Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Original poster

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

164 replies

AliceTemperley · 12/10/2016 19:09

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!

OP posts:

Rachel0Greep · 13/10/2016 14:12

I never bother taking them. I have seldom been anywhere that had really nice ones tbh.

GeorgiePeachie · 13/10/2016 14:15

Think of it this way. IF you use them, and leave them, they have to replace them anyway. Because no one wants half used toiletries. SO by taking them you are saving A LOT of waste.

badtasteflump · 13/10/2016 14:19

She's daft, doesn't she realise the goodies are all costed into the price of your stay? It's like saying you won't eat the chocolates on the pillow

Loyly · 13/10/2016 14:31

Miaow I was the same with the excellent Malin+Goetz. DP happened to show me his hotel room on FaceTime when I spotted the massive bottles. I wouldn't take (or ask him to take) full size bottles, of course. I must have looked daft on FaceTime going 'Decant some! Decant more!'

Verbena37 · 13/10/2016 14:35

It isn't theft!
You've already paid for them in your hotel room price.....as you have teas, coffees etc.
We always take them.....the kids are still working their way through the Mickey Mouse ones from Disney.

PrincessOnTheInternet · 13/10/2016 14:39

Take them - why on earth not

ElinoristhenewEnid · 13/10/2016 14:43

My ds and his gf came back from holiday this year and presented me with the hotel toiletries as they knew it would get me excited!

with hotel toiletries and Christmas and birthday gifts I have not bought toiletries for myself for many years!

miaowmix · 13/10/2016 14:43

Loyly I know, really decent sized tubes. Plus the hair products are good and I'm super fussy. Love the rum body wash!
I am a sucker for a 'freebie' though. Or anything miniature.

MackerelOfFact · 13/10/2016 14:44

That's daft. Eating the breakfast and using the bedlinen is also 'eating into the hotel's profit' but that's what you've paid for!

If the hotel are struggling with their cash flow then they have the option to a) charge more for their rooms or b) not to put toiletries in the room, but either way it's not your problem.

Something I have been known to do which IS a bit naughty though is refill my own travel-sized bottles from the wall-mounted soap/shampoo dispensers in the gym. Yep, kill me.

listsandbudgets · 13/10/2016 14:46

Now I want to go and stay in a hotel. We've not been to one for ages.

We used to stay in some nice ones though and in the past I've swiped l'occtaine and molton brown - I certainly wasn't leaving those behind :)

KitKats28 · 13/10/2016 14:50

cestlavielife it's probably something to do with the Green Tourism scheme. I worked in a hotel that had a Green Tourism award, and one of the things we did was work out how much those little bottles contribute to landfill each year. It was scary. That's why a lot of chains are switching to wall dispensers.

TheSnorkMaidenReturns · 13/10/2016 15:02

I feel really left out as I have an allergy to perfume so always take my own, and can rarely benefit from the freebies! I do stock up on shower caps though.

My contender for best pen is the triangular matt black biro from Citizen M. Lovely to write with.

PlumsGalore · 13/10/2016 15:07

DH travels loads and only ever uses the mini bar of soap...WHY? I used to get very cross when he didn't nick the conditioner from Malmaison because it left my hair smelling fabulous, every time I shook my head I could smell clean, fresh scent.

Boosiehs · 13/10/2016 15:10

Love Malin& Goetz - I have a load from the Delano in Miami. :)

I once stayed in a hotel in NYC which had aveda products in the TWO bathrooms (I know - lush), which I swiped every day. I think I still have some....

Off again soon so I will swipe again. They are great for Air B&B stays or trips to family.

Kel1234 · 13/10/2016 15:12

The way I see it is, if you'd used them during your stay, they'd still be gone and the hotel would restock the room for the next guests. So I'm not sure why it matters so much to your friend if you use them in the hotel or if you take them home and use them.

StrawberryLime · 13/10/2016 15:29

This thread is just serving to make me think of Ross in Friends and his staying in hotel policy.

unlucky83 · 13/10/2016 15:32

I don't take them - I don't use them and put them out of the way and then put them back (unopened) at the end of my stay...
That has backfired when they have been replaced ...so I left the two lots out the next day so they got the message...
Purely environmental reasons why - all that excess packaging etc, as KitKat said, not only the waste but increased production, transport costs etc. I have small bottles (with large openings) that I have used for toiletries on holiday for the last 15 years.

I would take one if it was special - as a reminder of something but not just cos I've paid for it.
Actually I'm also sensitive to MIT which is found in lots of those type of products so probably couldn't use most of them anyway.
I also take my own instant coffee and don't use their tiny sachets for the same reason (and also cos they are often Nescafe and I boycott Nestle) DCs will eat the biscuits given half a chance .
I have swiped the odd trial tube of toothpaste from the dentist though but for the family I'll usually take a big tube - I have sent those little ones off to eg guide camps and over night school trips for just one DC...

Meadows76 · 13/10/2016 15:38

I not take them. If I don't need them while I'm staying in the room I am hardly likely to need them otherwise. As for having them in a guest room at home, I have yet to have a guest who couldn't just use the same shampoo as me if they didn't bring their own. I would laugh if I was a guest and I was given hotel stuff tbh. Some people just have to take things because they are 'free' without any consideration as to whether or not they actually need them!

CarrotVan · 13/10/2016 15:41

We keep a few for the shower room we have for guests (and guests do use them) and donate a lot to the food bank. DH stays in hotels a couple of times a week so we have LOADS. I've stopped him bringing back sewing kits, shoe polish and shower caps though

LadySpratt · 13/10/2016 15:43

Limited you've just sparked a little thought in my head. Has anyone heard of a website, or some such similar thing, where you can find out which toiletries hotels use?

And yes op the little toiletries are yours to be used in whichever manner you see fit.

Nice toiletries can make a stay even better.

hooliodancer · 13/10/2016 16:39

They are so cheap (and often nasty) that it certainly doesn't eat into any profit! Very odd of her to say that.

You can buy them on hotel supplies websites for hardly anything. Even White Company ones.

This reminds me of a colleague of mine who said that if a rail company compensates you for a delay you should give it back to the company you work for. Er, no, it is compensation for you, the person who sat on a delayed train for 5 hours and didn't get to bed until 2 am. It's the same sanctimonious response as your colleague who thinks it's wrong to take the tiny shampoo

miaowmix · 13/10/2016 17:12

For the non-sanctimonious amongst us who enjoy our complimentary toiletries, here;s a nice link. It's an astonishing thing to get worked up about either way!
www.huffingtonpost.com/smartertravel/10-hotel-chains-with-the_b_5107246.html

Sgtmajormummy · 13/10/2016 18:26

I keep any unused soaps, especially the round ones wrapped in tissue paper, and use them as drawer scents. Then when they're hard as rocks I put them in the shower. Can't stand mushy soap.

Favourites are Roger&Gallet Eau de Cologne but I'm not fussy. I look on them as little souvenirs.

LuckySantangelo1 · 13/10/2016 18:42

The W chain have Bliss toiletries. Stayed a few years ago in NYC and I still have some of the delicious smelling body lotions left. Housekeeping would leave a brand new set every day

limitedperiodonly · 13/10/2016 19:42

Limited you've just sparked a little thought in my head. Has anyone heard of a website, or some such similar thing, where you can find out which toiletries hotels use?

I think we should start one LadySpratt . Obviously the freebies aren't the major reason for my stay but in choosing one hotel over another, it's a deciding factor. I can be swayed by a tortoiseshell-effect comb or some thoughtful tampons.

The Ciragan Palace in Istanbul is an old palace about a mile outside the city. It's lovely. It's the first place I'd ever seen an infinity pool. We went in March and it was far to cold to swim but the pool looked like you could be swimming in the Bosphorus.

Anyhow, the important thing was that they had loofahs dried and compressed to the thickness of a Ryvita that you just added water to. I had quite a lot of those.

Flip

1 2 3 4 5 6 7