Woman Checks Into South Carolina Holiday Inn Express. Then She Notices The Unusual Microwave

Most hotel amenities are pretty standard. But sometimes you check in and find something totally unexpected. That’s what happened to one woman. Her hotel had something so unusual that most people have probably never heard of it, let alone seen one: a microwave that doubles as a phone charger.

She’d been told her hotel room came with the combination microwave and phone charger, but didn’t believe it until she walked in and saw the USB port and the three-prong outlet built into the front panel.

Neekee Fort (@neekee_the_millennial), whose channel is largely dedicated to retail bargains and finds, recently posted a video about the strange appliance.

“Somebody told me the hotel microwave had a USB port and a plug. I said, y’all lying,” she says. “I got to the hotel and they wasn’t lying. Would you use this?”

Fort was staying at a Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Florence, South Carolina. She had no complaints about the place. “I enjoyed my stay and recommend you if you’re ever in that area,” she wrote in her caption.

The Question Everybody Wanted Answered

One reply cut straight to the question on many minds. “I don’t know science, but is that safe?” asked a viewer posting as Maki. Fort responded to say that she’d been wondering the same thing.

The instinct behind the question is that a microwave and a charging cable seem like things that should be kept apart. On the radiation side, there are federal regulations which should reassure us.

Microwave ovens sold in the United States are regulated as radiation-emitting electronic products, and the Food and Drug Administration notes that a federal standard “limits the amount of microwaves that can leak from an oven throughout its lifetime to 5 milliwatts (mW) of microwave radiation per square centimeter at approximately 2 inches from the oven surface,” a level the agency describes as “far below the level known to harm people.”

The relevant standard specifies that leakage may not exceed 1 milliwatt per square centimeter at 5 centimeters from the oven before it is sold, and 5 milliwatts per square centimeter after it goes into service. The same rule requires “a minimum of two operative safety interlocks” that cut microwave generation the moment the door opens, plus a monitoring system that stops the oven if an interlock fails. The energy is meant to stay in the cavity, and a socket bolted to the outside of the cabinet is not a route out of it.

Why Does The Hotel Microwave Have A Charger?

It’s worth noting that this is a specialized hospitality product. Appliance makers sell combination units built specifically for guest rooms, and charging ports and outlets are a selling point.

MicroFridge, a hospitality supplier whose range includes lines built for individual hotel groups, IHG among them, markets a front charging station offering “2 USB ports and one traditional 3 prong grounded outlet to safely and conveniently charge small electrical devices.”

Their product design appears to have anticipated Maki’s concern. Their products use what the company calls Safe Plug, described as “patented current limiting technology” that “restricts electrical draw to just 11 amps, by not allowing the refrigerator compressor to come on while the microwave is running.”

The company’s pitch is that this eliminates overloaded circuits in rooms where guests are already running hair dryers, irons and coffee makers. Some units in the range also carry an internal smoke sensor that shuts the microwave down before damage is done.

The video does not identify the exact model in Fort’s room. But we can say that microwaves with charging stations on the front are intended for exactly this setting, and are not something the hotel improvised.

The Practical Read For Travellers

For a frequent traveller, the appeal is obvious. Guest rooms are chronically short of accessible outlets, particularly in older builds where the sockets sit behind the bed or under the desk, and a charging point at counter height on an appliance that is already plugged in is a genuine convenience.

The one habit worth keeping is the same one that applies to any hotel room amenity: if a socket, port or appliance looks damaged, do not use it, and tell the front desk. The FDA makes the point about microwaves specifically, advising that, while a unit in good condition will not leak, “a damaged microwave oven may present a risk of microwave energy leaks,” and pointing to damaged door hinges, latches or seals as the things to look for.

Fort’s own verdict on the hotel was positive, and she left the question of whether she would actually use the plug hanging for her viewers. Though it is clear that the manufacturer built it expecting her to.

BoardingArea reached out to Fort via TikTok direct message. We’ll be sure to update this if she responds.

@neekee_the_millennial Would you use a microwave with a usb port and plug? Found at Holiday Inn in Florence Sc at 3440 Radio Dr. I enjoyed my stay and recommend you if you’re ever in that area ✅ #amenitycheck #hotelvlog #microwavehacks #homegadgets #kitchengadgets ♬ original sound – Neekee Fort