Do you leave things in hotel room after departure for the maids to take if they want them?

[helpmepleasewiththis]

I am due to leave for home after a weeks holiday and remember that my DM always used to do this. Things like unused shampoo, sanitary products etc. is this still a thing or would they find it insulting?

What you’re describing is actually really common and thoughtful—many people do it, especially when staying with someone they know well or when they want to show appreciation for hospitality. Leaving behind useful items like unused shampoo, sanitary products, or even a few snacks can be seen as considerate, especially if:

1. They’re in good condition and unopened.
2. You’re discreet and thoughtful about it. For example, leaving them neatly in the bathroom or letting your partner quietly mention, “She left a few things you might find useful.”

If you’re concerned about how your partner’s parents might perceive it, consider:

• Cultural or generational context – Some people from older generations (like your DM, or “dear mum”) saw this as a kind gesture. But if your partner’s parents are very particular or formal, it might come off differently.
• Framing it as thoughtful rather than careless – Make sure it doesn’t look like you just forgot things or left a mess behind.

If you’re unsure, you could ask your partner:
“Hey, I was going to leave a few unused toiletries behind like my mum always used to do—do you think your parents would appreciate that, or would it be better if I just packed them?”

I don't think it's insulting to leave leftover items, it's not as if you'd put a label there saying "humble staff, please help yourselves to my unwanted crap." If they don't want it, they'll just throw it away!

In many cultures including European ones it’s insulting and a sign of over-privileged, out of touch societies, to throw away goods that still have a use.

Even a half bottle of shampoo or half full box of individually wrapped sanpro

It’s like burning cash. That’s more insulting.

We stayed in a family hotel in Lanzarote and there was a big box outside the kids club where people left nappies / swim nappies / suncream / beach toys / pool inflatables etc etc that they didn’t want to take home and anyone was free to take from it what they needed. We left a thin summer sleep bag that DS was about to grow out of, hopefully someone got use from it.

I feel completely fine about it, because soap is soap. It doesn't go off, it doesn't get contaminated, it shouldn't go to waste.

Many villa and Airbnb owners do leave previous guests' opened suncream, shampoo etc in a box for people to use. Lots of hotels use refillable dispensers, which is the same thing—who cares if someone else has used the same bottle?

I'm astonished by the number of people on this thread who are just casually binning things, and assuming staff are doing the same. Bananas. I'm not hard up, but I don't sniff at free products, open or not.

We have an air bnb and I’m delighted when guests leave tins of food or soy sauce or whatever.
They don’t usually leave toiletries as we provide them, but I certainly wouldn’t be insulted if they did. Half a bottle of shampoo is useful.

I used to clean hotel rooms when I was a student. The guest who left a pack of Penguin biscuits was the best!

That's really not the same thing at all.

The cleaners just is to, well, clean. They're expected to leave the room without any trace of the previous guest.

Whereas when a guest has a half used bottle of shampoo they can choose to bin it, to keep it, or to leave it for the cleaner to take. If they do the latter and the cleaner doesn't want it, it's not really an issue as the cleaner can simply put it in the rubbish with everything else. I don't imagine the cleaner would feel insulted. Maybe a bit annoyed that the guest hadn't bothered to put the bottle in the bin and left it to her to do that. Up to them if they choose to take the leftover product or not.

The idea that passing on items is just for those who are desperately poor is such an outdated viewpoint. Like in the 1980s my mum would be horrified at the thought of second hand clothes and view that as being for people who were struggling...it would be whispered about in hushed tones if someone you knew bought clothes from a charity shop. But nowadays it's actually more about not wasting things and being more environmentally friendly...it's kind of cool.

I leave toiletries and clothes but assume they will throw them away if they don’t want them. A waitress once asked me for my necklace! In Israel I left large bottles of shampoo and shower gel in the room (I had bought them there) and the chamber maid phoned down to reception to ask if I wanted them!
I also leave books, but usually on the hotel bookshelf.

I remember going to jumble sales in the 1980s and there were a lot of people at such sales, along with it being common to have second and third hand clothes passed down - perhaps this was why your mother was against it - had she lived on hand me downs from older siblings?

Well, it can be both. I hate wasting things, and reuse anything I can. If anyone's chucking something out that I can use, then I'll take it and use it.
I cleaned rooms when I was at uni. I'd take shampoo and conditioner back, decanting two or three into one bottle for convenience! I was poor then, but I'm not poor now.

No she came from a fairly well off family...but i think decades ago charity shops were cheap and aimed at poorer people... unlike today where there's quite a strong middle class clientele

Missing the point. It's like watching the pennies so the pounds look after themselves.
All waste is waste and potentially harmful. Shampoo does not arrive fully formed in hotels: ingredients are gathered and transported, product manufactured in factories, transported to hubs and then further transported to shops, etc. That's a lot of fossil fuels and all the other things you decried.
Better just to endeavour not to be wasteful.

And you must be living under a stone if you've never heard of plastic pollution. Toiletries are horrendous for this.

We did that in the Canaries a few years ago.
Left a tip, beers, coffee and toiletries. When we were waiting outside that evening for our transfer, the cleaners drove past beeping and waving. One had all the bits on her lap.

I've never heard of this being a thing, I make sure everything is cleared from the room, I usually strip the bed

I leave stuff if it is genuinely usable / unopened like snacks or yes I have left children's summer clothes like UV suits and beach shoes if they're in good condition and I could see my DC would outgrow them by the time of our next holiday. I think that's reasonable, in many parts of the world these would go to good use.

Not offensive at all. I'm on holiday now and shampoo I bought in the pound shop at home is £8.50 here, which would be the guts of a days wages. The same with flip flops, I remember my parents would always leave their holiday ones (still great condition) and some shorts/t-shirts and they were always graciously received. And I always leave a tip for cleaning staff, was speaking to one woman this morning, works 12 hour shifts every day, has 2 DC at home and her husband left her a few years ago. A tenner is more than she gets per day and I won't miss it much.

Where are you visiting where a run-of-the-mill shampoo costs the same as a cleaner’s daily wage (for a 12hour shift)?

Are you seriously that ignorant?! I could give you a long list of countries.

The middle class customer is a sign f the times, wages haven't increased in real terms since the 1980s

As a teenager I loved a jumble sale, now I like a charity shop for stuff that I won't use much - evening dresses or hats for ascot etc, some great bargains to be had!

I think the main issue here is that people are not really valuing their own belongings, nor caring about their environmental impact, and just leave things they don’t want in the hope that someone else will be grateful for them…and if not, will just bin them.

Buying a bottle of shampoo just for a holiday, not finishing it, and then leaving it on the off chance it will used by someone else is pretty wasteful when there’s a chance it will be binned. Presumably, you’ll need to buy another shampoo to replace that one? Why not just take a smaller decanted bottle with you, or take the half used bottle home to finish? Presumably you had more in the bottle in your luggage on the way out?

Leaving outgrown kids gear on the off chance the cleaner knows a child the correct size, but they might just bin it instead. Why not take it to a charity shop and donate it properly?

Leaving unwanted food that might not eaten. You bought the food, eat it, or take it home.

If you want to be properly generous to the staff, give them a monetary tip and stop leaving things that they may, or may not, want.

I get leaving a communal library of inflatables or sand toys next to a pool/beach. You’ve actually found a market where lots of different people who are off to enjoy the pool will likely want to borrow the items and they are unlikely to be binned by a busy person just trying to get on with their job of emptying and clearing.

I understand there are places where wages are very much below an acceptable standard. And I understand that there are places where groceries and toiletries are much more expensive than they are here.

Bur my understanding is that countries with expensive (compared to here) goods, we’re generally more affluent and countries with low wages generally had goods that seemed cheap to us.

I didn’t realise there were countries where a bottle of shampoo was massively more expensive than the same bottle here, but wages were massively lower. So I suppose I must be ignorant. I’d appreciate being educated.

Having read this thread up until this post - it seems that this is key - where people are going on their holidays so some places it’s appropriate, others it isn’t.

Stone? No just Zone 2 NorthLdn as name suggests. Indeed I’m aware of plastic pollution. I am also aware let them eat cake isn’t an appropriate riposte regard environmental issues.
Regards this thread, I decant and take products with me when away from home
Finally, like most other people I do what I can aware of the contributory factors