Hotels need to show empathy to guests who wear glasses
Ever since I mistook shaving cream for toothpaste one morning, I always put on my glasses before brushing my teeth or when shaving. I’m in my 60s now and with failing vision wear glasses – but not when taking a bath.
So, here I am, standing in the shower, enveloped in warm water gushing down all over the place. For an otherwise average hotel room, this was turning out to be an ‘A’ class shower experience – that is until I reached out for the tiny bottle of shampoo.
Normally, shampoo is clear whilst conditioner is slightly cloudy. However, nowadays, it’s hard to differentiate as they both look the same – especially in a watery wash down session.
It was about exactly then that I realised, I had made the stupid mistake of entering the shower without first checking which of the tiny bottles was the shampoo. Have you ever tried reading the words ‘shampoo’ or ‘conditioner’ written in letters 1/8th inch tall on a curved surface? Even for those of you with perfect eyesight (20/20 vision) that can be challenging.
Finally, being unable to find out, which bottle held what, despite holding each bottle as far away as possible and straining my eyes, my moment of reckoning arrived. I had to decide between guessing which bottle contained shampoo and making a dash to the bedroom for my glasses. I chose the latter option.
Partially quick-drying myself so as not to leave puddles of water on my two - way dash from the bathroom to the bedroom and back, and loosely tying a towel around my waist, I exited the shower to retrieve my glasses. It wasn’t a run I enjoyed, because I had to watch every step on the way lest I slip or fall.
When will hoteliers who provide those miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner that you come across in most hotel bathrooms, realise that we simply can’t read micro size letters on tiny labels. I bet you, the manufacturers of these mini amenity bottles must be having a good laugh as bespectacled guests like me get trapped into this type of situation.
Thankfully, the trend towards replacing all those tiny bottles with dispensers is not too far away. Hotels that have installed push-button dispensers in the bathroom will get my vote in future. Another reason to consider the change is that close to a million of those small plastic bottles end up in landfills every day. When Hotels say they’re eco-friendly establishments and doing all those things they do with the greening of their hotels - whilst continuing to provide these tiny bottles in the bathroom… something really doesn’t gel.
To hotels that persist with providing small bottles, putting a large S on the bottle of shampoo, a large C on the conditioner and a large G on the bath gel bottle could bring some form of relief.
Seriously, think about it and if you are operating a hotel in Califonia – you have time to do so until 2023. The state governor has banned large hotels from supplying these little bottles from 2023. Hotels with less than 50 rooms have time until 2024.
One small step towards cleaner oceans.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, ‘Hospitality Sri Lanka’, Consultant, Trainer, Ex-Hotelier |
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