The bedspread always lands on the floor, so I pick it up and toss it on the bed. I hang the used towels on the shower curtain rod. As noted by others above, trash is already in the trash basket.
That’s it.
I put garbagey things in the garbage, and generally tidy up a bit, though towels and linens may end up lying where they fell on the floor.
I try not to destroy the place, but I don’t go too far out of my way cleaning up, either. I put trash in the trash cans and towels in a pile on the floor (between my husband and I, we usually use all the towels we’re given). Everything else is left however it is as I’m leaving - I don’t move remotes or phone books or chairs back to where they were originally, or wipe down sinks or showers. They’re going to move stuff around and wash the bathroom anyway, so I don’t really see the point.
I’ve been wondering; in the USA, should I leave a tip in the room for housekeeping? It’s not something I’m used to, except on a cruise ship where we tipped the room steward at the end of the cruise. $AUD50 for a 10 night cruise. Does that seem too little or about right?
Except for writing “KEITH MOON LIVES!” on the wall with my own excrement, I like to think I leave behind a tidy room (after all, the broken furniture is all in the swimming pool by the time I check out.)
All trash in the trash can. If the trash can is full, the remaining trash goes in a bag next to the trash can.
All pillowcases, linens, etc. stripped off the bed and put in a pile.
All towels, washcloths, etc. left in a pile in the bathroom.
Remote control goes on top of the TV.
Nightstand straightened up, phone put in its place.
Any used hotel toiletries get thrown away. Unused ones go home with me.
Tip goes on top of the TV.
All of this takes me 10 minutes, tops, and hopefully makes someone else’s day easier.
This is pretty close to what I’ve done in the past, with just a couple of slight modifications. Trash bagged and left with the towels &c on the toilet seat (why make the housekeeper bend down more than she has to?). Bed stripped, partly for convenience and partly to make sure nothing has found its way into the bedclothes.
The last couple of times I’ve stayed in apartments I found through Airbnb, which means the routine has changed a bit. Since there’s no housekeeping as such, I make sure the trash is dumped, dishes put away, floors swept/vacuumed, and kitchen & bathroom counters wiped down. This ups the time from 10 minutes to (maybe) a half an hour, but the convenience of an apartment over a hotel room makes it more than worthwhile. And instead of a tip as such, I leave behind a bottle of SoW wine and a tin of Almond Roca.
We tidy up pretty well, pulling the bedspread more or less back in place to make a better packing surface, and throwing trash away so we can more easily tell that we haven’t left our own stuff behind. Remote on the counter in front of the TV, tip on the dresser, used towels in a pile on the bathroom floor. If we have time and energy for it, we strip the sheets off of the beds and put them in a pile.
I don’t leave trash around. Otherwise I leave the room the way it is and leave a nice tip.
I put the trash in the trash if it will fit.
Now, I have a more interesting method of leaving my hotel room when I’m not finally leaving. I have to have my key card in hand, I’m always afraid that I will forget it in my room. Even if I’ve just put it in my wallet, I have to at least have my wallet open and the key card visible before I can shut my hotel room door.
I do not make the bed. If the spread lands on the floor, I wouldn’t pick it up. I do put the towels in the tub and use the garbage bins throughout my stay so it isn’t like I have anything the clean. That’s about it. And of course, I tip every night of my stay.
This goes for while I’m staying as well as when I leave. Garbage goes in garbage cans. I never make the bed (it would not be up to their standards) but I am a quiet sleeper and the covers are just pulled down a bit. All clothes are hung up, and dirty laundry is either in a bad, a drawer I reserve for it, or in my suitcase. I hang towels over the shower curtain or washclothes on the bar in the towel, and the hand towel in a neat bunch on the sink if there is no place to hang it. In many places the floor means a new one, and I usually don’t need one. I suspect they give me one anyhow. Books are on tables or the desk, but not terribly messy.
Before I checked out of the last place I stayed I went out for breakfast - and found that the maid had cleaned the bathroom, which I was going to use again. I felt bad, but I blame the management who should have told her not to clean until I checked out which is the case everywhere else I have stayed.
The most important thing I leave behind, though, is an envelope with a tip.
I’ve worked housekeeping before, so I make sure the trash is in the right spot, pull the coverlet off and leave it on the floor <otherwise it might just get used again without washing>, and always make sure dirty towels are on the floor; during a multiple-night stay, that’s how they know you want them washed.
I haven’t traveled in quite a while, so I don’t have anything personal to add.
I will say I read a Savage Love column where the writer asked Dan what to do if he and his partner had been extra adventurous and left the sheets in a bad state. Dan consulted with hotel staff and was told that if you removed the soiled sheets, wrap them in a bundle and leave them in the middle of the floor, that’s a universally recognized sign to send straight to the laundry with a minimum of handling.
Trash in the trash cans, hangers hung up, lights turned off. On the last day I leave the tip on the desk, other days on the bed (to make it clear it’s a tip–I’ve left it elsewhere and it wasn’t picked up, presumably because they weren’t sure it was a tip).
I suspect you’re not going to get a lot of those in the “inconsiderate, leave the place a shit hole” tribe posting. We considerate types like to congratulate ourselves, those other jerks may not feel like sharing. 
You know, I’ve done house keeping at a ski lodge. The kind where people feel quite entitled because they usually are quite well off, and they usually stay for weeks, renting out condos and partying their asses off. And I can’t remember anyplace really being THAT bad to clean up. It’s been a couple of decades, so maybe I’m just forgetting the highlights, or maybe I just got lucky.
I leave the do not disturb sign on the door the whole time I’m there - I don’t need them to clean the place every day, and I don’t want them messing with my stuff.
When I’m done, I make sure all of my trash is in the garbage can, and then I leave. I’ve never given it any more thought than that.
Damn it. I had my money on post #5 before someone made that joke. Where’s the shaking the fist smilie?
I put garbage in the garbage, and don’t worry too much about other things. I’m not a rock star so I don’t trash place. I used to clean offices and schools and was pretty efficient about cleaning, and guess these people are too.
And I tip, of course.
Some people shit in the bath. I don’t know why, but it happens. We had towels wiped with shit on many occasions. People who stains linnens in all manners conceivable. Vomit hidden in sheets or under a towel. Odd places to stick used tampons. Housekeeping used to get most worked up about Saudis. They just drop everything on the floor. Things like half-eaten food, and then they walk it into the carpet. Several times they made me come and see the room, we had to have external cleaning companies in. For some unfathomable reason the women seemed to bleed everywhere.
You’re welcome. 
Nope. This was four stars, very nice place. The richest people were the worst. As I said, the Saudis. We thought they dropped everything and didn’t mind getting blood everywhere because they had servants. 
Then the rich business men were disgusting too. Partially because they would do drugs I think.
My mother never left a hotel room without making it look like nobody had ever stayed there, short of the paper strip across the toilet seat. She was the kind of person who couldn’t stand for the maids to think we were slobs, even though the maids were never going to see any of us again. Ever.