The Art of Making People Go Away

When travel on the US interstate highways picked up after WWII, motor hotels ("motels") sprang up on these routes to accommodate tourists. Many tried to promote themselves on their cleanliness by offering amenities that weren't typical for cheap motels in that era (disposable wrapped drinking cups, individually wrapped bars of soap, etc).

When housekeeping cleaned the toilet in these places, they would put a paper band over the seat indicating the toilet had been cleaned (and, by visual glance, nobody else had used it yet).

Example: https://images.jmcatalog.com/prdimgs/nP94Ser5/NEW/NEW1A-SEAT...

We used to call them "a toilet hymen" when I was on the road. SANITIZED FOR YOUR PROTECTION.

It's probably impossible to prevent this. The chances of getting in trouble for not cleaning the room (sign or not) are probably higher than the chances of getting in trouble for ignoring the sign.

I do this too, but in my experience, it's worked. And that includes some very nice, and some very crappy hotels.

I used to do this, but ran into a few catches. They usually honored it for a day, but beyond that they need to check that you're not trashing the room & that they don't have a deceased guest on their hands.

At one hotel, cleaning staff explained to me they were getting in trouble for not cleaning my room, and that they had a daily random check around mid-afternoon by their higher-ups. It also prevents them leaving early if they finish all the rooms, because they still have to wait for your room to become available. (Hence the midday "sorry to disturb do you need any towels" enquiry... they want to at least cross your room off their to-do list.)

Nowadays I still put up the DND sign, but take it down anytime I'm leaving the room for a while to give them a chance to clean it.