Stop Crouching Down To Reach Your Luggage With Samantha Brown's Game-Changing Hotel Hack

You know how it can sometimes take an eternity to unpack your luggage once you get home from a trip? The same feeling also tends to creep in when you've just arrived in your hotel room at the beginning of your vacation when all you want to do is call it a day and unwind on your king-sized bed — outside clothes and all. Then again, the guilt of leaving your suitcase looms over you, as if it's nagging you to organize its contents. If crouching down and sorting through your items is the last thing on your mind, you can at least make the process easier. There's a solution within reach (literally) — it's the ironing board tucked away in the closet.

Forget the luggage rack, which might have gross pests lurking around (that is, if your hotel room is even equipped with one). The ironing board can function as your alternative desk, especially if you happen to have booked a room with limited counter space. While most pigeonhole it as the go-to to help de-wrinkle that flowy dress they've been dying to wear, the ironing board is actually a jack-of-all-trades of sorts, from serving as a nightstand to an added layer of security for your door. No, really. Just ask travel guru Samantha Brown.

Before you go and ask why you couldn't use your bed instead, well, just think about where your luggage has been. "My common sense says I would not want to put my suitcase on the bed that I'm going to sleep in because of where the suitcases have traveled," Lin H. Chen, an associate professor at Harvard Medical School, told The Washington Post. Putting your suitcase on the freshly-made bed means tainting it with whatever bacteria you've picked up along the way. The ironing board functions as a great alternative, because not only does it save your bed from becoming a hotspot for germs, but it also spares you from pulling a muscle from bending over with its height-adjustable design.

Samantha Brown explained in a viral TikTok video how versatile these boards can be for your hotel stay. "[It's] really handy when you're sharing one room with your family and just running out of places to put things, or hey, maybe it's just you and you travel with a lot of stuff. The ironing board doesn't judge," she said. Need to get some work done? You can use it as your workspace, too. "[My] absolute favorite use is to turn it into a desk, stand up desk or sit down. I'm not staring at a wall. Instead, I've got a lot of beautiful natural light and a really nice view," she explained. "Get it out of the closet. It's time to let it shine."

If you have ample counter space in your hotel room and don't really need to use the ironing board as a table or as extra storage space, you can also use it for safety. For the solo traveler alone in a hotel and wishing to feel safer at night, TikTok user @plussizedfun shows how you can use the feet of the iron board and tether it to the hotel lock to add another layer of resistance. "Just a reminder that you can slide the ironing board in your hotel room up under the door handle to keep it locked," they demonstrated. "Just a little extra, you know, peace of mind."

But in the event that the design of your hotel door locks can't accommodate your ironing board or vice versa, another option is to simply prop the board against the door, as showcased by user @stronglikemycoffee. "This isn't going to keep the intruder out but if somebody tries to break in, it's gonna fall over, hopefully scare them, and definitely wake you up so you have time to react," they said.

Whatever you decide to do with your ironing board, whether for functional uses or precautionary measures, Samantha Brown said that you mustn't forget to keep it clean for the next occupant. "People still need to iron on it. So be considerate," she said in the caption of her TikTok post. "Put a towel down if there's a chance for spills or stains."