A woman has sparked backlash online after sharing a strange — and to many, unhygienic — habit she says she uses in hotels.
In a TikTok, the travel influencer addressed a common travel mishap: getting to your destination and realising you didn’t pack enough underwear — or forgot extra pairs altogether.
While plenty of people have been caught out by that at some point, it was her suggested fix that left viewers shocked.
Filming beside the coffee machine in her hotel room, she explained what she does when she runs out of clean underwear.
She said the idea came from a flight attendant, and claimed the “hack” is to run underwear through the coffee machine as a quick clean.
“Put your underwear where you would put the coffee grounds,” she said.
“You close it, you press brew, and it puts scorching hot water through it.”
After that, she said she uses a hairdryer to dry them off, leaving a “cleaner” pair that can be worn the next day.
Unsurprisingly, the comments section quickly filled with people questioning the hygiene of the approach and raising concerns about contamination.
One wrote: “Is this considered a risk to public safety?”
While another added: “Other options: 1) BUY new underwear 2) Wash the underwear when you shower 3) Wash in the sink 4) BE PREPARED AND PACK EXTRA UNDERWEAR.”
And a third added: “I will never drink coffee out of one of those pots again. Why not just get hot water in a cup from there and wash it.”
Others branded the idea “disgusting”, while another commenter summed up their reaction by saying: “That’s biohazard behavior.”
Forbes has also pointed out there are genuine reasons to be wary. A big one is the possibility of cross-contamination — the underwear could introduce bacteria into the machine, while the machine itself may not be clean enough to use as a “washer”.
The outlet also noted that even though people may assume the water is hot enough to disinfect, that’s not guaranteed.
Depending on the device, the internal temperature may not reach a level needed to kill certain viruses, and some pathogens — including norovirus — can tolerate higher temperatures than many expect.
On top of that, heat needs time to work. Briefly flushing moderately hot water through a system isn’t the same as sustained exposure at a disinfecting temperature.
With all that in mind, it’s a reminder not to assume hotel appliances are automatically spotless — even in higher-end rooms — and to give anything you plan to use a proper clean or inspection first.