Pinching stuff from hotel rooms/villas

[Januaryisjustaweirdmonth]

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?

I probably confuse them because I do the opposite: I take things into the hotel and leave them there. I once brought in a cheap painting I found in a charity shop, hung it on the wall and it was still there a year later

I don’t think I’ve ever stayed anywhere nice enough to want to. Not that I would. Taking biscuits and half used complementary shower gel is one thing but robes and towels? A nope from me.

My in laws do it all the time though. When I had my son my MIL gifted me some stolen towels (not even nice ones, they were really old and felt super crusty 🤢) and they went straight in the decorating cupboard to be used as rags.

Mr Bean is that you?

Seriously, why though? That’s super weird.

If you don’t like the look of a hotel then book somewhere else. Don’t get your toolbox out and start hanging pictures (and risking arrest for criminal damage) to improve a drab room.

I don't take anything. I don't use the toiletries, so don't want to take them. My son adores tiny bottles though, so sometimes he does.

Sadly yes - I've had the cottage stripped of all of these and more. One set of guests took all the consumables they could find including the salt and pepper mills.

I now only leave out a week's supply as people are so greedy. I still leave kitchen roll but I'm not replacing foil etc every week.

When we started out we left nice shopping bags for guests to use as Wales was ahead of England in charging for them. Two weeks later all were gone.

People are just explaining why they are taking something that the hotel has to replace (pay for) unnecessarily.
There is a wider ethical issue about waste.
Taking all the unopened toiletries ( tea, coffee sugar) just because you can is like over filling your plate at the buffet. Pointless and all adds up

I imagine male customers make a deposit in the bottles.

Eeuuw, that's bogging. Is that 'a thing' like pooing in hotel kettles?

Surely the room cards were brought in to replace keys deliberately, because people often (genuinely accidentally) take them home with them - so they're much cheaper and can just be deactivated?

We did stay in a Village Hotel recently and it had the most amazing comfy mattress. I did a bit of digging online and found you can buy the exact same one directly from Sealy, so it's on our 'to buy' list; maybe we're foolish and should have just taken the roof bars with us instead, though?!

I'm genuinely shocked at people taking things with them that are clearly not per-guest consumables. Of course, the little shampoo bottles and biscuit packets are included in the price you pay, but why would anybody in their right mind try to take a bath-robe, wardrobe or the telly home with them?! Do these same people cheerfully shoplift from supermarkets or steal laptops from work?

I think they do. There was a thread once about what people steal from hospitals - just about everything including toys and devices from the children’s ward.

I have wondered what thieves’ mindset is; do they mind if someone steals from them?

Well, presumably they are taking them to use them rather than waste them?!

As I’ve said, I wouldn’t take most of this stuff myself, but I also can’t get so upset/moralistic as some on this thread are. I just can’t bring myself to care about Premier Inn’s profit margins, even though I’m sure that makes me a terrible person 😐

I take the biscuits, tea coffee. I don't really like most soaps and stuff so don't bother with them.

I have wondered what thieves’ mindset is; do they mind if someone steals from them?

I don't have any direct experience, but I'm guessing that they're furious about it - entitled/CF people generally get very angry if other people start to play by the same rules as they do.

I just can’t bring myself to care about Premier Inn’s profit margins, even though I’m sure that makes me a terrible person

Thieves don't generally care who their victims are and will take from anybody if they think they can get away with it. Lots of hotels, guest houses and holiday cottages are owned by ordinary people/families - as some on this thread have attested.

If anything, I'm guessing that thieves are less likely to try it on with places like PI and TL who not only have the clout to fight back, but will also have robust systems in place to minimise theft, with their economies of scale. It's probably much easier to steal from a small independent establishment - who are often more trusting of guests in their procedures - and then angrily lie, deny and threaten appalling reviews if they get in touch about it.

I wouldn't take the big bottle of shampoo off the wall.

I have considered taking an empty shampoo bottle with me and dispensing it into that.

I haven't done this yet, just wondering where it sits in the hierachy of crimes.

Consumables eg mini soaps, shampoos, shower gel handcream and biscuits, hot chocolate etc then yes. After all they've obviously factored x biscuits and a bottle of shampoo per stay into the price. It makes no difference if I eat the biscuit in the room or a week later! I can't imagine taking a toilet roll?? Or towels etc. In a villa/cottage I wouldn't take anything home.

I imagine that thieves get angry if someone steals from them. The same way prisoners get all moralistic when someone else commits what they deem a worse crime.
As for stealing the smoke alarm- scum is the only way to describe those types of people.

I wouldn't take the big bottle of shampoo off the wall.

No, indeed; as a general rule, if you need to take a screwdriver or chisel in with you to wrench it off, it's probably frowned on to take that particular item!

That classic thread that was linked above did seem to begin as an assumed small individual consumable that was there to be used/taken and then transpire to be a very large actual fixture that was clearly intended to remain in place.

Even with the apparent consumables, though, we once stayed in a reasonably posh hotel in Norwich (we'd booked into their more ordinary sister hotel, but they'd double-booked us, so offered a free upgrade) where they had all manner of things dotted about the room - toiletries and unguents, jelly beans, ornaments, curios, even a teddy bear - and every one of them had a label on it urging us to consume/take it to make our stay even more memorable, followed by a price. It actually left us feeling quite uneasy and unable to properly relax, in case we inadvertently used something that wasn't included and incurred a cost when we came to check out.

OK, it's not so far-reaching if you do it somewhere that's serviced and restocked before the next guest comes in; but people who steal toilet rolls from public toilets and those selling houses who take all the light bulbs with them are serious low-lifes.

None of these items cost that much to buy, if you have the opportunity and advance warning to plan to do so; but when you need them immediately and suddenly discover that they aren't there, as you expected, with no easy way of getting another one, it's a nasty trick to play on a fellow human.

@WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll
I’m sorry, are you calling me a thief for suggesting that it’s not even worth worrying about how many sachets or sugar/mini toiletries people take from hotels?!

I’m saying I don’t care how often hotels have to re-stock their consumables. Because I really don’t have the energy to care about the itsy-bitsy minutiae of the finances of multi-million pound companies 😐

I normally take nothing. I did take the nice mini toiletries at some hotels work sent me to and give them to friends who like those brands (L’occtaine, moulton brown and similar)
Work were paying £200-250 a night and they were chains. I could have used their stuff every day but had my own so took home and gifted instead since I’m unfussed but it was a treat for someone else

My hotel in Vegas had the same! They just left a new one each day and so I took them as they’re great for travelling. Usually the toiletries aren’t worth bringing back, don’t really want a shampoo-slash-shower gel to strip my hair, thanks!

I take the little bottles if they are nice and I'll use them. I also take shower caps as I use them at home for deep conditioner and mini sewing kit- like to have one at work, one in the car etc.

Anything which isn't obviously there for you to use up* shouldn't be taken. Lots of places now put in their bumf that robes are available to buy for £100 (in other words, take the robe and we will charge your card £100).

*Except loo roll- obviously this is something you could use up during your stay but the idea of taking it away is too depressing.

Well, presumably they are taking them to use them rather than waste them?!

As I’ve said, I wouldn’t take most of this stuff myself, but I also can’t get so upset/moralistic as some on this thread are. I just can’t bring myself to care about Premier Inn’s profit margins, even though I’m sure that makes me a terrible person😐

I think a lot of people ( me included) take them thinking they’ll use them up but never do. After many years I don’t bother anymore as I had lots of little half bottles for staying overnight somewhere that never got finished.
I’ll only take toothbrushes and the little toothpastes now as they make back ups for my DS friends if they stay over. Anything else I leave unopened as my nod to reducing waste.

I am absolutely gobsmacked! No wonder B&Bs now have large dispensers rather than little bottles. I'll take home a little bottle if I have started using it (and I like it), and maybe biscuits. But nothing else.

Just to point out Premier Inn has no miniature toiletries to take away - it's the bolted to the wall shower gel/shampoo.

I’m guessing that they are the same people who put in fraudulent insurance claims and scan expensive items through as carrots at the supermarket (Tesco have sold more carrots than they’ve ever had in stock). They think stealing from businesses is a victimless crime but it’s not as the costs are passed on to other customers.