Flight Attendant Shares Security Checklist for 'Sketchy' Hotel Rooms

A flight attendant has gone viral for detailing the precautionary safety measures she takes when staying at "sketchy" hotels.

Haley Michelle Williams, a "commuter," shared her safety tips in a now-viral TikTok video that has amassed over 13 million views and more than 8,000 comments. You can watch the full video here.

Commuting flight attendants don't live in the cities they're based in, meaning they have to find a place to crash when spending the night in their base cities. In many cases, flight attendants stay in shared spaces called "crash pads," which Insider described as hostels for airline workers. When crash pads aren't available, flight attendants must book hotel rooms or Airbnbs.

In September, Williams needed to spend a few nights in her base city, so she booked herself into a cheap hotel. Unfortunately, the property was "sketchy," but she didn't check out. Instead, she used the stay as an opportunity to share some safety tips with her TikTok followers. Here's what she had to say:

Lock the Door Immediately

Williams said she'd typically prop her luggage in the door frame while conducting her room search. But because the hotel was "super sketchy," she locked up immediately after walking into the room.

Check the Mirrors

After locking the door, Williams looked under her bed and then conducted a "mirror test."

"No space—leave this place," she said.

The phrase refers to the belief that one can distinguish regular mirrors from two-way mirrors by looking for a gap between an object and its reflection. Some believe that if there is a gap, then the mirror is "regular." However, Snopes said this test isn't full-proof.

"Transparent [two-way] mirrors are most obviously distinguishable from ordinary mirrors in that they're not hung on walls as ordinary mirrors are, but they're set into walls (or doors) as windows are. In other words, if there's a wall behind a mirror, the mirror is almost certainly an ordinary one; a transparent mirror would be part of the wall itself," Snopes said.

Check the Phone

Williams also checked to ensure the room's phone was operational.

"Typically, I would use my cellphone, but if anything ever happened, then I know that the hotel room phone is working as well," she said.

Place a Remote on the Door Handle

Williams says she places the TV remote on the room's door handle so that if "someone tries to wiggle [the] handle" in the middle of the night, the remote will fall and wake her up.

"[And] thank God that remote was there because it definitely fell & I woke up to see a shadow under my door running away," she wrote in the post's caption.

Other safety tips include: blocking the peephole with a tissue and closing the curtains.

Bonus Safety Measures

A spokesperson for the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA (AFA-CWA) told Newsweek that hotel guests should also lock all windows, keep a flashlight and their hotel key on their nightstands, and take note of all fire exits.

Additionally, guests should "verify with the front desk the identity of anyone at your room door, including room service, before allowing them inside" and avoid mentioning room numbers "in the presence of other hotel guests," the spokesperson said.

Viewers React

Many viewers were shocked to see Williams staying in such an "unsafe" environment and asked why the airline would put her in that situation.

"With how much airfare is, y'all should be somewhere...safe?!?" Chris Klemens said.

Noah Harget asked: "What AAG carrier has the nerve to make y'all THIS unsafe?"

Williams's Response

In a follow-up video, she assured them it wasn't the airline's fault.

"I am a commuter, [and] my base was Ohio at the time," she said. "I [needed] to be there for the last week of September [and] I didn't have a crash pad available."

Williams said she receives a $250 monthly stipend for commuter hotel costs in her base city, but she didn't want to spend the entire stipend in that one week. So, she booked a cheap hotel without looking at the reviews.

"It was not the airline's fault," she said. "Any time I fly with the airline...they put [me] in a really nice hotel."

The AFA-CWA spokesperson confirmed for Newsweek that airline companies cover lodging and transportation costs for flight attendants when they are working.

"Lodging and transportation [are] booked by the airline for flight attendants. There are rare circumstances where flight attendants may have to get their own transportation or lodging, [but] that will be reimbursed by the airline," they said.

Newsweek reached out to Williams for comment.

More Viral Posts

A flight attendant went viral in June for pointing out the hilarious difference in drink orders for those flying to Las Vegas and those flying out.

Another flight attendant went viral in June after sharing travel tips designed to help fliers navigate the impending "rough" summer months.

And in May, a flight attendant with Southwest Airlines went viral for singing to her passengers.