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?!

I’ve stayed in 5* hotels that offer the same products in big bottles

Here I am beginning to part company from the "not unhygienic" crowd! A bar of soap that has possibly been rubbed in someone's bottom crack is pushing me too far...

They’re complete knobs. It’s ok for them to not want to use them but that’s their choice. It was provided as advertised. All big hotels have stopped using the sample bottles.

I think people who are fussy about this stuff shouldn’t stay anywhere other than their own home.

Not unhygienic at all.

They’re lovely brands of toiletries you’re providing.
Lots of hotel chains (even big, expensive ones) have big bottles near sinks or showers as it’s more environmentally friendly and generally cheaper.

Can’t please them all OP. They sound like a bunch of weirdos. Wish people like that would just arrive prepared with their own mini bottles of whatever.

it is literally detergent how is using it in a pump dispenser unhygenic! Ridiculous OCD type behaviour and her issue not yours

That's just silly. They could bring their own if they're so fussy, and probably should. I never use hotel shampoo, for example, and I am both slatternly and low-maintenance. My hair, however, is not. So I pander to its whims myself, rather than expect the hotelier to guess. Personally I find individual use toiletries very wasteful, so I would much prefer your arrangement.

This 💯

Thought as much. If they're pump dispensers, that's very different and is what you'd find in most hotels, I should think?

I wouldn’t use them either but that’s because I’m fussy about what brands I use not because it’s unhygienic.
Maybe note in your listing that ‘we provide toiletries in refillable bottles, you won’t find us using those mini bottles that create excess waste’. Use your eco awareness as a selling point?

Especially if you are a guest in Month 9, and the shampoo bottle is down to the last inch - making it very plain that many people have gone before.

Agree. I wonder if they think the mattress is replaced for every guest?

I sometimes think about the mattress ...😬
Then I make myself stop because I don't want to never go on holiday.

You do realise that when pump bottles are down to the last inch they rarely dispense properly?

If you're only refilling them when empty every 10 months, the guests in the last month (at least) would be acutely aware they are getting the dregs of the product.

That's a bit silly because mattresses have covers which should be changed between guests.

And bottles can be cleaned.

if the bottles are unhygienic.. then so is the shower, taps, everything surely?

Eejit.

That is very true, it’s just that you can’t see it for me.

If someone wiped a bogey or some other bodily fluid or something on anything you can usually see it or at least see the smear mark where as things going inside a bottle or a tub of coffee you can’t lol

I don’t think it was fair of them to drop the rating for it but them messaging her about it isn’t a bad thing, it’s just feedback and another persons opinions, better to know then at least if 5 more people mention it being a problem it’s something OP can consider changing

I’m impressed by the number of people who see $MUCHOEXPENSIVE brand label on dispensers and believe that is always what they contain.

There is no pleasing some people! Pls feel free to DM me your Airb&b it sounds amazing!

But so what if they are 'the dregs'? It's not a bottle of milk, or mince, or something: it's just soap!

I wouldn’t touch an open soap bar, that aside pump hand soaps and shower products are absolutely fine. The people who think these are unhygienic what do you do in restaurant toilets, take your own hand soap?!

Edit: in your response to her acknowledge her review comments to you that she dropped a start for those reasons….most others won’t care.

TBH if I'm eating out I usually use hand sanitiser after coming out of the loos because you've touched the doors etc after washing your hands.

As someone who spent 10 years working in hotels - the full bottles of toiletries are ALWAYS refilled, you can literally have body lotion from 2021 and 2026 in the same bottle. It is expensive, most of them cost £40-£50 .Don't think they change it every time, when room costs £700/night - half of it would be toiletries only. Most of the luxury brand companies have refill bottles (2-5litres) for hospitality, just email them.