You can forget stashing a bar of soap, a bottle of shampoo, and a few other toiletries in your luggage when traveling. That’s because the hotel that you are planning to stay in will provide you with a toiletry kit.
However, especially if you are a budget-conscious person, you may find it daunting to consume complimentary items that you will find on the bathroom counter of your hotel room.
You may feel that the hotel will charge you for using them or asking for more.
So, do hotels charge for soap and shampoo?
The use of soap and shampoo that the hotel provides is free of charge. Asking for an additional bar or bottle, also, is at no cost. Because they are complimentary items, guests may take remaining or unused soap and shampoo without worrying they will be charged extra by the hotel.
Looking and feeling fresh can make your stay in a hotel more pleasing and memorable, too. This is why a hotel is more than glad to provide you with free soap and shampoo as well as other shower essentials.
Most of the time, the toiletries that it will leave on your bathroom counter are branded. Their presence can make you feel like you are staying in an expensive hotel, even if you are not. What’s more, it can make you feel like a VIP.
Your family and friends who love to travel and are fond of bringing home with them hotel toiletries as souvenirs will surely thank you for doing so.
Enjoying Complimentary Items vs. Stealing
You can take advantage of every amenity that you can find in your hotel room. They are there for you, and the hotel is expecting you to use them.
However, most of these amenities can be used only while you are inside the room or establishment. So, in other words, they are not meant to be placed in your luggage.
As a general rule of thumb, you can take from the hotel anything that is considered complimentary.
There are many of them, aside from soap, shampoo, and others included in the hotel toiletry kit.
Some common examples include notepads, pens, dry-cleaning bags, shoe polish sponges, sewing kits, and packets of coffee, creamer, and sugar.
On the other hand, anything else is not meant to be taken home by the guests. They include anything from a towel, hanger, pillow, hairdryer to the Holy Bible. Otherwise, it would classify as stealing.
There are a couple of things that could happen if you steal anything from a hotel.
First, the hotel may automatically charge you for the items that you take. You will realize this the next time that you receive your credit card bill.
Second, it is possible for you to end up paying a fine or spending some time in jail.
Hotels Want Their Guests to Take Home Toiletries
Because they are complimentary items, you can choose to bring home unused soap and shampoo. The same is true for the rest of the items included in the hotel toiletry kit.
Similarly, you can choose to consume them completely and ask the front desk to provide you with new ones. Worry not because you are not going to be charged extra.
As a matter of fact, hotels expect their guests to pack the toiletries that they provide them. It is for a couple of reasons, and it is for the benefit of the hotels themselves.
One reason why hotels love it if their guests pack toiletries is that it only means that they have given them the right products.
Most hotels spend a lot of money on complimentary items such as soap, shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel. Their guests consuming fully or bringing home toiletries is a telltale sign that they like them.
This allows hotels to know that they are doing a great job in making their guests feel happy.
Another reason is that toiletries can serve as advertisements.
Whether they end up in the bathrooms of their guests or the hands of their family and friends, mini soap bars and small shampoo bottles make hotels more visible. Hotels think of toiletries as ads that get the job done at no extra cost.
The Truth About the Missing Toothpaste
Soap and shampoo are almost always present in the hotel room when you step foot inside it for the first time. However, you may be wondering why the hotel may not provide you with toothpaste.
Refrain from assuming that the hotel forgot to place a tube of toothpaste on the bathroom counter. Truth be told, it seems like most hotels on the planet these days no longer provide their guests complimentary toothpaste.
Since a toothpaste tube isn’t around, it doesn’t come as a surprise why there is also no toothbrush in sight.
There are all sorts of theories why it is very rare for guests to find a tube of toothpaste in hotel toiletry kits these days.
One of them is that it is costlier to refill a tiny tube than a small bottle. Another is that luxury hotels do not find toothpaste expensive enough.
They have a difficult time finding toothpaste brands that are as lush as some shampoos, conditioners, and others. On the other hand, some cheap hotels do not find toothpaste affordable enough.
Well, the truth is this: according to hotels themselves, studies say that most guests do not ask for toothpaste. What’s more, hotels say that not a lot of guests know that they can ask for toothpaste free of charge.
To be safe, it is a good idea to pack your favorite toothpaste or buy a tube of it on your way to the hotel.
A lot of today’s hotels no longer give their guests toothpaste. If you ask the front desk for it, you may be given directions to a nearby establishment where you can buy the product.
Just Before You Attempt to Pack Complimentary Toiletries
Various amenities can be found in a hotel room. They are there to make your stay more convenient, pleasing, and memorable. In some hotels, certain amenities are optional.
So, in other words, you will have to ask the front desk to be provided with them and pay for the associated costs.
Some amenities, however, are standard with many hotels. Because they come free of charge, you can use them to your heart’s content.
This doesn’t mean, however, that all amenities belong to you. While you can choose to take home some of them, others are not meant to be stashed in your luggage.
You can take soap, shampoo, and other toiletries without being charged extra by the hotel. Placing the rest in your luggage, on the other hand, is considered as stealing.
Feel free to use the soap mini bar and the small bottle of shampoo that can be found on the bathroom counter of your hotel room.
And if you have consumed them completely, worry not because you simply have to pick up the in-room phone and ask the front desk to send a new batch to your room for free.
Just try to avoid asking for a toiletry kit all the time as the hotel might suspect that you just want to bring home lots of free stuff.
Always keep in mind that there is a world of difference between bringing home with you complimentary items that you can find in your hotel room and stealing amenities that belong to the hotel.
Related Questions
What do hotels do with used toiletries? Many hotels, especially those who care for the planet, donate used toiletries to non-profit organizations that recycle them.
What is the most commonly stolen item from hotels? According to hotels themselves, towels are some of the most commonly stolen items by their guests.
Photo credit: ©canva.com/Angelo D’Amico
