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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

What things are you guilty of nicking from hotels?

656 replies

Teadrinker11 · 13/02/2022 21:30

I'm definitely guilty of stealing things from hotel rooms. I never go for anything overly big, usually teabags, toilet roll and the toiletries when I leave.
What are you guilty of nicking from hotels or your workplace?

OP posts:
payens · 15/02/2022 20:05

Taking towels and robes is theft.

RachelGreeneGreep · 15/02/2022 20:10

@wellstopdoingitthen

When I unpacked after a holiday a few years ago my husband had packed the hotel bathrobes. He claimed he thought 'complementary' meant they were a gift to us. In fairness he was really embarrassed. I almost contacted the hotel (abroad) as I was worried they would come after us. It's been 20 years, I think we're safe now Smile
I just remembered a story about a colleague. She brought her own plain white towelling bathrobe with her for a hotel stay, and it got taken away by the staff, along with towels, when they were cleaning her room. I don't know what happened in the end. I know they were trying to search for it, in order to return it. But it was a busy hotel where I presume laundry got picked up, in bulk, daily. So hers is a reverse story. Grin
WiddlinDiddlin · 15/02/2022 20:15

When I make lunch out of breakfast stuff, it's generally cold sausage butties on toast or bread (depending on how good the bread is, I like cold buttered toast!)...

I usually have a sachet of ketchup for it too.

It's never beyond the range of what some folk could eat in one sitting though, I can't eat a huge amount at breakfast.

I only do this if im attending a conference at the hotel/at somewhere really nearby though and it goes into napkins/sandwichbag - I've always got my stuff ready for the day before going down to breakfast so I have baggies and a laptop case that keeps things flat anyway.

If i were at a hotel to go out and about and do stuff, where its easy to buy lunch, I wouldn't bother, but conference lunches or training course lunches tend to be pretty boring, in my industry, often vegan or spicy and therefore often has options I don't want and no alternatives to buy from anywhere/nowhere to buy them.

I see plenty of other people doing it, rarely do I see anyone taking the micky - but i DO see people piling plates high with stuff they can't eat and then just leaving it, thats really common.

WomanStanleyWoman · 15/02/2022 20:16

@payens

Taking towels and robes is theft.
Thanks for confirming.
Wonmoretime · 15/02/2022 20:16

There’s no novelty in tea bags or toiletries,
But I’ll take the biro/pencil and note paper and if there’s a sewing kit , shoe shine or shower cap or emery boards and cotton buds etc they will go into my handbag in case I need them at some point!

AnnieSnap · 15/02/2022 20:20

@flowervest75

I also hope no one here has ever paid for their shopping but purposely didn’t scan the 20p shopping bag they’re meant to pay for. Seeing as ‘theft is theft,’ you’re nothing but a hypocrite🤷‍♀️
I don’t do that either. I’m not aware that it’s a thing! Do you just steal whenever the opportunity presents itself? 😮
Chakraleaf · 15/02/2022 20:30

I always pay for a bag if I use one. I'm so scared of being stopped 😫

Sheilaroundthefountain · 15/02/2022 20:40

Those stolen towels you're so proud of have dried many many ball-bags. Think of that when your proudly putting them away in your linen cupboard.

myfaceismyown · 15/02/2022 20:42

When my DD was 8 she would read all the time. We had gone to see some relatives, about a 5 hour drive, and stayed in a hotel. About 2 hours into the return journey we suddenly realised that the book DD was so engrossed in was .....
The Gideon Bible from the hotel!! Too late to turn back we took it home. Luckily the hotel was a chain so we took it back to a more local hotel.
Part of me thinks Gideon would be very happy.

WomanStanleyWoman · 15/02/2022 20:45

@Sheilaroundthefountain

Those stolen towels you're so proud of have dried many many ball-bags. Think of that when your proudly putting them away in your linen cupboard.
Not that I’m saying it’s a good idea to steal hotel towels, but… isn’t this still an ‘issue’ when you stay in the hotel? Why are random ball-bags a problem if you steal the towel, but not if you use it whilst staying there?
maddiemookins16mum · 15/02/2022 20:48

I did once (24 years ago), take one of those white towelling foot mats from the bathroom of a hotel in Croatia. We still have it.

DearlyBeloathed · 15/02/2022 20:48

@Sheilaroundthefountain

Those stolen towels you're so proud of have dried many many ball-bags. Think of that when your proudly putting them away in your linen cupboard.
Do you not use the ones in hotels then? The ones that have also done the same? Confused
thestarvingcaterpillar · 15/02/2022 20:57

I once stayed in a hotel with a now ex when after we checked in he went back down to the car & got another hold-all out, it had 2 old pillows in it which he swapped for 2 of the lovely hotel pillows when we left. Apparently he regularly did this and hadn't bought a pillow for years! Proper scumbag!!

me109f · 15/02/2022 21:23

Little bottles for shampoo and conditioner. However, once in Germany there was only a big 2-litre bottle of shampoo in the room. I stole that but later felt very mean about it.
Sometimes the creamers so you can make your own coffee on the road. Once took an ashtray that I had asked for in a US no-smoking hotel!
I will also point out that I have had many personal items disappear from hotel rooms, and twice also had a lot of cash stolen from hotel safes whilst abroad.

Merryweather80 · 15/02/2022 21:23

@greenteafiend. I loved that show and that sketch was hilarious.
Some people will take anything not screwed down.

AnnieSnap · 15/02/2022 21:29

@freshcarnation

We stayed at Gleneagles hotel decades ago and DH loved the towelling bathrobe. So I spoke to housekeeping and bought a new one for him. He had it for years til it fell apart.
Us too. We stayed at Lumley Castle Hotel in Durham for a Valentine’s break several years ago. The bath robes were especially plush and cosy. We loved them, so contacted reception and bought two. They were about £100 each, but we loved them and wouldn’t have even considered stealing them.
Thunderpunt · 15/02/2022 21:33

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Things like tea and coffee and the little toiletries are fair game, as they're single-use portions that are for your use (whether during your stay or if you take them with you).

Unscrewing the Corby trouser press from the wall or helping yourself to towels/sheets/curtains - anything that's intended for continued use by multiple guests - is simple theft. Don't hotels normally insist on credit card details nowadays? Part of the reason for that is so that they can charge your card for the goods you've stolen, if they're kind enough to do that without just involving the police.

What is it particularly with hotels that attracts this kind of theft? You never hear of people walking out of a restaurant with the table or a couple of chairs tucked under their arms, do you?

Only just started reading this thread, so it may have already come up....but believe me people steal plenty from restaurants. I can't tell you how many pepper grinder, shot glasses, cutlery, bill holders (!) even that we have had taken over the years!
LostForWords2021 · 15/02/2022 22:10

Off the back of this thread, I’ve ordered new towels tonight. Debenhams have a great sale on…

MuffinStrops · 15/02/2022 22:18

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll

Someone I knew had a brother who would steal the plates if he went out for a meal and didn't like it. He and his wife did this regularly. That is honestly the lowest thing I have ever heard.

What, the messy, unwashed plates that they've just eaten off, with bits of sauce or gravy or whatever still dribbled across them? Euw. They can't have disliked the meals that much if they'd cleared them of food, to be able to stash them in their bag ready to steal.

What did they say when the waiter/ress came and asked "Can I take your plates?" Just reply "No need: we've already done it!!"

Utterly minging.

Yes, I agree.
MuffinStrops · 15/02/2022 22:20

@Nomorepastry

6 years ago when me and partner started dating, he stole the hotel key Blush
But what's the point?
kennycat · 15/02/2022 22:55

I took a bowl once. I’d ordered room
Service breakfast once and they gave tonnes of everything I ordered so I took lots home in a bowl rather than waste it. I still have the bowl at least 15 years on! And I’ve taken to
Pilfering the odd
Teaspoon from a cafe if it’s especially nice of late.

Sparklingbrook · 15/02/2022 23:00

I’ve a friend who works in a café she says they are continually having to buy replacement teaspoons. ☹️

cherish123 · 15/02/2022 23:22

@flowervest75 towels!? I am shocked! That's theft.
I would take nice shower gel but that's all really

liveforsummer · 15/02/2022 23:32

@Sparklingbrook

I’ve a friend who works in a café she says they are continually having to buy replacement teaspoons. ☹️
This happens in my house too though and no one is stealing those. Although I do wonder if there is indeed a borrower as teaspoons vanish in the same way single socks from pairs and when dc were smaller, dummies do. It might not be customers stealing them.
ImNotDancing · 15/02/2022 23:41

@flowervest75

it's just that it's possible for dishonest guests to betray their trust in basic human decency and get away with it.

I never said it was the right thing to do but it’s a couple of towels not £100 grand from the safe. Clearly no one has taken anything from a hotel that they’re not supposed too

Ignore the Pearl clutches - they’re not nearly as perfect as they make out
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