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?

They said pound shop at home (UK). Such countries do exist though, where hyperinflation means people can't afford even basic necessities with their wages. The classic example is Weimar Germany where discontent over the impossible economic situation precipitated a lot of the infamous subsequent events. Again now, in 2025, many countries do face hyperinflation.

@Goatinthegarden I realised my previous post wasn't very clear. Yes there are countries where a bottle of shampoo can cost the same or more than the entire daily wage, due to hyperinflation.

Even in European countries. Eg Greek islands where the cost of a bottle of cheap shampoo can be vastly disproportionate to a (Greek) cleaner’s wage.

And they don’t have cheap Amazon deliveries or possibility to shop more cheaply on the mainland

Leave two notes - one saying thank you and the other a bank note (never had complaints!)

I live in a MENA country.

I can promise you, the person cleaning your room won't be binning anything you leave there.

If they don't have an extended family member who can use your kids' summer clothes (unlikely) they'll have a friend who can. & they'll love your left over shampoo, honestly. Imported brand toiletries are a huge treat over here.

I'm a teacher at a fancy international school. & part of my job is responsibility for new colleagues & their families, so I get to go through the Lost & Found at the end of each school year, to sort out newbie staff kids with a 'starter kit' of second hand uniform. I always negotiate hard to see the rest of the stuff goes to a good home - which means balancing the L&F local staff's expectation of a very nice perk selling it, with ensuring at least some of it goes to local families for free.

If you think that the people cleaning your room in a 5* resort in a developing country would be affronted by the offer of your unwanted toiletries & clothes...well, you're mistaken.

What makes you think the cleaning staff would want your toiletries..?

I think though they probably wouldn't take them in case they got accused of stealing etc. I know it might sound ridiculous, but most places would have policies about stuff like that.

Exactly this. I will bet a year's salary that every poster on here saying it's fine to leave housekeeping staff your leftover shampoo/soap/shower gel/sanitary products - (and it's fine, and what's wrong with it?) would never use anything left in the room by the previous occupant!

What a weird thread. We always leave toiletries and unopened food and drink near the bin for staff to take if they want. Why are people grossed out by a part-used bottle of an expensive toiletry? If you've no room to take it and someone else could enjoy it, what's wrong with that? If the staff member doesn't want the thongs they can just sweep them into the bin. That's such a waste, though.

Would and have.

I certainly would! Wasting and throwing out useable stuff is disgusting.

Ah ok, thanks for explaining, my understanding of hyperinflation was that the local currency bombed against all other currencies, meaning PP spending £GBP would find both wages and shampoo cheap, not shampoo expensive, but wages cheap.

I suppose ultimately, I would hope that if I was visiting a country as a tourist, the hotel prices I’d be paying would include fair wages to the staff.

My friend holidayed in Dominican Republic earlier this year, the hotel looked exceptional and it cost £££ - certainly on a par with a 5star in a developed country. It was owned by a multinational company. Posters are declaring DR a country where cleaning staff are really poorly paid. I couldn’t enjoy my holiday knowing that the staff in my luxury hotel weren’t being paid fairly. I’ve only had holidays in developed countries, but I’ll definitely be researching future destinations and local wages more closely now.

In a lot of countries hotel staff are very poorly paid, especially in the far East. I always tip for good service and, if I've spent a week or two on holiday in the same place I leave a tip and a bar of good chocolate/packet of biscuits - along with a thank you written in the language of the country.

Last Airbnb we stayed in the kitchen and bathroom both had plenty of supplies left my previous guests. We were chuffed given that we’d forgotten to take shower gel with us.

OP clearly used UNUSED products. I’m on a high salary but if someone gave me an unopened pack of Always sanitary pads or sealed toiletries, I’d say thank you very much.

It’s not at all! When we went to Kenya they encouraged us to leave anything we didn’t want.

At Disney hotels, specifically the vacation club resorts (not sure about the others), people leave leftovers in the ice dispenser room and they are gone in moments - these are the really expensive resorts too! It’s a whole ‘thing’ there with fb groups and everything. While the products are taken by guests the principle is the same.

We’ve left stuff in rooms and Airbnb’s before, the thought process being if they don’t want it they can bin it. I am on a 6 figure wage now but would have been chuffed with some toiletries left when I worked as a cleaner in my teen years and still would be now!

I have. I recently stayed in an Airbnb and was delighted to find the leftovers from the previous guests.

🫣

We went on a Caribbean cruise in November and I asked our room attendant if she could use any toiletries that we were leaving behind and she said yes then the next day she showed us a photo she had taken of a cupboard that they have on the crew deck that was arranged with shelves for shampoo, conditioner, bath products etc and she told us they out everything in there and then all help themselves as everyone likes different things and she said that way all the staff behind the scenes such as the engineering and maintenance staff can benefit as well. She said it saves them so much money and they tend to get really good quality stuff rather than the cheapo brands that they would buy themselves.
She also said any clothes we did not want to take home would also find a good home below decks as although uniforms are provided free there were few places to buy anything at a reasonable price on port stops.

I leave (nice, unopened, or nearly full) things and decent clothes etc. in less wealthy countries, or where I know the staff are students/not well paid; but probably not in hotels in eg. France, Germany and so on. I would chuck anything that’s nearly empty or not decent quality.

In the US I never leave toiletries or items, but I do always put a few dollars in an envelope or a folded piece of paper each day with “housekeeping” marked clearly on it.

Though even in the U.K. I might leave some things — last year we were in Cornwall and we did a clean of the cottage (we always try to leave places in a decent state), but we couldn’t manage to eat a box of Ferrero Rocher ice creams and it was super hot, so there was no way they would survive in the car. When we had packed up I popped back to tell the cleaners that they were in the freezer and to please take them, and they seemed actually really delighted to have them for their break (and probably more delighted that we’d left the house clean so they could have a break - god knows how some people must leave holiday homes at the end of their stay!)

What a shame this is an anonymous online forum. If this was face to face I think you would be in deep debt.

I'm a long way from poor but if I got myself a job cleaning hotel rooms, I would happily use left behind shampoo etc. I hate waste though. It has little to do with the money. I don't really understand the horror.

Brand names such as Colgate (toothpaste), Head & Shoulders, Vosene, Herbal Essence etc which can be bought cheaply in the UK in pound shops are very expensive in many countries. Your head might blow off if you knew how much Pampers are abroad.

And many people would be very happy to get half a packet of Always, or an opened bottle of 'foreign' shampoo that they would never be able to buy.

You obviously haven't read the thread then. I'll take your year's salary, and any unused products you were planning to throw in the bin, thanks.