To take free hotel toiletries even though I don't need them?

[AliceTemperley]

I don't stay over often in hotels but had to earlier this week for work with a colleague. I commented in the morning that I'd stocked up on the toiletries and my colleague really laid into me, saying it was selfish and that it was eating into the hotels profit and wrong to take them if I didn't need them.

(For info, I tend to take them home and leave them in my spare room for guests, or use them as an emergency when I run out of shampo)

AIBU? I just assumed everyone did it!

It's not theft but it's daft. You can buy miniatures in the shops , boots etc for very little

Wonder why she's so bothered by the hotels profits. Probably paying nat min wage or zero hours to most of their employees so who cares.

My DH and I stayed in a lovely hotel in Chicago (not super expensive but nice) for our honeymoon. The shower products were L'Occitane and smelt divine so hell yes i swiped them! We've been married 7 years and I still have them and love to sniff them from time to time and wash my hands so I smell like it.

I don't, principally because I usually travel hand luggage only and don't want any more liquids than absolutely essential with me. I also think it seems a bit un-environmentally considerate to take them to use later if I haven't needed them at the time, from the higher proportion of plastic per wash perspective. Might re-evaluate this to support a refuge though.

On a slightly related topic - why do hotels bother with he hang your towel up if you will use it thing, claiming up their environmental credentials, when they ALWAYS change your towel anyway? This has been bugging me for years!

By 'stocked up', did she assume your'd nicked a load from the maid's trolley or something?

Taking them from the room is absolutely normal, telling you off is like telling you not to eat the biscuits or have a hot drink while in there.

We stayed at a lovely hotel in Bournemouth over the BH weekend. I fell in love with the shampoo they provided. I even asked at Reception if I could have some more. They gave it to me willingly. When I got home I googled it and saw it costs £21 per bottle. Winning!

Fab idea for shelters and charities. I stay away a lot so usually have my own stuff and don't take theirs - but if there's somebody who has a use for them, I'm happy to take them and pass them on.

Is there a list of places that would want these?

The best hotel thing ever - shower caps. So useful for everything (except showering, imo). Covers for smelly trainers and wet walking boots in the car; raincovers for bike saddles; put them over paint pots at coffee break if you're decorating; and best of all, perfect for covering dough as it proves.
Christ , I sound like fucking Martha Stewart now. I'll get me coat.

My DH always insists on taking the bloody things which then sit on the bathroom cupboard never used! Great idea to donate to a shelter/charity - must look into that.

Snap Sykadelic! I still have the toiletries from Lizard Island where we went in 2008...I just open them for a sniff every now and again - it brings back lovely memories.

I always take the shower caps too

Just to put the myth to bed, they don't cost 2p they are slightly more expensive - on the 80p+ depending on the brand.

That being said though, they are put in your room for you to use and are expected to be used, or as pp said housekeeping will throw them away.

BU would be to swipe the entire trolley load sitting outside the room whilst housekeeping are changing it, or taking the full size bottle because you like it when it says its available to purchase at reception not looking at you dh not at all as that is a little excessive.

Your colleague is a bit of a numpty really. The hotel generally made a profit from you staying the night.

I always get my husband to bring back the disposable shower caps for me - they're great when you're colouring your hair. He saves the soaps for the Christmas shoeboxes.

Friend brought me some home from the George V hotel in Paris. Unlikely I will ever have a chance to stay there but feels like I've had a little bit of it. I was in Japan recently on business and stayed in two of Osaka's best hotels; was nice to bring my mum home the toiletries plus the wash bag sets from the flights. She uses them when she goes on holiday. I consider them clutter.

most hotel toiletries are nasty. Terrible stuff. If you travel a lot, the various awful brands wreck your hair - depends on your company's travel policy. The last hotels I stayed in had Cartier, Bulgari and Aveda for example.
I always take them and just recently donated a whole bag to local refugee charity, they were very happy.

DH always picks them up because his work collect them to donate to a womens refuge. I think that's a lovely idea.

That's a good idea

I worked as a room attendant (I prefer the slightly more suggestive term 'chambermaid', myself!) for years. It's expected that guests take this stuff. We had box upon box of the stuff. And I never went short of teabags, coffee or sugar, either! The slippers are also freebies; they can't really be washed.

They really would put it out if they didn't imagine it to be used, and it's far preferable to having full-size bottles of shampoo leaking all over your luggage.

'Wouldn't ', even...

I often stay in the same hotels and part of my choice is the freebies you get.

I can recommend the propelling pencils from the Majestic, Barcelona, the carved soap from the Bauer, Venice, the Acqua di Parma toiletries from the Baglioni, Bologna, rough-hewn blocks of rose or orange-scented glycerine soap from the Brunelleschi, Florence and a beautiful laundry bag from the Adlon, Berlin that I use to protect my smalls in the washing machine.

Tell her if she doesn't want hers you'll take them

^^^ This!

They are included in your hotel costs. I there are biscuits with your tea making facilities I would snaffle them too.

(I usually love the tea bags. I don't know why, but it just seems greedy)

limitedperiod

How the other half lives . . . ( sigh )

I love this stuff, always take it and either leave for guests at home or... use it! Your colleague sounds an almighty bundle of joy!
Still working my way through a gorgeous collection of MALIN + GOETZ stuff from a hotel last summer.

One hotel used to have little bottles of 4711 cologne that I don't see any more in England - the label is so pretty and it's fantastic for cleaning your glasses.

holiday inn now seem to have stuck to the --wall - big bottles ...you can ask for complimentary shampoo/conditioner/etc from reception though ..

I take the little soaps, the little bottles of shower gel & body lotion & nice biscuits, also cotton buds, cotton wool pads & shower caps. Never shampoo because I'm fussy about that.

There was a thread a while ago about someone being billed for taking a huge wall-mounted dispenser of Molton Brown stuff - clearly not for grabs like the little bottles