Max Engel - the 8BitKid » Clotheslines in Hotel Bathrooms, WTF?

As I was spending some quality time in a hotel bathroom last weekend, it occurred to me that in all my many stays as a variety of hotels around the world, I have never once had any reason to use the retractable clothesline. For those that haver absolutely no idea what I am talking about, next time your are in a hotel room, check in the shower, and there is a good chance you will find the contraption pictured above hiding in plain sight.

Now, I understand why there is an iron in the closet, even if I don’t choose to use it, but the clothesline makes no sense to me. How many people are doing laundry in their room? When I was in Alaska I had this utility powder that could be used as detergent or body wash, and I may have used the clothesline in one of the lodges I was in, but that is pretty much the only time I had all the right ingredients on hand to make a hotel room laundromat. However, does the Westin at Union Square in downtown San Francisco really get that many people that make use of this? Unless Macgyver is staying there, I imagine not.

However, this is coming from a man who owns no pots or pans, so I can’t claim to have much understanding of the ways of being a real adult. So, dear readers, have you ever been a guest in a hotel and had a reason to use the clothesline?

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5 Responses

Steve Spencer

Just spent a week in Cancun. We used it to hang wet bathing suits. Good luck on the new gig.

the 8bitkid

excellent point. i tend to visit cold places, so i’m not used to that use-case :-)

Zelda

Bathing suits and underwear. Anything hand-washed. I love clotheslines. I need more of them in my life.

Senshi

If you travel on the cheap or are traveling light and in a hurry they are practical for hand washing and drying small things like socks, underwear etc…Saves a bit of money instead of paying the hotel to wash them.

Nachy

…which is exactly why it doesn’t make sense for a hotel to put them in. am i wrong?

now for wet bathing suits in balmy locales it makes sense. and for hostels and cheap travel lodges, sure. but it still doesn’t explain the clothesline’s presence at the westin st. francis.