To take the body lotion and soap from a £250 a night hotel? They have asked for it back!!!

[mum2sons]

DH and I spent our wedding anniversary in a v expensive boutique hotel. I took the body lotion and soap home as I usually would do (sad, but I get v excited about these things!)Yesterday we received a letter from the hotel asking for us to send the 2 items back for the future enjoyment of guests!!! Talk about humiliation! Looking forward to MNetters views

me too Shimmy! I am sane too!!

I think the letter from the hotel is mad though regardless of the refillableness of the bottles

I mean you have to factor this in to some extent obviously the majority of their clientele don't walk off with the bottles or they would have implemented a concrete block and chain arrangment

btw, i recently interviewed the former owner of malmaison, ken mcculloch (a more fragrant man i have yet to meet) and he was talking about this issue. he siad that they built the costs of the body stuff into the room rate because people nicked them anyway and it cuts into profit. letting people have them was good business for them, but people stealing the toiletries was bad business.

If the OP had come on and said, 'was I unreasonable to take these full sized packaged products' then I would probably say yes. But I still think it is well out of order for them to write and tell them to return their items.

But then for me, taking the little bottles of stuff from hotels is the highlight of any rare stays I have. That and the cooked breakfast!

Exactly - they built the costs into the room rate - most hotels do, don't they? If this one doesn't it should state it clearly and obviously so that people know where they stand.

see, if it's out of order for her to take them then it's not out of order for them to ask for them back. although it might not be the best marketing policy, i grant you.

most hangers are attached to the cupboard aren't they?

I'm not the best person to judge as I don't stay in hotels

I would have to ask my more affluent ds

I won my stay at the Malmaison Two nights, free everything. Yummy.

no jan, i think you are coming to the wrong conclusion there. at malmaison there is a sign saying 'please help yourself to these lovely treats'. so the default position must not be stealing. plus, they were blooming refillable pump dispensers... not itty-bitty sample sizes.

I wouldn't have taken pump dispensers, it has to be said. Because of ooze and leak problems in the suitcase. Oh, and morals.

Oh, is there, Aitch?

(Can you tell I don't use posh hotels? )

How much would an overnight be at a Malmaison?

yes, hunker, and the morals. anyway, i'm right by the pick'n'mix... do you want a mint fondant? black jack? gobstopper?

Funny Hotel Signs

Visitors are expected to complain at the office
between the hours of 9 and 11 A.M. daily.
*
The lift is being fixed for the next day.
During that time we regret that you will be unbearable.
*
Please bathe inside the tub.
*
Do not go out except emergency.
*
At the end of a hotel legal disclaimer:
The management of this hotel can not be held.
*
From an elevator
DO NOT USE ELEVATOR WHILE CAUSING FIRE.
*
Sign in a hotel parking garage:
Please get a punch at window.
Is forbidden to steal hotel towels please.
If you are not a person to do such thing
is please not to read notis.
*
On a hotel fire extinguisher:
Cease Fire.

oh dear, F&Z, I have already written on your behalf to 40 high street retailers, haranguing them for not stocking the perfect, quirky, a-line skirt in your size

Gobstopper, please

Jan, not sure how much it was - about £175 inc breakfast for two, I think. This is the one we stayed in

They probably figure that a guest paying £250 per night is not likely to steal the soap dispenser from the bathroom. They have made the choice to contact you about it which does seem ott but it has also made you realise that you shouldn't really have taken them and you'll think twice about doing it again, would you have taken them again on your next visit if they hadn't pulled you up on it this time?

Ooh hunker, was it nice? I fancy that next time dh and I are in London, my sister stayed there last year and liked it.

Get a bottle of Tesco value body lotion and a soap, pour the posh lotion out, pour the value stuff in. Make sure the soap's a bit used and send them that back.

Yes, it was lovely, WWW - really enjoyed it (although partly I think I'd have enjoyed sleeping in a barn on a hay bale as I was 5m pg, DS1 was 17mo and it was the first (and only, even now) time we'd been away without him since he was born!). Gorgeous breakfast selection too - we took ages over ours!

Thanks, hunker!

£175 - I hope m2b got dinner as well for her extra £75 as she certainly didn't get any "lovely treats"

Aitch and co, I am with you . But I suffer from a terrible guilty concience gene so hate to put myself in any situation where I might be seen as less than honest.

My mum wanders round Stateley Home gardens, nicking cuttings from plants and I can't even deal with that

But I do feel sorry for the OP, as this has ruined her lovely experience and caused a row with her DP

I'm with Aloha on this, if they don't want people to take them, then attach them to the wall a la the hotel in Vegas or put up a plastic placard screwed into the wall saying 'These or for sale in reception/Take these and we'll charge your card' or some other such information.

But to write a guest after they've gone and ask for them back is a cheek and unprofessional.