Is this unhygienic?!

She sounds completely clueless. And seems to have confused Airbnb with a hotel.

Most Airbnbs simply provide the basics: soap & towels.

OP could get some ceramic dispensers, but frankly the same issues apply to those and why bother, when it’s easier to provide nothing.

Think that is the idea of the wall dispenser in hotels. They are tamper proof.

How is it different?

I can’t imagine why anyone would think that sharing shower gel in unhygienic

No it isn't. I posted a link above but here it is again. There is no such thing as a gift if the gift comes with a service you've paid for.
https://www.cornishcottageholidays.co.uk/blog/owner-advice-supply-of-alcohol-in-your-holiday-home/

How is it, can you explain why?

It’s not unhygienic, it’s just not particularly nice.

If you only replace when empty, that means half of your guests have to use nearing empty bottles of toiletries, which again, who wants the dregs? That doesn’t feel like luxury, so why bother?

People can bring their own stuff no problem.

It sounds like you’re trying to make your Airbnb into something “special” but missing the actual special factor. Either top them up for each guest so they look new, or don’t bother.

Do you realise that most decent hotels these days have stopped providing miniatures and supply large bottles that they just refill when necessary?!

Miniatures are terrible for the environment and massively wasteful.

I actually can’t remember the last time I stayed in either a hotel or a self-catering property that put those miniatures out.

OP, your guest is a prissy twat.

Think a lot of counties have or are in the process of banning the little bottles in hotels anyway. That's why the wall dispensers are becoming popular.

If it was all gunged up, she might have had a point, but it wasn't- you clean the bottles every time and they're locked in.

It's just part of running something for the public. Things won't be perfect for everyone. (I'd be annoyed at the assumption everyone will appreciate a bottle of alcohol. I wouldn't.)

Most hotels have a bottle on the wall that is replenished. I personally always take my own products. She was mean to remove one star.

Cliveden House Hotel at £1500 a night provides (or did a couple of years ago) large bottles from the Noble Isle range in it's hotel bathrooms, so it is very much acceptable at the higher end. (There's a sign saying the products are available to purchase and the price will be deducted if the bathroom bottles are taken!)
Individual small bottles are unnecessarily wasteful.

IME when dealing with the public you get to hear their personal preference - doesn't mean it's right. The next person might complain about something else. If you get a few complaints about the same thing, it's worth considering.

Your place sounds absolutely gorgeous and providing Aesop is very generous. Would you PM me the link please?

Well, someone else could have breathed on it, couldn’t they?

That’d be quite enough for some of the more extreme clean-freak MNers.

I think it’s a whole other level of paranoia to think someone would jizz in the reusable shower gel bottle in a hotel or put hair removal cream in the shampoo. For starters, if found out (and it wouldn’t be difficult to trace who it was) they’d go to prison. Just wouldn’t enter my mind to think someone would be so depraved.

Honesty, some people!!! Well done for keeping your cool 😆

I always travel with my own toiletries and kettle (this is mainly for the US where they don’t do kettles) but I recognise that’s personal choice and I would never criticise what you are offering as it looks excellent. It’s annoying but some people just like to moan, it’s like that Four in a Bed programme where they check for dust on top of pictures.

Sorry I didn’t read updates. In that case the guest was being ridiculous. I just remembered a gross story from my university days when two housemates fell out and one spat in the others shampoo. Obviously not possible in this case.

So many more hotels have this set up to reduce plastic waste! The stuff in the bottles literally cleans you so I don’t understand how it would be unhygienic? As long as the bottles are wiped down when the bathroom is cleaned, there’s no issue!

If you advertise it on the listing it could be construed as using alcohol to encourage guests to stay -an incentive.
Leaving a gift is ok.

Anyone with some consciousness would understand the environmental impact of individualised toiletries nowadays.
I'm pleased that some hotels offer water stations and glass bottles to refill water rather than plastic too.
I think they're being ridiculous and I'd be very happy with lovely Aesop products.

It's not unhygienic at all. Using lots of tiny individual plastic pots for each guest would be environmentally questionable and wasteful.

As you've described those pump dispensers attacked to the wall, I can't understand how she'd think it unhygienic. What does she think happens when we use large bottles at home?

No one's bunging their germs up the pump nozzle.

This is a her problem not a you problem. Although the star system on AirBnB doesn't help here. Can you knock off a star or give her a negative review as a guest for being a wasteful brat?

She's being ridiculous. If she feels this way she can use her own toiletries.

I went to a super fancy spa hotel last month and they had their toiletries exactly the same way as you've described, so if it's good enough there...
Individual use toiletries thankfully are no longer 'a thing' for environmental reasons 🙂

Used on cruise ships isn't much of a recommendation, given how quickly sickness spreads on board.

Wow that’s amazingly generous of you providing all those lovely extras! If the bottles are locked into a shelf and cannot be opened by guests then I can’t see how it’s unhygienic? If they can be opened then I could see how some people may think they are. A previous guest could have tampered with it or emptied out the lovely Aesop product and taken it home and refilled it with their own crap stuff!