Should I expect visitors to bring their own towels?

[xcurlyluciex]

Ok, so scenario got me thinking - not entirely sure what is right or wrong here, so just asking for opinions.
PIL visit us every couple of months. They travel 200 miles each way and usually only stay one night. They don't bring their own towels, so I provide them with a clean one each.
My DM & DF also visit same number of times but always bring their own towels to use.
BIL visits, never brings a towel (or much else for that matter)
It's got me thinking - if you go visit family/friends do you take your own towels? I don't usually, but now I'm thinking I should. I know you get towels if you stay in a hotel, but if you went to say a holiday you might not. Is there some towel etiquette?

We provide towels and stuff like that

Occasionally, if we’ve got a houseful we do ask people if they can bring stuff.

We have a big festival here in the summer and we have about 10 people staying with us so we have asked them to bring sleeping bags and pillows and towels

I’ve had friends stay a few times when they know I’ve been ill and stressed out that week and they’ve insisted on bringing towels and sleeping bags so I don’t have any extra work. I protest a lot but in reality I really appreciate it.

I always supply towels . Even to the multitude of DS’ friends when they stay over - up to 6 at a time .

I always put towels out when I make up the spare bed, BUT if I'm going to friends or parents just for one night, I'd always tell them not to worry about towels and that we'll bring our own. It's so wasteful to wash after just one use... I'd never ask guests to bring them, but some of the friends who come would bring their own for the same reason. We often take our duvet and pillows to a couple of friends' houses to save them washing bedding. It's no bother for us, and makes life easier for them. These are friends we see all the time though, and are very close to - kind of 'make yourself at home in each others' houses' kind of friends.

I'd say host supplies, but when we go stay at MIL's we take some with us to cut down on her washing.

That's really lovely @Auslander, she sounds like a wonderful lady. Posh towels are great and she must have helped you build quite a collection!

I wouldn't bring my towel unless I needed it for something specific to me- so if I had a flare up of a skin condition, recently dyed hair or was expecting AF then I would, otherwise I'd expect towel provision to fall within the remit of being a good host. I always leave one out for each guest if we have people to stay, along with a rail and hangers for clothes, phone charger and eye mask.

I love our spare room so much I sometimes tell DH he's been snoring and go sleep in there

I always take my own. It's no hardship to transport a towel from a car into the house. There again my SIL could think I'm a dirty bugger by not washing during our stay.

I supply towels for visitors but also take them to my friend if I go there, anyone else I visit they provide

ShirleyPhallus
The posters dh is unlikely to be a “lazy fuck”. He travels to work and returns perhaps at the weekend. The norm when you work away is to do long and compressed hours if possible. He’s travelling for several hours twice a week and probably doesn’t get much time to do washing.

I only take towels when staying in very basic accommodation. I've been to really cheap hotels and hostels that don't supply them.
I would hope to borrow if staying with a friend as washing a towel is less hassle than carrying one. That is different, of course, if someone is driving. If the people visiting are driving, I think it's fine to say you don't have many spare towels and would they mind bringing some.

I take a towel with me, but I do use my host’s towels if they’re offered/left in the room as it means I don’t have to pack a potentially damp towel when I leave again. It also means I don’t have to ask for one if one isn’t clearly made available however!

PIL visit us every couple of months. They travel 200 miles each way and usually only stay one night. They don't bring their own towels, so I provide them with a clean one each.

I would do that too.

However, as they are your PIL, does their son help chip in with the laundry?.... He should. Or is it "wife work"?

@Iflyaway My DH and laundry? He doesn't do his own let alone help with any other

Always provide towels, bedding, shampoo, shower gel, toothpaste, bath toys etc. Some people bring their own of some stuff but at least it’s there if needed.
Stayed at a holiday cottage where you had to pay extra for sheets and towels. Felt like a real con. As if we were going to bring our own on a plane.

Host provided towels. DB always takes his own but because he has eczema and is allergic to a lot of washing powders and detergents, he gets around sheets etc by taking long sleeved PJs

@Mummyoflittledragon, mine worked away Mon to Fri for years, he never even suggested I did his washing. He had the two minutes it takes to stuff the laundry in the machine as much as I did.

My friends have stayed over and I asked them to bring towels because I didn't hwve enough. They weren't offended in the slightest. Also, I pointed it out because it's expected that the host supplies.

help with laundry?

The posters dh is unlikely to be a “lazy fuck”. He travels to work and returns perhaps at the weekend. The norm when you work away is to do long and compressed hours if possible. He’s travelling for several hours twice a week and probably doesn’t get much time to do washing.

He has a washing machine in his flat

I’d always ensure a set of towels were in the guests bathrooms.
I do take towels whenever I’m staying with friends though. I like a decent, not too fluffy, bathsheet and a separate lightweight (cheap) small bath towel for my hair. I take towels to work hotels because they can be quite variable in terms of towels. -Hiltons, Holiday Inns etc I can’t abide mean sized towels.

Never taken a towel when I've visited anywhere. I'd be a bit insulted if a guest in our place felt the need to bring their own.

I was always taught by my dad that a good guest always brings their own towel and a good host makes sure they don’t have to use it. I live a flight away from most people I visit now but have one of those compressible microfibre ones I bring with me now - and never use!

@TheCraicDealer. I ended up with cupboards full of them. I donated some to the kids when they moved out. She was fab. 😊

reminds me of Monica from Friends. 'Guest' or 'Fancy Guest' towels