How to shine your shoes in a hotel without shoe polish

Do your dress shoes desperately need a polish mid-trip, but you're stuck in a hotel room without polish and need to leave in five minutes?

Those little shoe mitts or sponges that hotels give out aren't much good on their own. And often, the sponges are pre-loaded with black polish, which makes the situation even worse if you have brown shoes.

Instead, grab a rag or a the shoe mitt and the little bottle of moisturising lotion from the bathroom.

Squeeze a little bit of the lotion onto the rag and test it on a less obvious part of the leather -- perhaps the inside arch where few people will see if it doesn't work.

Unless your shoes are unusually absorbent, the lotion should bring up a gentle shine on the shoe. If not, obviously, don't continue.

Continue applying the lotion sparingly to the shoe, rubbing it into the leather and polishing to bring the shine up.

John Walton

Aviation journalist and travel columnist John took his first long-haul flight when he was eight weeks old and hasn't looked back since. Well, except when facing rearwards in business class.