@lisaviolet I came here to say the same thing. If I used any of the little bottles of stuff, like shampoo, I’d put it in a bag meant for the purpose, since they only got thrown away otherwise. I once had someone tell me that the maids would take them home and use them, so I asked. No, they don’t. They would get into trouble, even taking a partially used shampoo, or unwrapped bar of soap.
@Shrdlu I take them all. They put them there fully expecting I might use them and I suspect for health code reasons they assume they’ve all been used and trash them for every change of guest anyhow. They’re great for when you have guests visiting. (unused ones that is)
@lisaviolet One of the first things we do after we get to our room is to bag up all the toiletries, save one bar of soap. Depending on how much we are traveling, we box up all the travel-size toiletries (along with seasonal clearance items like hats, gloves, water bottles, etc.) and drop them off at Healthcare For The Homeless once or twice a year. It is is such a little thing for us to do, but it is always received with much appreciation.
@gio When my mom and her friends were collecting little things to send to the troops, I handed over a bagful of little soaps, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, even some shower caps.
@lisaviolet The question did say “walk off with”, but I have to think the spirit of the question meant taking something you were not supposed to. While there might be some disagreement on pens, pads and the like (my wife insists you are supposed to take the towels), I think the shampoo and lotion bottles are clearly intended to be taken. The thought the hotel collects the unused portion of those bottles left behind and reuses the contents seems much more off-putting then the act of “stealing” them.
Disneyland Hotel - talc, mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, facial soap, little needle and thread kit…as the years rolled by some things were no longer offered and others were combined (like shampoo and conditioner)
Paradise Pier - same thing as the Disneyland Hotel. At some point they had their own little bottles (see the ones in front with the Mickey Mouse ears cap)
Grand California - not much of a selection, but three different bottle types
Geez, this stuff is ancient!
Since we have our own stuff we use and it’s packed and ready to go with us on our travels (that’s a joke), we could easily “walk away with” the offerings in the bathroom.
For sale multiple 27" Tube TV’s still wired to a nice lazy-susan type swivel stand. May have large number of cosmetic defects and barely functioning remote and only receive about 14 channels of which none of them you want to watch. Additionally, they smell like cigarette smoke and hooker perfume. Please inquire within. In no way do these resemble TV’s that once adorned some of your finer sleeping establishments of which shall remain nameless.
We recently stayed in a hotel (dont remember which one, exactly, but it was a mid-range chain). In the bathroom was a small sign basically saying “Yes, we know you love our towels and pillows and bedding and we want to make it easy for you to have them for yourself at home. So, feel free to take them and we know you’ll be happy to just have us charge your credit card to make it easy on everyone all around.” 《Insert perceived sarcarm here》
And then they included a price list…
Face cloth. . $8
Hand towel… $15
Bath towel… $20
Pillow… $30
Basically, steal our stuff and we’ll just charge you. I though it was a great sign but the prices were ridiculous for well-used hotel towels (sort-of the point). Although, I did seriously think about keeping a pillow and letting them charge me. I LOVED thst pillow and wasn’t sure I could find one thst great for the same cost,
@bmacknz some hotel chains actually know people like their linens and such (they are usually pretty high quality for durability reasons and such) and actively offer them for sale, it’s not necessarily passive aggressive. My brother’s girlfriend works for the Marriott chain, they’ll even sell you a full on bed.
@bmacknz Dave Barry once wrote an article about staying in a hotel. He encountered a similar sign, and interpreted it the same way you did. So he stole the sign.
Toiletries, so many toiletries!!! Umm…ice buckets, notepads, pens, all the tea and coffee stuff. One had fancy glass cups in the bathroom, and mysteriously one is in my bathroom now. gasp I think that’s about it. I try not to take towels or linens, they cost too much.
Mostly the pens, coffee, and soaps and shit that they don’t care about. Once I took a nice glass ashtray (I had to call the desk twice to get them to bring me one, so I figured it was fair). I really wanted to take a super nice terry cloth bathrobe once; the charge would have been on my corporate card snicker. I didn’t have room in my luggage though.
I took the soap at Disney World that I used. Unfortunately, once I finished the bar I discovered to my displeasure that I had developed an allergy to inferior soaps. Now I have to buy the extra-hypoallergenic soap or I get hives. It’s a pain.
I checked into a place in Florida once where I ran into a couple who had their minivan backed up to their room door. I caught them taking chairs. I just said goodnight and went into my room.
Not anymore. Once upon a time, though, we used to stay at the kinds of hotels where towels had the hotel name woven in/imprinted on them. So my mother would take the floor towel if it was particularly plush. We had quite the collection; it was pretty amusing to step out of the bath onto whatever hotel’s emblazoned floor towel of the week.
Toiletries don’t count–we always take those if they’re of decent quality. Best haul was at this one hotel, where I praised the hand soap and on check-out, they presented us with a tote full of the soaps. I’m still working through 'em five years later (used sparingly, of course, because they just smell that good–rosemary mint).
So let’s say I did, one time in the recent history past, accidentally pack up a nice huge towel from the hotel pool. Instead of the crummy sandpaper towels with the blue stripe there were some huge, soft cotton masterpieces of drying technology. The day I left I had more trouble with delayed and missed flights than I’ve had in a decade. The towel WANTED to stay in Atlanta and did everything in its towelly powers to make that happen.
I once went to a bachelor party (MANY moons ago) held at a Hilton hotel. I didn’t make any of the arrangements, but I think we rented an enormous suite, or perhaps half a floor? It was a really good/really bad night; I literally have no idea how I got safely home. It took a whole day to recover.
TL;DR: I was surprised to find an embossed Hilton hand towel in my laundry
I have ran across a donated coffee maker that had “property of ___” sticker on them. I hope whoever stole it paid dearly for that 2-cup coffee maker with an uncommonly sized mini-basket.
Can’t recall ever having taken anything, but when I was in high school on a school trip, the room we were staying in had this painting on the wall… One of those real impressionist type deals, and it was like a lake/reflection sort of scene. Very nearly symmetrical. So I thought it’d be hilarious to flip it upside down, and I guess it kind of was, but only for my determination. I had to unscrew the thing using the power plug prongs from the hair drier. That’s about the worst thing I’ve personally done to a hotel room.
At better hotels I always take the toiletries, pens and such. My assumption has been that those are “gifts” from the hotel to me. At crappy hotels its barely worth walking off with that stuff. I never take towels except that once or twice I’ve had a puking kid and desperately needed a towel for the car ride. Don’t know if I was charged or not but I didn’t feel bad about it.
I took enough of the White Tea Aloe lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash from the Westin in 2009 that I still have some left. I paid for them, that’s for sure. And I still have a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo from a resort in St Croix from 2010. Nothing fancy, just a souvenir.
Never did and was never even tempted to do that. Because stealing is WRONG.
Walked off with a case of crabs once.
@MehnofLaMehncha
The little shampoo and lotion bottles
@lisaviolet
How did those not make the list?
@MehnofLaMehncha I have some really cool Disney bottles.
@lisaviolet I came here to say the same thing. If I used any of the little bottles of stuff, like shampoo, I’d put it in a bag meant for the purpose, since they only got thrown away otherwise. I once had someone tell me that the maids would take them home and use them, so I asked. No, they don’t. They would get into trouble, even taking a partially used shampoo, or unwrapped bar of soap.
Take them.
@Shrdlu I take them all. They put them there fully expecting I might use them and I suspect for health code reasons they assume they’ve all been used and trash them for every change of guest anyhow. They’re great for when you have guests visiting. (unused ones that is)
@MehnofLaMehncha I assume the Kleenex and coffee answer includes the shampoo bottles.
@lisaviolet One of the first things we do after we get to our room is to bag up all the toiletries, save one bar of soap. Depending on how much we are traveling, we box up all the travel-size toiletries (along with seasonal clearance items like hats, gloves, water bottles, etc.) and drop them off at Healthcare For The Homeless once or twice a year. It is is such a little thing for us to do, but it is always received with much appreciation.
@gio When my mom and her friends were collecting little things to send to the troops, I handed over a bagful of little soaps, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, even some shower caps.
@lisaviolet It said “steal” - those are included with the price of the room (as are the coffee packets and tissues), so it’s not stealing.
I voted “of course not”, and yet I have this little shampoo bottle with a hotel name emblazoned on the side that I refill and take to the gym.
@smyle nuh uh, it said “walked off with”.
@lisaviolet The question did say “walk off with”, but I have to think the spirit of the question meant taking something you were not supposed to. While there might be some disagreement on pens, pads and the like (my wife insists you are supposed to take the towels), I think the shampoo and lotion bottles are clearly intended to be taken. The thought the hotel collects the unused portion of those bottles left behind and reuses the contents seems much more off-putting then the act of “stealing” them.
Various incarnations from Anaheim Disney hotels…
Disneyland Hotel - talc, mouthwash, toothpaste, toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, lotion, facial soap, little needle and thread kit…as the years rolled by some things were no longer offered and others were combined (like shampoo and conditioner)
Paradise Pier - same thing as the Disneyland Hotel. At some point they had their own little bottles (see the ones in front with the Mickey Mouse ears cap)
Grand California - not much of a selection, but three different bottle types
Geez, this stuff is ancient!
Since we have our own stuff we use and it’s packed and ready to go with us on our travels (that’s a joke), we could easily “walk away with” the offerings in the bathroom.
@smyle For what hotels charge the little shampoo’s should be made of liquid gold. We MORE than pay for the toiletries.
Never stolen anything
But had my dignity stolen more than once.
For sale multiple 27" Tube TV’s still wired to a nice lazy-susan type swivel stand. May have large number of cosmetic defects and barely functioning remote and only receive about 14 channels of which none of them you want to watch. Additionally, they smell like cigarette smoke and hooker perfume. Please inquire within. In no way do these resemble TV’s that once adorned some of your finer sleeping establishments of which shall remain nameless.
@DRBLAW Wait, is the hooker perfume the vanilla scented kind? For some reason I really like that smell.
@cinoclav You can’t beat a woman that smells like potpourri.
We recently stayed in a hotel (dont remember which one, exactly, but it was a mid-range chain). In the bathroom was a small sign basically saying “Yes, we know you love our towels and pillows and bedding and we want to make it easy for you to have them for yourself at home. So, feel free to take them and we know you’ll be happy to just have us charge your credit card to make it easy on everyone all around.” 《Insert perceived sarcarm here》
And then they included a price list…
Face cloth. . $8
Hand towel… $15
Bath towel… $20
Pillow… $30
Basically, steal our stuff and we’ll just charge you. I though it was a great sign but the prices were ridiculous for well-used hotel towels (sort-of the point). Although, I did seriously think about keeping a pillow and letting them charge me. I LOVED thst pillow and wasn’t sure I could find one thst great for the same cost,
@bmacknz If they aren’t losing money by doing that, I think it’s a great idea!
@bmacknz some hotel chains actually know people like their linens and such (they are usually pretty high quality for durability reasons and such) and actively offer them for sale, it’s not necessarily passive aggressive. My brother’s girlfriend works for the Marriott chain, they’ll even sell you a full on bed.
https://www.shopmarriott.com/category.aspx?the-marriott-bed
@bmacknz Dave Barry once wrote an article about staying in a hotel. He encountered a similar sign, and interpreted it the same way you did. So he stole the sign.
Toiletries, so many toiletries!!! Umm…ice buckets, notepads, pens, all the tea and coffee stuff. One had fancy glass cups in the bathroom, and mysteriously one is in my bathroom now. gasp I think that’s about it. I try not to take towels or linens, they cost too much.
I love me a good hotel pen!
So does this guy over at twitter
@conandlibrarian always the pens…
Mostly the pens, coffee, and soaps and shit that they don’t care about. Once I took a nice glass ashtray (I had to call the desk twice to get them to bring me one, so I figured it was fair). I really wanted to take a super nice terry cloth bathrobe once; the charge would have been on my corporate card snicker. I didn’t have room in my luggage though.
I took the soap at Disney World that I used. Unfortunately, once I finished the bar I discovered to my displeasure that I had developed an allergy to inferior soaps. Now I have to buy the extra-hypoallergenic soap or I get hives. It’s a pain.
I took the beds, TVs, dressers, wall hangings, tables, chairs, desks, lamps.
…to a hotel, when we were moving them in.
Crabs
I checked into a place in Florida once where I ran into a couple who had their minivan backed up to their room door. I caught them taking chairs. I just said goodnight and went into my room.
Wife and daughter take the shower caps. But isn’t that, like, OK?
@ACraigL Yes, as they’re considered hygiene items.
Not anymore. Once upon a time, though, we used to stay at the kinds of hotels where towels had the hotel name woven in/imprinted on them. So my mother would take the floor towel if it was particularly plush. We had quite the collection; it was pretty amusing to step out of the bath onto whatever hotel’s emblazoned floor towel of the week.
Toiletries don’t count–we always take those if they’re of decent quality. Best haul was at this one hotel, where I praised the hand soap and on check-out, they presented us with a tote full of the soaps. I’m still working through 'em five years later (used sparingly, of course, because they just smell that good–rosemary mint).
So let’s say I did, one time in the recent history past, accidentally pack up a nice huge towel from the hotel pool. Instead of the crummy sandpaper towels with the blue stripe there were some huge, soft cotton masterpieces of drying technology. The day I left I had more trouble with delayed and missed flights than I’ve had in a decade. The towel WANTED to stay in Atlanta and did everything in its towelly powers to make that happen.
I once went to a bachelor party (MANY moons ago) held at a Hilton hotel. I didn’t make any of the arrangements, but I think we rented an enormous suite, or perhaps half a floor? It was a really good/really bad night; I literally have no idea how I got safely home. It took a whole day to recover.
TL;DR: I was surprised to find an embossed Hilton hand towel in my laundry
Nope, but 5 years ago, I bought two sealed boxes (1,000 bars) of Comfort Inn soap from a thrift store for less than the price of shirt.woot random.
(They were donated write-offs from HD Supply Solutions / Facilities Maintenance, as hotels have moved to liquid dispensers.)
I have ran across a donated coffee maker that had “property of ___” sticker on them. I hope whoever stole it paid dearly for that 2-cup coffee maker with an uncommonly sized mini-basket.
I took off with a golf cart once from a hotel in Gatlinburg. In my defense, it was a long way down the strip to the Waffle House.
Can’t recall ever having taken anything, but when I was in high school on a school trip, the room we were staying in had this painting on the wall… One of those real impressionist type deals, and it was like a lake/reflection sort of scene. Very nearly symmetrical. So I thought it’d be hilarious to flip it upside down, and I guess it kind of was, but only for my determination. I had to unscrew the thing using the power plug prongs from the hair drier. That’s about the worst thing I’ve personally done to a hotel room.
At better hotels I always take the toiletries, pens and such. My assumption has been that those are “gifts” from the hotel to me. At crappy hotels its barely worth walking off with that stuff. I never take towels except that once or twice I’ve had a puking kid and desperately needed a towel for the car ride. Don’t know if I was charged or not but I didn’t feel bad about it.
I took enough of the White Tea Aloe lotion, shampoo, conditioner, and body wash from the Westin in 2009 that I still have some left. I paid for them, that’s for sure. And I still have a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo from a resort in St Croix from 2010. Nothing fancy, just a souvenir.