Do you leave things in hotel room after departure for the maids to take if they want them?

I certainly would! Wasting and throwing out useable stuff is disgusting.

Would and have.

What a weird thread. We always leave toiletries and unopened food and drink near the bin for staff to take if they want. Why are people grossed out by a part-used bottle of an expensive toiletry? If you've no room to take it and someone else could enjoy it, what's wrong with that? If the staff member doesn't want the thongs they can just sweep them into the bin. That's such a waste, though.

Exactly this. I will bet a year's salary that every poster on here saying it's fine to leave housekeeping staff your leftover shampoo/soap/shower gel/sanitary products - (and it's fine, and what's wrong with it?) would never use anything left in the room by the previous occupant!

What makes you think the cleaning staff would want your toiletries..?

I think though they probably wouldn't take them in case they got accused of stealing etc. I know it might sound ridiculous, but most places would have policies about stuff like that.

I live in a MENA country.

I can promise you, the person cleaning your room won't be binning anything you leave there.

If they don't have an extended family member who can use your kids' summer clothes (unlikely) they'll have a friend who can. & they'll love your left over shampoo, honestly. Imported brand toiletries are a huge treat over here.

I'm a teacher at a fancy international school. & part of my job is responsibility for new colleagues & their families, so I get to go through the Lost & Found at the end of each school year, to sort out newbie staff kids with a 'starter kit' of second hand uniform. I always negotiate hard to see the rest of the stuff goes to a good home - which means balancing the L&F local staff's expectation of a very nice perk selling it, with ensuring at least some of it goes to local families for free.

If you think that the people cleaning your room in a 5* resort in a developing country would be affronted by the offer of your unwanted toiletries & clothes...well, you're mistaken.

Leave two notes - one saying thank you and the other a bank note (never had complaints!)

Even in European countries. Eg Greek islands where the cost of a bottle of cheap shampoo can be vastly disproportionate to a (Greek) cleaner’s wage.

And they don’t have cheap Amazon deliveries or possibility to shop more cheaply on the mainland

@Goatinthegarden I realised my previous post wasn't very clear. Yes there are countries where a bottle of shampoo can cost the same or more than the entire daily wage, due to hyperinflation.

They said pound shop at home (UK). Such countries do exist though, where hyperinflation means people can't afford even basic necessities with their wages. The classic example is Weimar Germany where discontent over the impossible economic situation precipitated a lot of the infamous subsequent events. Again now, in 2025, many countries do face hyperinflation.

Stone? No just Zone 2 NorthLdn as name suggests. Indeed I’m aware of plastic pollution. I am also aware let them eat cake isn’t an appropriate riposte regard environmental issues.
Regards this thread, I decant and take products with me when away from home
Finally, like most other people I do what I can aware of the contributory factors

Having read this thread up until this post - it seems that this is key - where people are going on their holidays so some places it’s appropriate, others it isn’t.

I understand there are places where wages are very much below an acceptable standard. And I understand that there are places where groceries and toiletries are much more expensive than they are here.

Bur my understanding is that countries with expensive (compared to here) goods, we’re generally more affluent and countries with low wages generally had goods that seemed cheap to us.

I didn’t realise there were countries where a bottle of shampoo was massively more expensive than the same bottle here, but wages were massively lower. So I suppose I must be ignorant. I’d appreciate being educated.

I think the main issue here is that people are not really valuing their own belongings, nor caring about their environmental impact, and just leave things they don’t want in the hope that someone else will be grateful for them…and if not, will just bin them.

Buying a bottle of shampoo just for a holiday, not finishing it, and then leaving it on the off chance it will used by someone else is pretty wasteful when there’s a chance it will be binned. Presumably, you’ll need to buy another shampoo to replace that one? Why not just take a smaller decanted bottle with you, or take the half used bottle home to finish? Presumably you had more in the bottle in your luggage on the way out?

Leaving outgrown kids gear on the off chance the cleaner knows a child the correct size, but they might just bin it instead. Why not take it to a charity shop and donate it properly?

Leaving unwanted food that might not eaten. You bought the food, eat it, or take it home.

If you want to be properly generous to the staff, give them a monetary tip and stop leaving things that they may, or may not, want.

I get leaving a communal library of inflatables or sand toys next to a pool/beach. You’ve actually found a market where lots of different people who are off to enjoy the pool will likely want to borrow the items and they are unlikely to be binned by a busy person just trying to get on with their job of emptying and clearing.

The middle class customer is a sign f the times, wages haven't increased in real terms since the 1980s

As a teenager I loved a jumble sale, now I like a charity shop for stuff that I won't use much - evening dresses or hats for ascot etc, some great bargains to be had!

Are you seriously that ignorant?! I could give you a long list of countries.

Where are you visiting where a run-of-the-mill shampoo costs the same as a cleaner’s daily wage (for a 12hour shift)?

Not offensive at all. I'm on holiday now and shampoo I bought in the pound shop at home is £8.50 here, which would be the guts of a days wages. The same with flip flops, I remember my parents would always leave their holiday ones (still great condition) and some shorts/t-shirts and they were always graciously received. And I always leave a tip for cleaning staff, was speaking to one woman this morning, works 12 hour shifts every day, has 2 DC at home and her husband left her a few years ago. A tenner is more than she gets per day and I won't miss it much.

I leave stuff if it is genuinely usable / unopened like snacks or yes I have left children's summer clothes like UV suits and beach shoes if they're in good condition and I could see my DC would outgrow them by the time of our next holiday. I think that's reasonable, in many parts of the world these would go to good use.

I've never heard of this being a thing, I make sure everything is cleared from the room, I usually strip the bed

We did that in the Canaries a few years ago.
Left a tip, beers, coffee and toiletries. When we were waiting outside that evening for our transfer, the cleaners drove past beeping and waving. One had all the bits on her lap.

Missing the point. It's like watching the pennies so the pounds look after themselves.
All waste is waste and potentially harmful. Shampoo does not arrive fully formed in hotels: ingredients are gathered and transported, product manufactured in factories, transported to hubs and then further transported to shops, etc. That's a lot of fossil fuels and all the other things you decried.
Better just to endeavour not to be wasteful.

And you must be living under a stone if you've never heard of plastic pollution. Toiletries are horrendous for this.

No she came from a fairly well off family...but i think decades ago charity shops were cheap and aimed at poorer people... unlike today where there's quite a strong middle class clientele

Well, it can be both. I hate wasting things, and reuse anything I can. If anyone's chucking something out that I can use, then I'll take it and use it.
I cleaned rooms when I was at uni. I'd take shampoo and conditioner back, decanting two or three into one bottle for convenience! I was poor then, but I'm not poor now.

I remember going to jumble sales in the 1980s and there were a lot of people at such sales, along with it being common to have second and third hand clothes passed down - perhaps this was why your mother was against it - had she lived on hand me downs from older siblings?