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?

When I worked as a chamber maid in Germany one summer, the only thing left for us were German magazines, mostly porn.

I think it probably depends where you are. London, Spain, Rome - probably patronising. Some parts of Africa and Asia - probably very grateful.

When we went to Tunisia the guides said the staff would be very grateful for paracetamol and sanitary products. I tipped a young lad pennies (here) for fetching me a cup of tea to the beach and he was so excited it was like I'd given him a months salary 😔

Last time i was in a hotel there was a wall mounted bottle of shower gel and shampoo that guests could use and the hotel refills. No one would call that skanky I'm sure so what's the difference between that and half a bottle of shampoo left by a guest?

as per me there is nothing wrong. those are keep for only guest.

This is about hotel guests and staff, no one mentioned race. The fact that you assume all the wealthy hotel guests are white and low paid staff are of a different race says a lot more about your prejudices than the posters here.

My mum in the 70s used to travel behind the Iron Curtain for work, she used to take new M&S knickers for the chamber maids in a variety of sizes. I used to think it was really weird but she said the ladies loved getting nice things.

Surely those food tins are useful just in the kitchen cupboard? It's so helpful when self catering!

I only take the toiletries I need, dispensed into travel containers.

I tip housekeeping staff in local currency, same as I would tip in a restaurant or taxi. I have worked in UK hotels during my student years and loved a tip so like to return the favour now. It never really occurred to me that hotel staff might be desperate for basic items and that thought makes me really uncomfortable. I only really travel in Europe, but lots of pp saying guides in some countries have told them the staff are in need. I don’t know if I could enjoy my holiday thinking I was staying somewhere where staff weren’t being paid reasonable wages.

I think this is different, and most would agree this would be appreciated. We know those behind the iron curtain couldn’t get good gear. I remember the fuss for the Russians getting their hands on Levi’s post 1989.

we went to Fiji a few years ago. We were told that chocolate is expensive there so it is the thing to put unopened chocolate with your cash tip for house keeping and unopened alcohol with a note. We purchased it at home and put it in our luggage.

would never give opened stuff.

If it was a product and I liked and it seemed in good condition, then yeah, I probably would. As someone said above, from a hygiene perspective it's not really different to those shampoo/shower gel dispensers they have in hotel bathrooms.

As for your other question, there's no point pretending the financial situation of someone who can afford to travel long distance for leisure is the same as that of a cleaner in a developing country.

Environmentally it's the right thing to do. Otherwise it's just another plastic bottle in landfill isn't it. I find the waste 'insulting ' not the handing stuff on.

Why on earth are some people so highly offended by such a question? Thankfully most people have offered helpful advice.
I know countries where people are so hungry they eat food from your half eaten plate. Jeez, some people have no idea.

I've found that people leave their leftovers in the lost property / luggage room theres usually a place people leave like sun cream, hair products, aftersun half used or full for next guests.

What I imagine people in these countries where there income is exceptionally low and outgoings disproportionately high would find more offensive than being left a half used bottle of shampoo (that would probably cost about a days wages plus) is that bottle of shampoo being thrown away. Seeing it put into the bin to go into landfill where they probably struggle to get rid of it in landfill costing their community money to do so when shock horror they might wash their hair with it. What we consider a standard is very different to what they may. I'm far from on the breadline and it would make me sad to see it.

In the UK I don’t leave anything, but abroad we usually leave any loose change together with the equivalent of £20 in notes for the cleaners as a tip. We also leave un-drunk alcohol and any unopened food items (we usually self-cater). Any part-used toiletries or food goes in the bin before we leave.

This is a very good point. In fact my office (London law firm) has baskets of free tampons and pads in the loos. I am luckily not in "period poverty" but I have occasionally grabbed one of those items when I have been caught out by mother nature. I'm very grateful for that and I don't think I'm grim or a skank for not refusing items other than from a sealed box.

It would be much more grim to squelch down the road to Boots hoping my trousers won't become soaked in blood in the meantime.

Clearly never been to Cuba. They are grateful for everything as they are so expensive over there. I took a HUGE 30kg bag of toiletries including paracetamol and toothpaste and little colouring books for the kids. I was buying something everytime I went shopping and honestly they where so so grateful so please dont just leave them or they have to bin them. Put them in a bag with a little note on x

That reminds me, in Cambodia we used to get our restaurant leftovers packed up and give them to the guards when we got home.

I'm really surprised at the level of ignorance displayed on this thread. If someone earns $100 a month and a bottle of shampoo costs $5, do you really think they'll be turning their nose up at a part-used bottle? And even if they earn $500, $5 is still a ridiculous proportion of their salary!

It depends where it is - UK wouldn't do it; Albania it was very welcome for example.

Usually leave a tip. Cash is king just about everywhere. In some resorts they keep a library of books people have read and left on hols. So I am happy to top this up. Always good to pass a good book on. In gites I have left tea bags, which I think are useful (and not easy to get good ones outside the UK. I have never left shampoo or other toiletries. I assume open ones simply get binned.

Let's not even start on those countries where children scavenge waste tips to find anything which might be used or refused.

I don’t because I don’t like the idea of giving them more work.

But I do leave a tip.

Would you like the cleaners to leave things from/used by the previous guests in room for you to use? How do you feel about this being suggested for you?