Monthly Hotel Stay Checklist: Pack, Ask and Confirm

Before you book: confirm in writing

Ask the hotel these questions and keep the written answers:

• Full price for your exact dates, with all taxes and fees shown.
• How taxes change if your stay passes 30 days. In Texas, for example, guests who stay 30 or more days and notify the hotel in writing beforehand are exempt from the 6 percent state hotel tax from the day of notification. Rules differ by state and city.
• Deposit: how much, how it is held, and when it is returned.
• Cancellation and early checkout: what you pay if plans change.
• What the rate includes: internet, parking, breakfast, gym, laundry.
• Housekeeping: how often, and whether you can skip or add service.
• Kitchenette or kitchen access, if you plan to cook.
• Pets: fees, limits and rules, if this applies to you.
• Mail and packages: whether the hotel accepts them for guests.

The week before: what to pack

A hotel room for a month needs more than a suitcase for a weekend. Guests who do this often pack:

• Clothes for one full laundry cycle, not four. The hotel or a nearby laundromat handles the rest.
• A power strip and chargers. Hotel rooms never have outlets where you need them.
• Laundry supplies: a small bag of detergent pods and a laundry bag.
• Basic kitchen items if the room has a kitchenette: a good knife, a cutting board, your own pan if you cook daily. Ask the hotel what is already in the room.
• Earplugs and an eye mask. New building, new noises.
• Any medications, documents and work equipment for the full stay.
• A doorstop or secondary lock if that helps you sleep. Ask the hotel first.

Arrival day: set up the room for a month

• Walk the room and photograph anything worn or damaged. Send the photos to the front desk so there is no question later.
• Test the internet speed where you will actually work, not by the door.
• Ask for a quiet room: away from elevators, ice machines and the highway side.
• Confirm the billing date, the total on your first bill, and who to contact about the bill.
• Ask where packages are kept and how the address should be written.
• Find the laundry room, the gym, the breakfast hours and the nearest grocery store on day one, not day ten.

During the stay

• Check your folio once a week. Small errors are easier to fix the week they happen.
• If anything breaks or the service slips, tell the front desk the same day. Month-long stays give the hotel time to fix things, but only if they know.
• Two weeks before the end, decide: leave, extend, or move. Extending is easier before the hotel sells your room to someone else.

What next

Browse hotels that take stays of 30 nights or more on Monthly-Hotels.com, a directory of US hotels that take stays of 30 nights or more, and send your dates through the Request dates form. We forward your request to hotels in the area you pick, and you can ask them the questions from this checklist directly.