Anyone who’s ever taken a trip, big or small, knows that your hotel stay is a critical part of travel. Your hotel room acts as your home base during your travels and provides you with a space to do the most important things: sleeping and getting ready for each day.

Since this aspect of your trip is so important, it’s crucial that you prepare for your stay as best you can. And, luckily, we have a few secrets of the industry that are going to help you do just that.

Here are 9 tips to planning your best hotel stay ever.

1. The Best Way to Get Upgraded

When a hotel staff member tells you that “all the rooms are the same,” consider that a bold faced lie. There’s always a room that’s a little bit bigger, has a double sink, or even has a larger flat screen TV. And, yes, there is a way to get into one of those rooms.

People think that the whole “slipping a $20” move is something that you can only pull off in the movies, but this is a real-life way to get a room upgrade. According to Mental Floss, hotel staffers are encouraged to upgrade rooms for “special occasions,” and they get to choose what those occasions are. That $20 just might make their day special enough, if you catch our drift.

If they can’t get you a better room, it’s possible that they could get you things like free movies, free minibar, or free room service.

2. Check the Minibar First

Most of us are trained to avoid the minibar at all costs; touching anything in there could get you smacked with high fees and no one wants that. But, in this case, it’s important that you check the minibar before you even put your bags down.

You’ll want to make sure that everything in the minibar is CLOSED, otherwise, you could get charged for the last tenant’s splurging.

3. Sundays Early in the Month are Best

According to Travel + Leisure, Sundays early in the month are the best days to stay in hotels. Why? Vacationers are on their way out and business travelers have yet to arrive, meaning there are more rooms to choose from.

4. Book Rooms at THIS Time

It might be surprising, but booking your room months in advance isn’t always the best way to get a dirt-cheap room. Hotels want all their rooms to sell out, so any rooms that they have available two days before your stay they’ll be willing to give away for an extremely low cost. Sometimes, you can get a 50% discount by booking closer to your travel date.

5. These are the Dirtiest Parts of Your Room

Want to know what parts of your room are actually the filthiest? They might surprise you, but we’ll just say avoid drinking out of the hotel glasses at all costs. Also, the television remote control is not something you want to be playing with…just saying.

6. Avoid Three Part Booking Sites

Sites that offer “the best prices for hotel rooms” are sometimes not where you’ll get the lowest rates. Seasoned industry veterans suggest calling the hotel directly and asking for the “basic” or “rack” rate. This won’t just get you an inexpensive rate, but it will start a positive relationship between you and the hotel.

7. Always Ask the Front Desk

The front desk has a surprising amount of items that you might have forgotten at home. For example, phone chargers are one of the most commonly left-behind items at hotels. So if you’ve forgotten yours at home, make sure to ask the front desk before you go out to buy a new one! That should go for most common household objects.

8. The Trick to a Quiet Stay

Request a room on a higher floor if you want a nice, peaceful stay. One hotel desk manager shared that they usually put “party rooms” on the lower floors so people looking for a little quiet can be separated by a few floors.

9. Kindness Goes a Long Way

This should obviously be just a life-long rule, but it goes double when it comes to hotel staff members. These staffers have perks, like concert tickets, free nights stay, and more. But you have to give kindness to get a share in those perks. Even when it comes to a room upgrade, starting with a polite, “Hi there, how’s your day going?” will never hurt your chances!