Hotel Tip No. One: Find the Fire Exit

How long do you spend searching for a hotel online when you travel? You probably spend a lot more time considering features that don't really make a difference in the end--and a lot less on the most crucial feature: the fire exit.

I teach ESL in Malta. Recently I had a student from Germany who is a safety inspector for a large region in the north of Germany. I asked him what was the first thing he did when he got to Malta and what he said surprised me: The first thing he did was "walk the fire way," as he expressed it, in his hotel.

The most important bit of information in your hotel is that little slip of paper on the inside door of your hotel room, pointing out "You are here," in relation to the fire exits in the hotel. Most of us glance at these instructions if we even look at them at all. We're more likely to pick up the room service menu or local attractions brochure than think about what we would do in the case of a fire.

Whether you're traveling for business or vacation, here's what you need to know about saving your life in the event of a fire in your hotel:

1. As soon as you arrive in your room, before you even unpack, look at the instructions about what to do in case of fire. This is the time to do it, not when you're panicking during an actual fire.

2. Then--and here's the most crucial part--is practice the actual route. Walk out your door and "walk the fire way" from your room to the fire exit and then down through the fire exit so you would see what it would be like and where the exit leads to.

3. Make a note of which way you turn--left or right--to the exit. Then count how any doors you are from the exit. Why? Because if there's a fire, there's a good chance that the corridor may be dark and filled with toxic smoke.. To escape alive, you need to know which way to turn toward the exit immediately--and you need to know how far you are from the exit. You may even have to crawl because of the smoke. If you count the doors before, you will be able to count your way by feel if you have to, and not have to rely on sight which could be seriously impeded.

4. It's a good idea to write down the fire way route and keep it with you whenever you're in your room, especially at night. In a fire emergency, you may not remember which way to turn even if you did practice it when you first arrived.

5. If you travel often and you've been to the same hotels over and over, it's still essential to practice the fire way. You may think you know the hotel quite well, but in an emergency at night, you may be totally confused as to where you are, especially if you've been partying the night before.

It may seem like a pain to practice something--like looking for the fire exit in your hotel--when it's unlikely that a fire will occur. But if you use the information one time to save your life, then all the practicing was worth it.

Ilene Springer lives and teaches EFL in Malta. She is author of An-American-in-Malta.com.