What a British etiquette expert would never do in a hotel

From noisy corridors to thieving toiletries, William Hanson reveals the hotel habits that horrify him most. People often behave differently in hotels than they do at home, and not always for the better. Prominent British etiquette expert William Hanson, who directs The English Manner institute in Central London, puts bad hotel behaviour down to the "commercial" factor. "It's a transactional proposition, so some people wrongly feel they are entitled to behave in a way that they wouldn't at home. Whether that's leaving their room an absolute bomb site or being rude to the staff." William Hanson is the author of several books on British etiquette and co-hosts two popular podcasts, Help I Sexted My Boss and The Luxury Podcast. He created the Grand Etiquette Hotel Guide for Hotels.com, where he details his pet hotel peeves, and is currently starring as Mother Ruth in Titanìque on London's West End. A new etiquette report by Hotels.com found Brits committing all sorts of dark hotel deeds, including breakfast buffet queue-jumping, reserving sunbeds with towels, smoking inside their rooms and washing their underthings in kettles. Yet, the same study found that Brits rank themselves among t

Jun 24, 2026 → Jun 24, 2026