How To Override Hotel Thermostat Settings (Updated September, 2023) (2024)

As we wrote a while back, modern hotel thermostats are, in a word, a pain. Well over a decade ago, we noticed the kind of thermostat where you were supposed to put your room key into a slot to keep the air conditioning (and sometimes the electricity!) running, which meant when you were out of the room, your A/C wouldn’t run and when you got back, the room would be uncomfortable. That one was easy to override because just about ANY card worked in the slot ;-).

As modern technology got more advanced, they started building motion sensors into hotel thermostats, which meant that not only did you have to be in the room for the A/C to work, you had to be moving around…so if you were sleeping and woke up in the middle of the night, the room could be uncomfortable because unless they were sleepwalking, no one had moved around in several hours.

And then there are the thermostats with upper or lower limits that you can’t bypass so the room won’t get warmer or colder than the hotel wants. Oh great, that way we can be uncomfortable in our room while we’re wide awake, too!

Fortunately, electronic-savvy travelers have made it their business to figure out how to override these nuisance thermostats so we can be in our hotel rooms more comfortably. Here are some hacks we’ve found (only found; we haven’t “invented” any) for some of the most popular brands at some of the more popular hotels:

NOTE #1: Of course, the hotels don’t want you to mess with their thermostats. Besides potentially using up more energy than the hotel intended, you run the risk of breaking their thermostat, like these people did – and frankly, the hotel may or may not hold you responsible for the repair bill. Your Mileage May Vary as to whether it’s a good idea or not to try to bypass the controls set by the hotel – but if you think it’s OK, here are some ways to do it.

NOTE #2: Some of these suggestions are older than others and hotels may have updated some controls. We make no guarantees they still work, but hey, it’s worth a try, right?

NOTE #3: It’s possible that some of these thermostat units are intended for houses, not hotels. We still added them, just in case. After all, some people rent houses, right?

NOTE #4: Some of the hotlinks aren’t working. Sorry about that; not my fault. If the one(s) you want to see isn’t/aren’t working, please cut and paste the URL into your browser.

Here we go…

ALERTON

Some of these videos specify what hotel brands use a particular brand of thermostat, some don’t. This one one of the latter. None of my research told me what hotels use an Alerton, but if you ever come across one… 😉

AMANA PTAC

These are “below the window” units you see in some motel and hotel rooms, where the settings are in the unit.

Alternate AMANA PTAC

The older Amana PTAC units don’t need as much work to override the thermostat, as I discovered during a recent trip to a Candlewood Suites that had such a unit. Click here to see how easy it is.

AMANA IMC

These are frequently found in Holiday Inn Express – they’re specifically wall units without a motion sensor.

This is a different Amana unit, sometimes found in Holiday Inn Express hotels

And this works for some under the window Amana units so the fan stays on all the time:

BRAEBURN

There is a video of how to temporarily override a locked Braeburn thermostat:

However the Braeburn company conveniently shows you how to temporarily override their thermostat’s settings ON THEIR WEBSITE.

CARRIER

Some Marriott hotels, among others, use Carrier thermostats

CHICAGO CONTROLS

Unfortunately, there is no way to reset a Chicago Controls thermostat. They’re pre-set to a certain temperature and there’s no override. 🙁

ECOSMART

Some Holiday Inns use this brand of thermostat. This particular hack apparently overrides the motion sensor.

EMERSON

These instructions are specifically for the Emerson 1F83H-21NP

EVOLVE THERMOSTAT

You can find these thermostats at some Hilton hotels. The direct YouTube link isn’t working for some reason, but you can click here to see it directly on YouTube.

FREIDRICH

This hack is said to stop the fan form cycling on an off

This one is specifically for Freidrich wall units

GENERAL ELECTRIC (GE) THERMOSTAT

This video specifies Holiday Inn window units

This video specifies Motel 6 window units

HONEYWELL THERMOSTAT

This is for the FocusPro 5000 & 6000 brand of thermostat, which can be found in many hotels

The person who made this video says it’s used in Marriott hotels

This is for the Honeywell brand used in Premier Inn brand of hotels

HOTELTECH

This thermostat is sneaky because it doesn’t have a brand name on it. However on YouTube it’s identified as a HotelTech brand. They specified it for the Edina Park Plaza.

INCOMM THERMOSTAT

Frequently appearing in Hyatt and Sheraton hotels worldwide, Honeywell’s Incomm thermostats have an easily-activated ‘DON mode’ or ‘VIP mode’ that overrides the usual temperature limits.

This hack is specifically for the INNCOM E7 model, sometimes found at Hard Rock Hotels, Marriott, Element, Town Place Suites:

This is yet another INNCOM thermostat. This hack will supposedly giver you an override for both motion detection and temperature

Johnson Controls

LG

This one has apparently helped quite a few people:

LONIX THERMOSTAT

Lonix thermostats are used around the world. A writer at Australian Business Traveler posted a way to override them. Click here to check it out.

LUX

This isn’t really as much of an overrride as a way to make a LUX TX100e thermostat maintain a constant temperature

MITSUBISHI

I couldn’t find any documentation on what hotels tend to use Mitsubishi thermostats. But here are the overrides for 2 models:

MITSUBISHI Generic/unlabeled version #1

MITSUBISHI Generic/unlabeled version #2

This YouTube link won’t work. Click here to see it on YouTube

MITSUBISHI Heavy Industries RC-E5 wall-mounted

NO NAME/No Brand On Thermostat

Refer to “HotelTech” brand of thermostats above and see if that’s it.

PECO

These may be found in Holiday Inn branded hotels.

PRO 1

This thermostat has been seen in Holiday Inn and Courtyard by Marriott

SENSORSTAT-DDC

These are the thermostats used at many Disney hotels as well as some Wyndham hotels. There are 4 possible methods of overriding, depending on how old/what kind of thermostat your room has. The first video is older; if that doesn’t work, try the 2nd video. If the 2nd video doesn’t work, try the 3rd. And if the 3rd doesn’t work, try the 4th one.

TELKONET ECOSMART THERMOSTAT

These thermostats are sometimes found in Marriott, IHG and Hyatt properties, among others.

TRANE THERMOSTAT

Often used in Accor hotels, these thermostats are a little more difficult to adjust, but it can be done. A writer at Australian Business Traveler posted a way to override them. Click here to check it out.

This is another video for TRANE units

VERDANT THERMOSTAT

Heads up for adult language on this next one:

VICONICS

ANY “TAMPER PROOF” THERMOSTAT (TO MAKE THE ROOM WARMER)

This one is kind of funny 🙂

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