There are many amenities in a hotel room that you can enjoy to your heart’s content. Although there are amenities that you can obviously place in your luggage, such as toiletries, there are also those that you should leave behind.
Especially if you don’t want to end up paying for stolen items, you should practice caution when deciding which ones to take.
So, do hotels charge for taking pillows, robes, slippers, and others?
There are some amenities that hotels are expecting their guests to take cost-free. They range from pens, shampoos to slippers. However, there are also amenities that hotels will charge their guests for taking. Some common examples are pillows, bed linens, robes, and electronics.
Worry not because it is easy to figure out whether an amenity in your hotel room can be taken home or not.
Online, you can easily come across listings of items that you can freely stash in your luggage, as well as those that you should not attempt to bring home.
Because different hotels have different policies, you may call the front desk and ask if it is perfectly fine to keep as a souvenir something in the room that you love.
Keep your family members and friends from being charged by hotels for taking amenities home by sharing this article on your various social media sites after checking out its entirety.
People Steal Items From Hotels for Different Reasons
Some guests feel like it is perfectly fine to bring home some amenities thinking that they paid for them when they booked for their hotel rooms.
While it’s true that the amenities are built into the hotel room’s price, many of them are hotel properties. In some instances, giving the excuse that the items were accidentally packed is possible.
However, there are cases in which this explanation simply won’t convince the staff, such as when pillows, bed linens, lamps, remote controllers, and showerheads are stashed in suitcases.
There are guests that steal hotel amenities for the thrill of it. Usually, these people steal not only hotel room items but also items elsewhere, such as at the supermarket or in the house of a friend.
However, some are fully aware that they should not steal but end up bringing home some items that shouldn’t be packed anyway. Such can be blamed on various things.
For instance, guests may be in a rush to pack to beat the checkout deadline. Guests may also have poor judgment as a result of suffering from jet lag.
No matter the case, it can be embarrassing to be asked by the staff to check in the luggage some items reported by the housekeeping to be missing.
Even if this awkward situation does not occur, it is very much likely for the hotel to charge a guest for taking amenities home with them. The guest may feel relieved for not being told to inspect his or her luggage for the missing items.
However, when the credit card bill arrives, the person will realize that the hotel was aware that some of the amenities ended up being stolen.
What Hotels Are Doing to Keep the Problem to a Minimum
The guests are not the only ones that can feel embarrassed when some items go missing, but the hotel staff, too.
To minimize the problem of stealing or accidentally taking amenities, many hotels are taking certain steps to make sure that their guests are aware of which items they can bring home and which ones should be left behind.
For instance, many hotels place placards on or near amenities that indicate how much they will be charged for taking pillows or robes home. In some cases, hotels provide their guests with a price catalog of amenities.
Believe it or not, large items in hotel rooms such as mattresses and TV sets are also being stolen by some of the guests. Most of the time, they attempt to take these items to their cars in the middle of the night when the front desk is likely to be closed.
Some hotels install anti-theft devices on amenities, including especially electronics, that can cost a lot to replace. There are expensive hotels that provide their guests with gifts to keep them from stealing.
Speaking of gifts, many hotels have gift shops where guests may buy items in their rooms and many more. Especially if you know that the hotel will charge you for taking items that you shouldn’t, it is a much better idea to simply buy them from the gift shop.
In some instances, you may tell the front desk that you are willing to pay for a hotel item, like a towel or robe, and a brand new one will be delivered to your room and charged to your credit card.
Avoiding Slip-Ups Regarding Hotel Slippers
If you have forgotten to pack your slippers, it can be tempting to take the slippers that hotels provide. This is especially true if you will have to take a long plane or bus ride to get back home.
However, when checking out online listings of hotel amenities that you can and cannot take, you may find that it seems like opinions are divided.
One listing may tell you that it is perfectly fine to slip those slippers in your luggage. Another listing may warn you against taking slippers home unless you don’t mind being charged by the hotel.
Put simply, all of those listings are correct. That’s because some hotel slippers are complimentary and can be taken home, while the rest should not be taken outside the premises.
One of the things that you may do to get an idea of whether or not slippers will cost you when you pack them is by checking out the materials that they are made of.
If some of the parts are out of paper-like materials that cannot be washed, then it is safe to take those slippers.
In many expensive hotels, the slippers provided bear their names and come with superb quality. Most of the time, luxury hotels are expecting their guests to bring home those slippers.
However, to make sure that you are not going to be charged by the hotel for packing a pair of slippers, ask the front desk.
Just Before You Place That Item in Your Luggage
Although you have paid for a hotel room with your hard-earned cash, it doesn’t mean right away that you own every amenity that comes with it.
There are some amenities that you can take home with you. As a matter of fact, hotels want their guests to take them.
This is especially true if the items bear the name of hotels as they can serve as ads, thus making them more visible to the target customers than the direct competition.
However, there are also amenities that you cannot take home with you. They include items that hotels can wash. Some common examples are robes and bed linens.
You can easily come across listings of hotel amenities that you can pack and those that you should refrain from taking on the internet.
Sometimes, you only need to use a little common sense to know that some are not meant to be taken home by the guests as souvenirs, such as LED televisions, mattresses, framed artworks, and showerheads.
Taking hotel items that you are not supposed to take is likely to result in you being charged by the hotel. To be safe, don’t be too embarrassed to ask the front desk if you could bring home an item that you like.
Related Questions
What are some of the most commonly stolen items from hotel rooms?
Leading the list are towels, especially those that are incredibly soft and luxurious. Other commonly stolen amenities include pillows, bed linens, and mattresses — these items can remind the guests of their hotel stay when sleeping in their respective bedrooms.
What do hotels do with unused toiletries that guests leave behind?
Some hotels take them to recycling centers, including those who would like to do their share in keeping the environment clean. Other hotels throw them away. It is less likely for hotels to reuse them as it will certainly harm their image, resulting in losses.
What’s Next?
Do Hotels Charge for an Extra Person in Your Room?
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