From the Telegraph (random search re. legalities of taking hotel toiletries, which I'd never considered to be stealing:
"...is it technically theft? Just what, in the eyes of the law, can we get away with taking?
I spoke to a number of hotel groups on the subject and the consensus seemed to be that toiletries are fair game. The assumption is if it cannot be reused then it can be taken. Likewise, small items with hotel logos, such as stationery, won’t be overly missed; you can assume you are providing a nice bit of publicity when you flash your stolen pencil on the bus.
If the free toiletries are what you want, then go wild, said Jacob Tomsky, author of the best-selling Heads in Beds, a memoir of ten years spent in the hotel industry.
“Hotels have plenty of items, all cute and travel-sized, waiting in store rooms and all you have to do is pick up the phone and ask. And checking out from the hotel isn't like going through airport security. No respectable hotelier is going to want to pry open your luggage and search for shampoo. We hope you take the amenities. We want you to use them later and think of us."
Indeed, he even condones taking your swag bag farther afield:
"Consider the unmanned housekeeper’s trolley a smash and grab situation. Pack your bags full of almond butter hand cream and guava face soap with espresso crisps. Take three of everything and get the hell out of the hallway. Even if you do get caught, just say you were out of shampoo, or, even better, out of toilet paper, and thought you’d save them the trouble by grabbing it for yourself.
“Think of it this way: these amenities are here for you, they are yours. We are in no position to dispute the claim that when you wash your hair you prefer to dump fifteen bottles of lavender and poppy seed shampoo all over your scalp like some gooey shower freak.”