This Is the First Thing a Flight Attendant Does When She Checks Into a Hotel Room for Safety

Allyah McIntyre's hotel safety routine is going viral on TikTok for good reason.

Stacey Leasca is an award-winning journalist and co-founder of Be a Travel Writer, an online course for the next generation of travel journalists. Her photos, videos, and words have appeared in print or online for Travel + Leisure, Time, Los Angeles Times, Glamour, and many more. You'll usually find her in an airport. If you do see her there, please say hello.

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If there's one group of people we should all be taking travel advice from, it's flight attendants — especially when it comes to personal safety. Just take flight attendant Allyah McIntyre as the perfect example.

The U.S.-based flight attendant is not only diligently keeping us all safe in the sky, but she's also taking to TikTok to share some of her favorite hotel safety hacks.

"I don't care how many hotels I go to, I will never stop doing my hotel security search," she says in her first, now extremely viral, TikTok, where she overviews her exact safety routine every single time she enters a new hotel room.

"I check everything, and y'all already know that," she says as she opens the closets and looks under the bed. Next, she takes a hanger to check behind the curtains, noting she uses the hanger to poke at the curtain because if an attacker were hiding there, they'd reach for the hanger rather than her arm. She finishes the video by inserting a locking device in the door, as well as placing the door jam at the base to stop anyone from opening it from the outside.

McIntyre followed up this first video with a new one on Sunday, noting: “A very common misconception that was commented on my last hotel security search video, was that I’m paranoid. I’m not paranoid in the least bit.”

“I don’t do my hotel security search because I think I’m going to find someone or something," she said. "I do my hotel security search in the rare case that there is someone or something in my room.”

In this second video, McIntyre also added one of our all-time favorite hacks: The hanger trick.

“This little hanger trick is a lifesaver... if you ever want to keep the curtains completely shut, do this,” she says, taking the clips from a hanger to secure the curtains closed, so no light can seep in.

“It honestly doesn’t matter who you are or what country you live in, you should still have some type of safety precautions when you go into any type of hotel,” McIntyre said. And in case you want to follow her lead, check out more on a similar portable door lock, here.