Does the Hotel Door-Latch Towel Trick Work? Japanese Guests Say the Towel Is What Knocks the Hook Off
ホテルのドアガードにタオルは効くのか——「タオル自体がフックを外しちゃう」日本人の総意
By Rakutaro · Tokyo, Japan
The hotel door-latch towel trick, which a Japanese short taught in 2024, does not survive its own comment section. The most-liked reply, at 2,137 likes, says the wedged towel makes the U-shaped guard sit loose, so the door opens from nothing more than a hard push, and wonders aloud whether burglars spread the tip on purpose. A second reply, at 1,186 likes, says the towel itself is what knocks the hook off. In the top 200 of 440 comments the argument then moves to what the guard is for at all, a hotel worker explains the way it really goes wrong for guests, and a few people name the small thing they pack instead.
These comments are from a video published in 2024. Prices, rules and crowds may have moved since; anything we checked ourselves is marked with a source.
“The towel bites in, so the lock sits loose and the door opens from nothing more than a hard push. What if it's really just criminals spreading a lie. That would be scary.”
タオルを噛んだ分ロックが甘くてドアを強く押すだけで開く様になる。 実は犯罪者が嘘を広めたいだけ。 とかだったら怖いね。
What Japanese people do instead
I put a table borrowed from the hotel and my suitcase in front of the door, then open a folding umbrella and hang it on the door. They can't see anything of the room from outside, and with something awkward in front of the door they seem to decide it looks like too much trouble and give up (apparently they give up on anything that looks like it will take time).
ホテルから借りたテーブルとトランクをドア前に置いて、折りたたみ傘を開いてドアにかけてます 完全に外から中の状態が見えない&ドア前に厄介なのがあって面倒そうに思うのか諦めます(時間がかかりそうなのは諦めるらしい)
— @春野木乃82 likesWouldn't you be better off putting something on the round part of the door guard, or on the door, that sounds an alert when it moves...
ドアガードの丸い所かドアに、揺れると警戒音が鳴るのをつけてたほうがいいんじゃ…
— @みう-37 likes
FAQ
- Does putting a towel on a hotel door latch work?
- Mostly no. The most-liked reply (2,137 likes) says the wedged towel stops the guard seating properly, so the door opens from a hard push alone, and the second (1,186 likes) says the towel itself is what knocks the hook off. Another (54 likes) tells people to stop doing it outright. The only defense, at 230 likes, is that a towel is something you already have when you travel.
- What is the U-shaped door guard in a Japanese hotel room for?
- Answering the door, not locking it. A reply with 120 likes says the guard was developed to leave a small gap so you can check who is outside without opening up, and that using it to seal the door is backwards when you can simply lock the lock. One with 94 likes puts it the same way: keeping people out is the lock's job. A third (54 likes) adds that it is meant to stop someone shoving in at the instant the lock is released, so nobody sets it and then walks away from the door.
- Can a hotel door guard lock you out of your own room?
- Yes, and the warning comes from someone who works in a hotel (294 likes). If you leave the guard swung out when you go out, the shock of the door closing can occasionally set it, and then even the guest staying in that room is locked out. Put it back in its resting position before you leave. Two other replies point out that a jammed door also delays anyone coming to help you.
- What do Japanese travelers do instead?
- They carry a noise. One commenter fits an add-on alarm precisely because paramedics cannot get through a blocked door (319 likes), and another suggests a small alarm that sounds when the door or the guard moves (7 likes). The most elaborate answer (82 likes) stacks the borrowed table and a suitcase against the door and hangs an opened folding umbrella on it, on the theory that anything that looks slow gets abandoned. The plainest answer, at 199 likes, is just to lock the door.
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What Japanese people said — picked from the top 200 of 440 comments
If you don't do it right, they open it and it opens like normal. The towel itself is what knocks the hook off.
これうまくやらないと普通に開けて普通に開くんだよ。タオル自体がフックを外しちゃうんだよな。
This stops it seating properly, so you're better off not doing it. The door guard is there to stop someone opening the door and pushing in the instant the lock is released, so nobody sets only the door guard and then walks away from the door in the first place.
これちゃんとハマらなくなるからやめといたほうがいい… 鍵を開けた瞬間にドアを開けて侵入してくるのを防ぐためのドアガードだから、そもそもドアガードだけかけてドアから離れるなんてことがない。
When you're traveling there's a limit to what you can carry, so it's nice that a towel is enough to do something about it.
旅行だと持ち物が制限されるから タオルで対策できるのは良いね
I work at a hotel. If you don't put the door guard back in its original position when you leave the room, once in a while the shock of the door closing sets it, and even the person staying in the room gets shut out.
ホテル勤めだけどドアガードは部屋を出る時はちゃんと元の位置に戻しておかないと稀にドアを閉めた衝撃で掛かってしまい部屋の主ですら締め出される時がある
The door guard was originally developed to make a small gap so you can check outside without opening the door all the way. If you want it not to open at all you just lock it properly, so this has it backwards.
元々ドアガードは完全に開けなくても外の確認が出来るよう僅かな隙間を作るために開発されたシロモノなんだがな。それなら全く開かないようしっかりロックすればいいだけで本末転倒。
Isn't keeping people out of the room the door lock's job, and the door guard just there so the door doesn't swing wide open when you answer it?
部屋への侵入防止はドアの鍵の役目で、ドアガードは応対する時にドアが全開にならないようにするためのものでは？
You do think, just lock the door normally.
普通に鍵閉めなよと思うよね
First of all, the lock isn't that easy to open. The only people who can open it are staff, surely.
まず鍵をそう簡単に開けれない。開けれるのは従業員だけでしょうね
The title says countermeasures for a hotel door guard. In other words it assumes a hotel employee forcing their way in with a master key.
タイトルはホテルのドアガード対策 つまりホテルの従業員がマスターキーを使って押し入る場合を想定しています
Paramedics can't get in either, so a rescue takes extra time. That's why I fit something that sounds an alarm.
救急隊員も入れなくなって救助に余計な時間がかかる だからアラームが鳴る物を後付けしてるわ
And so you were not rescued.
そしてあなたは救助されませんでした
If it can't be opened from outside, then when you collapse inside and manage to call for help while barely conscious, the people coming to help can't get in. And when you have to run in a hurry in a fire, are you going to calmly pull the towel out?
外から開けられないと言うことは 中で倒れて朦朧とした意識で助けを呼べても 助けに来てくれた人が入れないし 火災等で慌てて逃げなければならない時に冷静にタオルを外せるかな？
The chain type opens in seconds with a big pair of bolt cutters.
チェーンタイプは大型クリッパーで秒で開きます
That's why any halfway decent business hotel these days puts a safe in the room. The expensive ones are fixed to the shelf.
だから最近ある程度のビジホなら 金庫がおいてあるんだけどな… 高いやつは棚に固定されてる
There are plenty of ways to open a door guard. A method that's already public is what saved me when my daughter, still a baby then, shut me out. The mom two doors down got shut out too and came to us for help. If you have small children, knowing one of them might save you.
ドアガードを開ける方法はいくつもある。私は公開されている方法で、まだ赤ちゃんだった娘に締め出されたときに助かりました。2軒隣のママさんも締め出されて我が家に助けを求めてきた事があった。幼い子がいる家庭は一つ知っておくと助かるかも。