What is your most clever hotel room hack while travelling in another country?

This is not exactly a hack but a way to save your back and your bank! Otherwise, you might either end up bankrupt or find yourself behind the bars. There's a scam that goes in a lot of hotels in Thailand including 4-star and 5-star hotels where tourists are targetted. I learnt about this scam before my trip to Thailand and therefore, took the necessary precautions so that we don't fall victim to the scam.

Every hotel in Thailand takes a security deposit of 1,000 to 2,000 Baht at the time of check-in. This will be returned to you at the time of check-out, provided everything in the room is in place and is in working situation. Now, let's say, as a tourist, you will hardly watch the television. You had never turned on the television and you don't even know whether it works or not. When you will check out, the bell boy goes to your room and checks everything. He would mention that the TV isn't working and not just the security deposit be taken fully, you will be required to pay for the damages too, even though the hotel authorities know that the TV was not operational before you checked in. These hotels work hand in hand with the tourist police; if you refuse to pay, you will be handed over to the police. Bribing them heavily will be your only way out.

So the very first thing that I did after checking in was make a video of everything in the room by turning on the lights, fans, AC, television, hair dryer, taps so that if anything didn't work, it would be on video and I can show it as a proof that it wasn't working at the time I arrived. Thankfully, nobody tried to cheat with us at any hotel but if you go through the reviews on Google Maps, even for 5-star hotels in Bangkok and Pattaya, you will find guests complaining about this scam.