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?

Who gives a fuck whether Marie Antoinette said it or not? It's the mythical Marie that makes the point. If it's patronising to remark upon the Antoinette-esque attitudes on this thread (as well as the terrible reading comprehension), well, I can't shrug lazily enough.

The planet is fucked because people imagine that resources are so plentiful that they don't need to use them carefully or sustainably. You're arguing for corralling one set of resources into a "fine to waste" category, on the grounds that any minimum wage worker who thinks an open bottle of soap might be useful must work in a dump anyway, so fuck them.

And "hope that helps" is as bad a rhetorical device as "as you were".

absolutely didn’t miss the point. You described planned targeted redistribution not spontaneously leaving products. This wasn’t random leftovers. As you described it, it’s a case of wanted, useful items.

I always leave toiletries and sometimes perfumes and I divide up the left over currency for the maids, taxi drivers etc and I always strip the beds and fold everything to make things easier for them and make sure the toilet is clean.
I have and always will do this as its just the way I am and my grown children so the same.

We used to leave them in countries such as Dominican Republic and Cuba, where the cleaner was always happy to take them as well as a monetary tip .
When we had a September holiday with my 16 month old DGG , my DD gave all the babies clothes to one of the waitresses as baby wouldn’t get any use out of them once home as she would be needing winter clothes . The waitress was so happy as it was such a poor country and they were lovely clothes . DGD is now 20 but it wouldn’t surprise me if there was still little children in Cuba wearing them . 😂

As you've mentioned that you wouldn't stay in these types of places, how do you know what they appreciate and see as waste?.

"No good deed goes unpunished" 🤣

You missassigned a misquote to badly prove your point. Your lacking in comprehension and clarity to use the let em eat cake line Your hoped for tahdah misfired.Badly

if you’re going to get preachy and remonstrate with people, by using what you think is a searing pithy put down, try, get it right

as you were

I wouldn’t assume the maid would want them- I’d just chuck them in the bins.

planned redistribution of wanted items with identified recipients is incomparable to used product left in a resort with no intended identified recipient
Can you really not see the difference?

I imagine a cleaner would just bin open shampoo and shower gel. Anytime I have seen hotel house keeping they have w bin bag with bottles and stuff in. Leave them some cash as a thank you.and take your stuff home.

You're very invested in rehabilitating poor Marie's image.

I worked as a hotel cleaner for a bit while in uni, I would never have taken used stuff left in hotel rooms- gross!

What if you identify a recipient where you are staying, should you offer or bin?
Some holiday guests appreciate half a bottle of suncream.

I was on holiday in Caribbean a couple of years ago and met the maid on our last day, she asked me if she could have my left over shampoo/conditioner and body wash. Broke my heart! Obviously gave that to her and left a good tip, but would never have occurred to me otherwise. If you’re in a poor country then I would, otherwise I wouldn’t.

Looking at the ongoing, rather unpleasant back and forth between two posters above.

Mumsnet really is that legendary empty room where people come to start a fight with strangers, isn't it?

I’m certainly consistent in maintaining accuracy were a miss-assigned quote is used wrongly as a pithy put down.

ive seen lots of stuff left in laundry rooms in Florida and beach resorts - presumably stuff that doesn’t fit in cases- inflatables for the pool, suncream, shampoo etc. even a pushchair and travel cot in Florida. They soon went. My kids took a lilo and put it back there at end of hols I thought it was a great idea. Not sure if it’s a good idea for the cleaners though they probably wouldn’t really be allowed to take it

Ahh, yes the above it all observer. Who wouldn’t answer posts that they are tagged in. No, you wouldn’t lower yourself to that , and obviously all your posts are neutral. You weren’t being provocative in any way. You were just sayin

When I was on a clubbing holiday 20 years ago, the reps asked for any toiletries or sun screen that was left over. Pay was poor and they had their accommodation costs taken off their wage. It was more about the experience and being abroad for the summer than making money so they saved money where they could. Now I only take what I need but did leave money off vouchers for a local shop that was on bus tickets when I was in Berlin.

Yes I do leave toiletries and anything else that might be usable in countries where hotel staff are likely living in poverty or be exploited and / or irregular migrants and / or very poorly paid - eg Egypt, UAE, Kenya, Tunisia, Thailand, Turkey, Mexico, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Brazil - also some poorer Eastern European countries. I also leave some local currency if possible. I have had direct feedback from staff in these sort of countries that it is welcome and definitely not insulting.

Most of the time no I wouldn’t leave anything. I am going on holiday in the summer and have been told the locals appreciate shampoo, paracetamol and sanitary products.

However I have been warned I need to add some paper and sign what I have given them otherwise they get searched and think it’s stolen

Not great OP. Would you take used products? Why are you different to the cleaner?

Yes, I leave Euros or dollars or the currency of the country that I’m in.
The same as when I visit/stay with family I’ll leave a thank you card and a gift - say chocolates or flowers.
I would leave partly used toiletries as I don’t want to transport them home. I’d expect them to just be binned.

There's a little box by the path down to Botany Bay beach (in Kent, at the time of writing not yet in the 3rd world) where you can leave or borrow sand toys etc. I always remember it because it is such a lovely and also obvious thing to have. I think it has saved its weight in plastic buckets and spades a hundred times over.

More generally it depends on context imo. I work in a food bank. We occasionally get donations of open, used cosmetics, shampoos, food items etc. We don't offer them out - we don't know where they have been and frankly it feels insulting to offer them. I wonder what people were thinking donating them. But like others I'm sure I have left/would leave things in a hotel room, assuming that someone in the cleaning team would want them. I'm not sure my position is very logical! I suppose offering the items rather than making assumptions on behalf of a potential recipient is more sensible.

Have you never heard of period poverty? Even here in the UK there are girls who stay off school and women who stay off work when they have their period because they don't have adequate sanpro.

https://www.actionaid.org.uk/blog/2025/05/28/cost-period-poverty-risen

OP, I wouldn't bother leaving a tiny amount of shampoo or whatever, but anything that's three-quarters full and obviously fresh and clean-looking and in original packaging I would leave with a note saying that if anyone can make use of it they're welcome to it. I also leave a good tip. The idea that chambermaids earn a decent living and all go back to comfy homes of their own every evening (particularly in developing parts of the world) is ridiculous. Even here in the UK I know decent hotels that accommodate staff in bunk beds in caravans.