Complimentary hotel toiletries .. no sanitary towels

[TwentySmackeroos]

I’m in a fancy hotel on my holidays (total beach/resort set-up; not corporate at this time of year) and the tray of free toiletries includes:
Shampoo
Conditioner
Shower gel
Bar of soap
Loofah/scrapy sponge thing
Make-up remover towelettes
Toothbrush/toothpaste set
Comb
Manicure set
Sewing kit
Shoe shine scuff fixer
Razor and shave balm

All the above have been replenished daily as used.

Meanwhile, a pack of panty liners retails in the hotel shop at €3.90. Tampax are €4.50.

Caught unawares (seven months into my first Mirena), I’ve been wadding loo roll and rinsing my bikini bottoms nightly. And obviously bought the panty liners when it became clear I needed to.

I’m a hotel middle-level manager (but no input into purchasing, in my role). Most guests here are parents under 45 with kids. There are loads of toilet facilities (spotless and well maintained) but no dispensing machines in any.

AIBU to think a sanitary towel or three in the toiletries tray is a reasonable expectation, when all other ‘immediate’ sanitary needs are?—and the shoe scuff fixer is not a pressing need IMO—

Yes there's a mark up in hotel shops but there always is. As an emergenct purchase it makes more sense to pay the elevated prices as a one-off than an extra £4 every time you check in, whether you need sanpro or not.

Not every woman needs sanpro - I don't any more. Older women don't.

Agree that a stash behind the reception desk would make a lot more sense than having them in the room - dish out a couple of pads to keep you going until you get to a shop. Unnecessary in the room. Also I'm sure that nobody would object to being charged 25p per pad or something when supplied by reception.

Bit of a contradiction to suggest that hotels can provide sanpro so very cheaply, but huge numbers of women are in period poverty because sanpro is so very expensive.

Which is it?

It isn't an either or.

Women who can afford to stay in hotels aren't the women suffering from period poverty.

My question was about the price of sanpro. Is it expensive, or cheap?

Assuming the shop was open? I think this is a very good point. Considering we get ads for sanpro on Tv all the time, the embarrassment factor has largely gone. If some religions are offended, thats their problem. It's a basic human need for women.

There was a long thread about hotel shampoo being racist. Bear with. The idea being that the shampoo generally provided by hotels is so cheap, generic and drying that people with dry hair can't use it.

I stay in the Premier Inn a lot, even in London where the price isn't far off two hundred quid a night the toilet roll is ghastly, and the toiletries like paint stripper.

Room amenities are a bare bones operation, unless in very luxurious hotels. And even then the toilet roll will be er, bog standard.

It's a very good point, OP.

And I don't for a second think we should prioritise someone's religion or culture over a basic hygiene need.

*It's the fact that other non essentials are provided
*
They don't choose what to provide on how essential they are, they choose what to provide based on those items most likely to be asked for at reception if they're not provided.

Not every woman needs sanpro - I don't any more. Older women don't

I don't use the shoe shiners, the manicure kits, the combs, the make up removers, the razors/mens shaving stuff, the showercaps or the eye masks or in fact most of the stuff provided. I've only once or twice used the sewing kits and small toothbrushes. That is across years of spending more nights in hotels than at home.

They are all items any of us could take ourselves or buy in shops, all are potentially convenient if they are needed. I have stayed in hotels where they don't keep sanpro in the list of items for sale (but they do always have condoms).

Nipping out to a handy shop is a great idea but not always an option. I travel to my clients, not all are conveniently situated in town centres with 24 hr shops nearby.

*C8H
*
You don't use them, but research suggests they're the items most likely to be asked for if they're not provided.

My spouse works in hotels and I know some hotels, including some Premier Inns, keep menstruation supplies behind reception (and that it has come up a few times while he's been working).

I imagine the concern in just keeping them in room is the risks of tampering meaning they'd have to be continuously thrown away so it's safer that way. Maybe hotels which do this need to have this information more publicly known to make it more normalized?

How difficult is it to keep sanpro permanently in your case/holdall so you always have it when you travel? It's called being an adult and looking after yourself.

Is it maybe because people have very individual preferences when it comes to sanpro?

You don't use them, but research suggests they're the items most likely to be asked for if they're not provided.

Manicure sets? Really? Where is the research that suggests hotels are regularly asked for manicure sets (or any items on that list)?

Custom and ratings assumptions are far more likely to influence the room packs than actual research into what people use.

It's funny how MN argue that the average woman can't afford their own monthly sanpro, but all of a sudden expect hotels to provide because 'it doesn't cost that much to provide'

How difficult is it to keep sanpro permanently in your case/holdall so you always have it when you travel?

Luggage goes astray? An out of sync period which is heavier than usual might leave you short? I've had both those things happen and I tend to travel with an oversupply.

Its not difficult to include any of the complimentary items in your luggage. That is the point. They are all items which are for convenience/shortfall rather than because people cannot remember to take their own supplies.

I think that it would be enough for there to be some available at reception to be asked for until some can be bought.

Do many people rely on using the stuff provided or mainly only use if they have forgotten their own?

They're not there for convenience at all. They're there to justify the eye watering price of some hotel rooms and make gullible guests feel like they're getting something special. A grown woman should be capable of anticipating and taking care of her body's needs. The pp who said this is infantatising is spot on.

The only one I think needs a campaign is the fact that some people can’t afford their sanpro This. If you can afford to stay in a fancy hotel I’m sure you can afford to pay the prices in the hotel shop - the women I feel sorry for are those who struggle to afford it on a monthly basis (I Daniel Blake anyone?) Personally I think all those hotel “freebies” (because let’s not forget they are factored into the cost of your room) are really wasteful. Provide large bottles and top them up.

How difficult is it to keep sanpro permanently in your case/holdall so you always have it when you travel?
And by that logic, how difficult is it to keep a shoes shine kit in your case/ hold-all so you always have it when you travel?

OP, I agree with your sentiment completely. I can’t get my head around needing a shoe buffing over san pro.

l've always had a 'just in case' plastic bag full of tampons in my suitcase or overnight bag. They weigh virtually nothing and then you can forget about it. l think l'd just have bitten the bullet and bought stuff from the shop.

Sanpro should definitely be provided in hotel rooms, at least one sanitary towel anyway. Any woman that has an emergency will need one there and then, not to be wadding up toilet roll into her knickers and waddling off to reception or the nearest shop. It's not something that can wait. Toothpaste/shower gel/shampoo etc etc can all wait a few minutes. A woman bleeding can't.

Providing sanpro is no more infantilising than providing shampoo, soap, sewing kit etc for grown men and women who might have forgotten them or need them unexpectedly.

here are the things I have NEVER found among the complimentary toiletries

Loofah/scrapy sponge thing
Make-up remover towelettes
Toothbrush/toothpaste set
Comb
Manicure set
Razor and shave balm

I was recently in a number of hotels in Spain. Most of them had combs and nail files (not a whole manicure set.) The most basic didn't even provide soap...

(I did use the body lotion in one, in place of after-sun, but obviously I couldn't reach the bits I'd burnt for the same reason I hadn't managed to miss with the factor 30, insufficient flexibility.)

I don't remember ever seeing sanpro in any hotel room. I have leaked onto hotel sheets - while providing my own protection - it just wasn't enough for overnight, so even if some was provided, it would have relied on me waking in the night to get up and change.

I wonder if the range of complimentary items changes per company, once you're in the range of hotels which provide more than soap and shampoo only.

I’ve always carried tampons and at least one pad in my handbag ever since I started my periods. I’ve never gone on holiday without sanitary protection regardless of when my period was due. It doesn’t weigh anything or take up hardly any space in your case.