The things guests take from the hotel room
If there is one thing almost all hotels provide, its soap. Some hotels place at least three pieces of soap in the guestroom bathroom thus tricking you into feeling like you’re getting a luxury worldly experience. There was this hotel that labeled its soap as ‘facial soap’ which I found ludicrous. Why can’t they say ‘soap’?
Long before the advent of the internet, the telephone book in the room wouldn’t last long – especially in hotels that housed visiting business persons. Back in the day, the local phone book was the best that could be had for various kinds of market research, sales contacts, etc. Like the telephone book, swiping soap and mini bottles will sooner or later become a thing of the past as hotels migrate towards installing liquid soap dispensers.
Anyways, Let’s start with the obvious: Those who operate hotels expect guests to either use or to take certain consumable items and as it so happens guests often do take home essential amenities like soap, the tiny bottles of shampoo, conditioner and other vanity products that the hotel provides during their stay. Other items that guests take include dry-cleaning bags, coffee, creamers, sugar packets, pens, scribbling pads – even candles, and certain marketing collateral items.
Hoteliers will say “we are in the business of service and hospitality, and just as it is not hospitable of guests to pinch certain items, it is not hospitable of us to charge them for same.” True…but the line is drawn or the boundary is crossed when people attempt to take home bathrobes. Slippers, on the other hand, won’t be used again and are typically OK to take.
Other pricier items that are a ‘no-no” and which drive hotel managers nuts, include towels, bath mats, hair dryers, lamps, TVs, and TV remotes to name but a few. Oh yes, add bed sheets too. 68% of people in a survey admitted they steal linens and towels from hotel rooms – prompting some hotels to install electronic tags to track stolen towels.
Many guests would remember those imprinted towels with the hotel’s logo and wonder what happened to them? Originally intended as a deterrent to theft of the towels, they actually screamed ‘take me, take me’: the hotel's imprint on the towel gave it value as a souvenir to what otherwise would have been just an unremarkable, plain white towel. Another popular item to be frequently nicked was the ashtray with the hotel logo.
There’s no crime in enjoying a drink from the mini-bar.. After all, it is there for that purpose – if price is no barrier.. But there are those who try to fake the hotel staff out by replacing the liquor with the contents of a half-sipped coke. This happens more often than one would think and those who do it still get charged for taking that, two-ounce bottle of spirits.
Another thing that’s slowly disappearing is the Gideon Bible that used to be kept in each hotel room. Supposedly, Gideon’s International actually wants guests to steal the bible from the hotel room, and can’t get enough people to do it. Now that’s bucking the trend!
Ilzaf Keefahs – writes on hospitality related matters that he is passionate about, and likes to share his views with hoteliers and customers alike. |
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