When you first walk into a hotel room, you might go to the window to see the view, or sit on the bed to feel how comfortable it is, but what you should be doing before any of that is going in the bathroom and flushing the toilet.

Housekeeping likely has been in there, so the worry isn't that the previous guests left something in the toilet, instead it is about another unpleasant surprise. According to Metro, British travel agency eShores collected tips from hotel staff members and quite a few recommended flushing, explaining how the bowls, especially in warmer locations, make for the perfect hiding spots for spiders and insects. An early flush could prevent you from having something crawl on you as you use the toilet.

Among the other helpful tips - making sure you check and clean anything in the room that isn't sealed, especially the coffee pot. Apparently, it isn't often given a deep cleaning by housekeeping and there have been instances of people putting unsanitary items, and body fluids, in it. The same can be true of minibars, where one hotel worker explained a guest once urinated into a bottle from the mini bar, put the cap back on and returned it to the bar, only to have the next guest discover it as they went for a drink.

One other piece of advice is to not check in late. Receptionists revealed that many hotels, especially the budget ones, overbook rooms to maximize their profits since they assume some guests won't wind up showing. If everyone does check in and you are the last one, they won't have any rooms left and will move you to a different hotel nearby. They'll cover the cost to get you there, but you might not be thrilled with the change.

You can see more tips from eShores at Metro.

Mike Porcaro