A man said that the key to getting a hotel room A/C to go five degrees below the usual lowest temperature is simple. It only takes a few button presses.
In a video with more than 337,000 views, Chris (@swafagamingonfb) showed his audience how to reset a “Honeywell In-Con air conditioning thermostat” so that it wouldn’t shut off in the middle of the night. The result? Cool air for the entire night without much effort.
How Do I Hack Hotel A/C for ‘VIP Mode’?
In his video, Chris explained how to set the “VIP mode” on a hotel air conditioner. VIP or LEN is a limited energy mode that bypasses certain hotel restrictions.
First, he explained the ways in which the hotel restricts most in-room air conditioners.
“Most [of the] time when you come in here, the limit on your ENCOM device is 65 degrees,” he said. “You can’t go below it, and you can only go so high. There’s also a motion sensor, which shuts off your air conditioning in the middle of [the] night. And if you’ve ever had an overnight and you wake up sweating in your bed, you know why: because the air shut off at nighttime because it didn’t detect any motion.”
Then, he explained the simple way to break through the device’s restrictions.
Step one: “Hold down the Display button.” Chris told his audience to keep their finger on the Display button while continuing with the next step.
Step two: “Press the off button, press the up button, and then let go.”
That’s it.
“You’ll notice that it’s going to lend you an additional five degrees going down,” he said. “It will also disable this motion sensor, and depending on the device, this override lasts for 24 to 72 hours.”
‘I Do This Every Time’
In the comments section, viewers emphasized how important the A/C is to a good stay at a hotel. Messing with the air conditioning, then, is a habit for many travelers.
“My husband googles how to override the ac just about every time we stay in a hotel,” one viewer said.
Another commenter said, “The first thing I do when getting into my hotel room is hacking the AC! There’s almost always a YouTube video on whatever unit your room has.”
Viewers recommended that anyone who wants a cooler room look up a guide for their particular thermostat or air conditioning unit on YouTube. That way, they can have a cold, crisp night rather than a warm one.
Why Do Hotels Limit the Thermostats?
It may come as a surprise that hotels in the United States offer air conditioning, as in other countries, it’s not an expectation. In the United States, however, having access to cool air is the norm.
For that reason, U.S. travelers have become accustomed to cool rooms—regardless of the weather.
Many U.S. hotels, however, still set limits on their thermostats to conserve energy. The average hotel spends more than $2,200 on energy costs per year for just one room. Multiplying that figure by tens or even hundreds shows that hotels pay a hefty price tag just to keep the lights on.
In addition, many hotels have large, central cooling systems that can’t fully cool a room to the temperature set on the thermostat. Rooms tend to run hotter or colder depending on the thermostat and sensor placement, with consumers often complaining about the former.
Subplot News reached out to Chris via TikTok direct message and to Marriott, the parent company of the Sheraton San Diego Resort, via email for comment. This story will be updated if either replies.
@swafagamingonfb How to Make your Hotel Room Air Conditioning 5 degrees cooler than everyone else! #summertravel #hotel #hacks ♬ original sound – SwafaGaming on FB
