You might think twice before brewing a cup of coffee in your hotel room from now on. Content creator Tara Woodcox recently posted a video on Instagram in which she shares what she calls an ingenious travel hack for dealing with a very common problem on the road. The clip quickly went viral, but not for the reasons she might have hoped, as it left a large portion of the internet thoroughly disgusted.
In the video, Woodcox explains what to do when you realize mid-trip that you did not pack enough clean underwear. Her solution involves the coffee maker sitting on the hotel room counter. “Let’s say you’re traveling and you realize you didn’t bring enough underwear and you think, ‘Oh God, what am I going to wear tomorrow?’ Every room has a coffee maker. All you need to do is put the underwear where the ground coffee goes, close it, press the button, and let the boiling water run through it,” she explained. She added that the garment can then be dried using the bathroom hairdryer.
Woodcox seemed genuinely surprised by the backlash, noting that the idea was not new to her. “I had no idea how many people already know this trick. I learned it years ago from a flight attendant friend and I think it’s genius,” she said. To be fair, the underwear does not literally fit inside the small coffee filter basket, so the idea is really about pouring boiling water over the fabric in hopes of sanitizing it, rather than a full wash cycle.
The reactions online were swift and harsh. Many commenters were appalled, and some jokingly suggested she deserved to be jailed for the idea. “This isn’t genius. Let’s bring consideration for others back! Let that be ‘cool’ again,” one user wrote. Another added, “I’m shocked this video hasn’t been taken down. This should be more than enough reason for hotels to take action.” A third person commented, “This is so disturbing. I’m genuinely worried about anyone who follows this advice,” while perhaps the most widely shared reaction was simply: “I will never use a hotel room coffee maker again.”
Several people also pointed out that the solution to the problem is far simpler and more hygienic. “Or just wash them in the sink with hot water and soap,” one commenter suggested. Others were not even sure whether the whole thing was meant as a joke, with one person writing, “If this was supposed to be funny, it isn’t.”
Hotel coffee makers are a standard amenity found in the vast majority of mid-range and upscale hotel rooms around the world, typically in the form of single-serve pod machines or traditional drip brewers. While hotels do clean rooms between guests, internal appliance components like water reservoirs and brewing chambers are rarely if ever sanitized between stays, which is already a concern for hygiene-conscious travelers. Studies and investigative reports have repeatedly found that hotel coffee makers can harbor bacteria and mold, particularly in the water tank. Travel experts often recommend running a brew cycle with just water before making an actual cup, precisely because of these concerns. Woodcox’s video only amplified those worries, reminding viewers that they have no way of knowing what the previous guest might have put through the machine.
Have you ever thought about the hygiene of hotel room appliances before, and would a video like this change your travel habits? Share your thoughts in the comments.
