Is this unhygienic?!

[loislaneloves]

I have an Airbnb on my property. It’s basically a tiny home at the bottom of our large garden with an amazing view. Most people come for the weekend by train and I don’t want people to spend their holiday shopping for stuff like coffee, tea, milk or having to cram suitcases full of toiletries or beach towels so I provide all of those. I also provide a little evening snack (crisps usually) some wine to watch the sun set on the deck with and fruit from the garden and a croissant and jam for breakfast. People love it and I make it quite clear on my ads that these things are provided.
Just got a review from a couple who stayed with us a few days ago. They gave us a good review but took one star off and in her private message to me she said ‘We loved our stay with you but we weren’t very happy that the toiletries are in big shared bottles rather than individual use. This is obviously very unhygienic (we don’t know who has used them!!) so we had to make the trip to buy some for ourselves which was an expense and effort we weren’t expecting’.
To be clear I offer Aesop Shower Gel, Shampoo and Conditioner in the shower and Aesop Hand Wash by the sink in 500ml bottles. They get replaced when empty which is usually about every 10 months
AIBU to think this is not unhygienic?!

You are correct: hotels have moved to large pumps - usually attached so they don't get taken.

TBH if you had done individual bottles, someone would have complained they were a waste of plastic, so you can't win. It was harsh to take off a star but there will always be someone you can't please.

It’s one thing to prefer to bring your own products, to each their own.

But to mark down an establishment because they provided products in a way you don’t like is moronic. I bet she’s one of those complainers who bitches about everything for compensation.

Yikes! It sounds very lovely but as a clumsy person I would be terrified of a glass bottle slipping out of my wet hand and smashing to bits on the shower cubicle floor around my bare feet! Fixed pump action bottle much safer!

Good choice of words re soap being a ballgame 🤣🤣 I see what you did there!

I wouldn’t take it personally and certainly not something the majority of people would comment negatively over. As you say most hotels have moved over to these types of dispensers to reduce landfill.
Maybe what you can do is make up some little cards or info about your eco credentials and as someone else said, put some photos on your page.
To be honest, in an AirB&B I wouldn’t expect anything to be available (it isn’t a hotel) and you get a unique experience at an AirB&B. Maybe those guests should stay in a hotel in future!!!

Hotels now seem to provide toiletries in those larger pump bottles. I guess they may be wiped down in between visitors? And of course you go to any toilet in a service station and the soap is in one that 100s have probably used that day! People don’t seem to mind those!
Maybe you should try decanting into a nice large pump bottle?

I have no issue with shared toiletries.

Practically everything in life you handle has been touched by multiple people before you.

I hope this resulted in a prosecution, given that your employer presumably had the guest's identity and the bottle as evidence.

I’m staying in a five star hotel currently and they also have big pump bottles in the shower and next to the sink, and not as nice a brand as Aesop! YANBU.

I wonder if they take their own soap to public restrooms?!

I’ve stayed at 4 different 5 star hotels this summer, they all had big dispensers.
Jo Malone, Byredo, the white company and some very local brand.

It’s just a personal preference of mine! I don’t like the thought of using something that strangers have used. But as I said I wouldn’t rate anyone down because of that as I’m aware that’s a quirk of mine.

I also run a holiday let and am in a support group for owners on Fb which is very helpful. People often vent about this sort of thing! You simply can't be too focused on a 5* rating as there will always be somebody who just can't be pleased. Anybody sane will look at your overall rating and understand that a bit of variation in how individuals review is normal.
There is no consensus in what is provided at self-catering properties, eg most don't provide toiletries as self-catering is about providing premises - we're not hotels. I provide hand soap (refillable dispensers!) but no other toiletries. It's common for guests object to single-use plastic individual toiletries, and there are some echo-accreditation schemes for holiday accommodation that you can apply for, which specify not to use these. I agree with the advice to make it clear what you offer in advance, so nobody can say they "had to" go out shopping to satisfy their preferences.

Apparently we aren't "supposed" to leave alcohol for guests unless we have an alcohol licence, according to PASC (self-catering trade body) as some local authorities have taken action on this. The rules only seem to get more complex!

Ignore her. If they were little bottles she would have probably complained that you were destroying the environment.

It wouldn’t be worth it. It would be near impossible to prove a particular guest had caused the contamination - too many people have hotel room access, you wouldn’t know when the contamination happened.

As I said upthread - in my chamber maiding days parties of men tended to think this was a hoot which was why their policy was for individual toiletries. Hotels will rarely want to make a case of bad guest behaviour, the publicity invariably bounces back on them.

Do you not use soap dispensers in restaurants or other public places? How is this any different?

When you use soaps in a public bathroom, do you refuse to use it if it’s almost empty?
what difference does it make if it’s almost empty, it’s not like people are drinking from it! It’s a pump bottle dispenser

Yes, but by your comment, you also wouldn’t use individual bottles of shampoo, etc, either. So it’s not really the same thing

So if you go to a public loo would you wash your hands from the dispenser?

I can't be the only one who wants @Yogafiend to start an AMA - I don't like using communal soap AMA!

Also, who in today's world wants the little bottles that can be 'thrown away', how wasteful.

That's a great suggestion.

But you use the soap to wash your hands…

Some people are irrationally neurotic about "hygiene" and there's just nothing you can do about that. When they say "hygiene" what they actually mean is the totally illogical sense of disgust they feel at the thought that somebody else might have touched something before they did.

Whilst I choked on my coffee as I read such a ridiculous message, I would think to myself that I would mention on my listing going forward that to be environmentally conscious, upmarket toiletries are available in large containers to reduce the waste of individual packaging.

I have stayed in so many luxury hotels and really lovely AirBnBs that do this now. As long as the outside of the containers and the dispensing nozzles are kept clean, there is nothing unhygienic about providing toiletries this way.

Some people are very odd. I would give it no further thought.