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Original poster

Pinching stuff from hotel rooms/villas

360 replies

Januaryisjustaweirdmonth · 19/01/2023 21:22

Do you do it? Is it acceptable, is it illegal? I actually have no idea.
Would you take bath soaps/bubbles etc, loo rolls, towels, a robe?
Just curious really
I’ve always taken the little bottles/soaps with me when I’ve left somewhere I’ve stayed and thought nothing of it.
Do people take more though and is that illegal actually?

OP posts:
KimberleyClark · 19/01/2023 22:38

EasterIsland · 19/01/2023 22:35

Why would you take anything? Are you so poor that you have to take all the tea and coffee, or the biscuits? Usually hotel shampoo and soap are pretty horrible - I don’t even use them, let alone take them.

I agree that hotel toiletries are rarely as good as what aI use myself and I never use the shampoo and conditioner as I’m very fussy about what I put on my hair, but if the shower gel and body lotion are nice then I might take them.

LimeTwists · 19/01/2023 22:39

If you are allocated those very small toiletries such as a little shampoo for your stay I see no issue with you deciding to use them wherever you choose. They only last a few uses and were priced into your stay. A large bottle that’s obviously meant to be refilled or towels / robes to be re-used by multiple guests shouldn’t be taken. Taking unused toilet roll is an absolute piss take - nobody expects to use a full roll if they only stay for a night or two so it’s obvious it’s meant to last for several guests - and I’d be embarrassed if any of my family did that.

PurpleNebula84 · 19/01/2023 22:40

Little bottles of shampoo, coffee and biscuits etc are fine, as they're clearly consumables that they expect to replenish.
Anything else - NO.
I remember staying at the Venetian in Las Vegas and the room had robes - there was a little note saying if upon departure the robes were missing, they'd charge you and invited you to buy one at the hotel shop.

madeyemoody · 19/01/2023 22:40

I take loads of things, everything is overpriced, hotels make a lot of money, If I like something in the room like a good towel or wash cloth I'll take it. Same with posh shampoo and conditioner. I will even ask for a replacement saying I've used it all and take that too. I once left a hotel in London with 2 L'occitane full size set of toiletries worth collectively £120. They are put in the room to be used they can't dictate how many baths or showers a day I have so maybe i did use all the soap and lotions and hair products. Same with the towels, plush fluffy towels and bath mats I will get a replacement because I "spilled" something and take them. Our camping crockery is full of stolen items, mugs saucers, loads of tea bags and coffee sachets, biscuits hotel chocolat sachets. All very handy stuff to have. Never once been called out for it either. Makes me want to go stay somewhere again writing this Wink

AnotherNameChangeYes · 19/01/2023 22:41

I did stay somewhere once that mini toiletries from the Bath House, they were amazing.

Bringonsummer19 · 19/01/2023 22:41

Hahaha I am with you!!!

purplepencilcase · 19/01/2023 22:41

No, I don't do this out of principle. It's horrid!

KimberleyClark · 19/01/2023 22:43

madeyemoody · 19/01/2023 22:40

I take loads of things, everything is overpriced, hotels make a lot of money, If I like something in the room like a good towel or wash cloth I'll take it. Same with posh shampoo and conditioner. I will even ask for a replacement saying I've used it all and take that too. I once left a hotel in London with 2 L'occitane full size set of toiletries worth collectively £120. They are put in the room to be used they can't dictate how many baths or showers a day I have so maybe i did use all the soap and lotions and hair products. Same with the towels, plush fluffy towels and bath mats I will get a replacement because I "spilled" something and take them. Our camping crockery is full of stolen items, mugs saucers, loads of tea bags and coffee sachets, biscuits hotel chocolat sachets. All very handy stuff to have. Never once been called out for it either. Makes me want to go stay somewhere again writing this Wink

Gosh some people are completely shameless.

Penguinsaregreat · 19/01/2023 22:48

No only the mini toiletries but I agree often they aren’t very nice.

Carrie76 · 19/01/2023 22:49

I stayed in a hotel that had the most fabulous pillows when I was checking out I asked where it came from as I’d like to buy one. The receptionist said to me we wouldn’t have known if you took it 😮My friend did take one from a different hotel I thought it was really off

notacooldad · 19/01/2023 22:50

I dont use the toiletries at the hotel as I prefer my own.

I take the remainder of any coffee sachets but leave the tea as I dont drink it.
Biscuits wouldnt be around to make it out of a hotel room!

User478 · 19/01/2023 22:50

When my dad died we had to throw away a whole hand luggage sized bag full of little packets of tea, coffee, sugar, hot chocolate and biscuits collected over a lifetime of staying in hotels for business trips, some of the Nescafé was older than I am! God knows what he was planning to do with it all, for the last few years he could have barely fitted any clothes in his bag it was so full of tea bags!

Refreshmentsanyone · 19/01/2023 22:51

You leave anything that can be reused. Because it’s the hotels not yours.

I do take extra coffee sachets and just keep them in my travel bag. I used one this weekend when the hotel we were staying in had a pod machine that wasn’t heating properly. Used the kettle ( provided for tea) and my back up coffee.

I get cross when DH opens the disposable slippers in hotels . They’ll get tossed once he’s used them, usually unnecessarily to walk the short distance from bed to ensuite. So wasteful. I’d have 200 pairs by now if we kept them all though.

poppym12 · 19/01/2023 22:52

Sometimes I take the disposable shower cap after I've used it. I leave it in my toiletries bag in case the next hotel I visit doesn't supply one.

I can't imagine taking towels, robes etc. I know they're laundered but they've still been used by lots of other people. It just wouldn't enter my head to steal stuff.

GertrudePerkinsPaperyThing · 19/01/2023 22:53

There are certain things you’re allowed to take - that are priced in complimentary items. It’s usually obvious what they are - mini toiletries, biscuits, cardboard looking slippers etc

Taking things like full sized bottles of anything, robes, proper slippers, the towels, flannels etc - unless it specially says you can - is just stealing.

youshouldnthaveasked · 19/01/2023 22:53

Oh good no, I have trouble throwing away the shit I have already in my house

CheapFoodShits · 19/01/2023 22:56

I pinched the smellies from our hotel in Disneyland Paris.
My mum stole a towel from a Riu hotel somewhere which was later nabbed by the housekeeping at the Disneyland Paris hotel 😂

XenoBitch · 19/01/2023 22:56

The mini toiletries, yes. I mean, they just get binned if partially used anyway.
Biscuits too. I could have even them all anyway.
Apart from that, nothing else.

jcyclops · 19/01/2023 22:58

The towels in a hotel where I stayed in Paris were so luxurious and fluffy I couldn't shut my suitcase 😉

milveycrohn · 19/01/2023 22:58

My DH takes the small individual toiletries, but why?
But to me, if they are unopened, it is theft.
We always take our own much nicer toiletries, so those that are provided, I think, should be just for those who are staying unexpectedly and do not have any.
Especially as you can buy small travel versions of your favourtie bath/shower lotion, or buy those small travel sets, and decant your favourite into one for travel.
I see no need to take any of the toiletries, and really dislike it when my DH does so.
I would certainly consider taking anything else, towels etc as theft.

OnTheBoardwalk · 19/01/2023 22:59

I eat the biscuits

I might take a complementary bottle of water the next day if I’ve not drank it and am travelling

i always pinch a pen. It's the only thing I do

Judgyjudgy · 19/01/2023 23:03

Who would take a robe!!? You would have to be incredibly thick and have zero morals to think this isn't stealing Hmm

Livinginanotherworld · 19/01/2023 23:09

madeyemoody · 19/01/2023 22:40

I take loads of things, everything is overpriced, hotels make a lot of money, If I like something in the room like a good towel or wash cloth I'll take it. Same with posh shampoo and conditioner. I will even ask for a replacement saying I've used it all and take that too. I once left a hotel in London with 2 L'occitane full size set of toiletries worth collectively £120. They are put in the room to be used they can't dictate how many baths or showers a day I have so maybe i did use all the soap and lotions and hair products. Same with the towels, plush fluffy towels and bath mats I will get a replacement because I "spilled" something and take them. Our camping crockery is full of stolen items, mugs saucers, loads of tea bags and coffee sachets, biscuits hotel chocolat sachets. All very handy stuff to have. Never once been called out for it either. Makes me want to go stay somewhere again writing this Wink

Wow, you are pathetic and a thief….you disgust me.

SpinningOutWaitinForYa · 19/01/2023 23:29

Only the complimentary items, which isn't stealing, so I guess no.

whynotwhatknot · 19/01/2023 23:34

littlegreenheart · 19/01/2023 22:32

I once discovered, when I checked in and went to my hotel room, that the lightbulbs had been completely removed from all four of the lamps - desk, floor lamp, lamp on bedside table x2. Each lamp had a shade which completely covered the bulb, so I understand that housekeeping would have missed this unless they intentionally checked, especially as there were also ceiling lights.

I mean - there is no way someone thought that was genuinely expected or accepted, it's just seeing what you can get away with. (This was in the USA though; probably not British people!)

it was ross geller