We always knew that hotels had certain tricks of the trade that we weren't privy to. But that still doesn't stop us from being shocked to our core when they finally reveal themselves. That's exactly what happened this week when YouTuber Casey Neistat uncovered a big industry secret this week, causing a storm on Twitter.

The American personality, who is one of the most influential and recognisable creators on the video-sharing website with over nine million subscribers, was staying in a London hotel when he discovered that a microchip had been stitched into his hotel room towel, attached to an antenna.

Taking to Twitter to share his fears, he wrote: "can anyone identify this? it was stitched into my hotel room towel attached to an antenna. am i being spied on?"

Immediately, his followers freaked out, coming back with numerous conspiracy theories on the matter and making the tweet go quickly viral, gaining more than 20,000 likes and 2,200 likes. "Looks Russian," joked user @ChrisEgonSearle, while @AnilBrancaleoni simply put: "WHAT THE HELL, where are you ?"

However, the controversy was quickly sorted when social media users pointed out that the hotel was most likely using UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to make sure that guests don't steal their towels. One such company who offers this service is Linen Tracking Technology, which began selling tracking devices to hotels in 2015.

Unsurprisingly, hotels are said to lose up to 20 per cent of their linen every month, with Linen Tracking Technology claiming in 2015 that two per cent of this is through theft. William Serbin, executive vice president of Linen Tracking Technology, has stated: "Our properties like to remain anonymous. They benefit from the gained efficiency and don’t want to alarm guests that they have this technology."

Yet, despite the reassurance that RFIDs are fairly common in the hotel world, that didn't stop Neistat's followers from remaining on edge, with Twitter user @Blake__GM writing "Seems so weird that a hotel would go on through all that trouble just to make sure nobody steals their towels. and @Lunaa posting "I’m reading all the replies about how it’s a device so you don’t steal the towels. I was so unaware that they took this much measure to protect their fucking towels lololol".

So, is it just an innocent ploy to keep an eye on their towels, or are we all being watched like hawks anytime we step foot in a hotel? Sorry to ruin the fun, but it's probably the former.

We always knew that hotels had certain tricks of the trade that we weren't privy to. But that still doesn't stop us from being shocked to our core when they finally reveal themselves. That's exactly what happened this week when YouTuber Casey Neistat uncovered a big industry secret this week, causing a storm on Twitter.

The American personality, who is one of the most influential and recognisable creators on the video-sharing website with over nine million subscribers, was staying in a London hotel when he discovered that a microchip had been stitched into his hotel room towel, attached to an antenna.

Taking to Twitter to share his fears, he wrote: "can anyone identify this? it was stitched into my hotel room towel attached to an antenna. am i being spied on?"

Immediately, his followers freaked out, coming back with numerous conspiracy theories on the matter and making the tweet go quickly viral, gaining more than 20,000 likes and 2,200 likes. "Looks Russian," joked user @ChrisEgonSearle, while @AnilBrancaleoni simply put: "WHAT THE HELL, where are you ?"

However, the controversy was quickly sorted when social media users pointed out that the hotel was most likely using UHF Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to make sure that guests don't steal their towels. One such company who offers this service is Linen Tracking Technology, which began selling tracking devices to hotels in 2015.

Unsurprisingly, hotels are said to lose up to 20 per cent of their linen every month, with Linen Tracking Technology claiming in 2015 that two per cent of this is through theft. William Serbin, executive vice president of Linen Tracking Technology, has stated: "Our properties like to remain anonymous. They benefit from the gained efficiency and don’t want to alarm guests that they have this technology."

Yet, despite the reassurance that RFIDs are fairly common in the hotel world, that didn't stop Neistat's followers from remaining on edge, with Twitter user @Blake__GM writing "Seems so weird that a hotel would go on through all that trouble just to make sure nobody steals their towels. and @Lunaa posting "I’m reading all the replies about how it’s a device so you don’t steal the towels. I was so unaware that they took this much measure to protect their fucking towels lololol".

So, is it just an innocent ploy to keep an eye on their towels, or are we all being watched like hawks anytime we step foot in a hotel? Sorry to ruin the fun, but it's probably the former.