Jan 8, 2018
Time Stamped Show Notes:
0:05 – Intro (Steampunk Girl by John Anealio)
0:31 - Host Introduction; Gail Carriger and Piper J Drake
0:56 - Where have the ladies traveled to this week?
0:59 - Piper regrettably stayed at a swanky hotel in Princeton, New Jersey that she last stayed at in college (Trenton State). But this time... under construction.
3:45 - Predators, a SyFy movie; and how that applies to Piper's travel whammy
4:43 - "Lobby-Talk" the podcast within the podcast
6:29 - Gail gives a great tip to find out about construction; sort Yelp reviews by date!
7:18 - Discussion of other great pre-trip research resources (TripAdvisor, etc); you can sort by "business"
8:23 - Main Topic -> HACKING HOTEL ROOMS
8:41 - Gail is an unpacker - if she's staying for more than one night
9:26 - This is where "kits" come into play (go back and listen to Episode 5 for more info on them) - they go into their own specific zones that will be common to nearly all hotel rooms regardless of owning/operating company
10:05 - Gail's number one hotel room hack: ironing boards
11:06 - Steam can get wrinkles out of clothes; best to bring them in to the shower area while you shower?
13:01 - Dupione dresses
13:32 - Thai silk suits
14:45 - Iron use tips; don't trust them the way you trust your iron at home (iron a wet hotel washcloth as a test)
15:56 - Piper's bloomers and 'splodin her bag
16:20 - Bring your clothes on cheap metal hangers
17:06 - Create separate areas for dayjob and other work - the physical locations being different help with putting yourself in the right mindset to do that specific kind of work despite being away from your more familiar home setup
19:15 - Designate a "business zone" that will not be contaminated with your other things; itinirary for event, envelope for business expense reciepts, notepad, etc
19:41 - To room service, or not to room service? Sometimes if you order food for "more than one person" they'll bring you an extra table on wheels
21:42 - "Heads in Beds" and a baby brick
22:56 - At checkin slide your credit card across the counter... followed by your baby brick - and watch it make magic happen
23:41 - The real magic words: "Anything you can do for me would be great."
24:57 - concierge suite access (free bottled water, snacks, and weekday breakfasts which makes life better in general)
25:48 - tipping style and ettiquette is important with the baby brick - don't be obnoxious about it
28:14 - take advantage of social media (particularly regionaly) to compliment good service at chain hotels
29:23 - story-time from Piper - she was booked into a hotel by dayjob and in the middle of the night a strange man started pouding on her door demanding to be let in. The front desk took the random strangers side... this eventually led to chocolate strawberries - at a different hotel
31:08 - fill out the reiew cards with the positive things that happened to/for you during your stay
33:04 - don't forget, every big hotel chain has a record on you
33:35 - Gadgets!
Gail:
"Heads In Beds" by Jacob Tomsky
"A Reckless
Memoir of Hotels, Hustles, and So-Called Hospitality"
Piper: Silk pajamas = protection for your
delicate bits from bedbugs
36:45 - bonus gadget -> sleep sacks (they can serve dual purpose as shaws or scarfs)
37:42 - you can check the "bed bug registry" to double check your hotel before your stay
38:11 – Outro and thanks
to: Producer
Matt &
John Anealio for his song Steampunk
Girl
Thanks for listening and safe travels!