avoid is drying clothes using a microwave (if your hotel room has one). This is highly dangerous and can cause fire. A microwave has never been intended for laundry.
Speaking of laundry…
We’ve all seen the video by now. While revolting, it does serve as a cautionary tale – not all who travel are considerate of other travellers (or any human being).
If you have been lucky enough to have avoided the video, basically it shows a woman excitedly sharing a “cool” hack, which she claims to have learned from a flight attendant friend.
She then proceeded to tell her fellow travellers that their hotel room’s coffee maker can, essentially, double as a makeshift washing machine – for their underwear.
Reactions have been largely negative because, of course, plenty of hotel guests enjoy brewing coffee (sans undies) in their rooms.
Worryingly, there are reactions that simply say this is neither new nor surprising.
This unfortunately is true. Prior to this, the most recent occurrence of this “hack” being widely discussed online was perhaps in 2023.
However, at the time, the discourse revolved around how this is one hack that is highly unethical and shouldn’t be practised.
When it resurfaced recently, it was packaged as a convenient solution for anyone who apparently packs so lightly that they’ve come to neglect personal hygiene. (The video was posted on TikTok in November last year, but gained traction this month.)
Rumours have started circulating that Tara Woodcox, the influencer who posted the original video, is now facing lawsuit for her unethical hack.
There is, however, no solid proof of her getting sued at the moment.
