Simple hack for quieter exits from hotel rooms

I usually get up first in the morning and work for a bit, catch up on email, and read. I can go without coffee when I first get up. I don’t like making in-room coffee because those machines gross me out and because if the coffee itself isn’t great, I want just a drop of half-and-half in it (and never powdered or shelf-stable creamer).

Once my wife is up, I’ll go to a coffee shop – in the hotel, down the street, or even a Starbucks. But I want to leave the room as quietly as possible. Depending on the room configuration, my daughter might be in our living room on a sofa bed and I’ll have to walk past her to leave. Hotel room doors are loud when they close. I don’t want to wake my daughter leaving the room as the door slams and locks.

Did you know that you can close a hotel room door in near-silence? Just use your key to unlock the door before closing it.

When you unlock the door it will close without slamming. Now you leave your room quietly. Use this whenever you leave if you don’t like the loud slam reverberating down the hall.

Once I started doing this a few years ago, I stopped waking my daughter up when I headed out for coffee. It’s such a small thing but possibly non-obvious, so seemed worth mentioning.