Whenever we go on holiday, there are so many types of accommodations we can choose from. There’s the hostels, home stays, Airbnb and of course, hotels. And when Malaysians book a hotel, there are certain things we almost always do.
So, let’s see if you’ve done any of em:
1. Practicing superstitious beliefs
Parents particularly practice superstitious beliefs such as:
- Knocking on the hotel room door before entering
- Making sure the the shoes are not aligned (for fear of spirits wearing them)
- Saying “excuse me, we are staying for a few nights here” into thin air
- Opening all the curtains to “let the sunlight in and chase away the evil spirits”.
2. Jump on the beds
But of course, for the less superstitious people, the first thing we do is kick off our shoes and jump on the beds. There’s just something about hotel beds that seem more bouncy than our own beds at home!
3. We squeeze more people into one room than the allowed capacity
It’s probably an Asian thing: to save as much as you can! Most of us have tried squeezing a family of 4 or 5 into a hotel room for 2. Many of us would even split the bed in half by pulling the mattress down! Don’t lie, most of us have done it.
4. Ensuring everyone gets the free buffet breakfast
As most hotels include free breakfast buffets, squeezing a large number of people into a room intended for only 2 would mean there are some people who would not be able to enjoy the buffet. Or would they?? For us lazy peeps, we’d usually skip the breakfast but other times we do try our luck anyway.
There are a couple of commonly used methods of ensuring everyone gets a good breakfast:
- The Tag Team – The few of you pair up and take turns to eat
- The “My Family Is Inside Waiting For Me” excuse – You give the excuse that your family is already inside dining away and waiting for you… oh, you also can’t remember your room number when the hotel staff wants to check.
5. Tapau food from the breakfast buffet
We Malaysians can be pretty kiamsiap aka kedekut sometimes. We gotta save as much money as possible and tapau-ing food from the breakfast buffet for lunch is a good way to be cost efficient. Let’s be honest here, they’re gonna throw away the leftovers anyway.
6. Leaving the air-conditioning on all day err day!
There is no one in the hotel room, but the air-conditioning will be left on anyways because there’s no better feeling than walking into a cool room after a long day out.
7. Rather eating out than ordering room service
I mean, yes, there’s extra effort going out to find a place to eat but RM15 for fried rice? No thanks!
8. Become too lazy to go out
Occasionally during the holidays, you just wanna hangout by the swimming pool or in the bathtub all day instead of going out to do touristy stuff or follow your supposed itinerary. I mean, we are on a holiday to relax right? Relax lah bro! Our tense muscles needs some easing and it’s a good idea to cuci mata a bit so the pool is our best friend *wink wink*
9. Take everything from the hotel room!
Malaysians will never forget to sapu the minibar and take all the toiletries. As long as the minibar is free of charge, it will be empty before checkout! Oh, don’t forget to call the front desk to request for more shampoo bottles!
Just don’t get caught looting everything.
