Oh one other interesting note if you stay at smaller independent hotels
Often times a hotel chain will change the logo or the wrapping of the soap or shampoo so they have a lot of the soaps and shampoos with the old lables on them.
The hotels will sell these soaps and shampoos to smaller independent hotels. Some people think the owners of these smaller independent hotels are stealing soap and such from bigger chains and using them. They are not stealing but buying the soap the bigger chains can’t use because of lable changes etc.
The hotel I’m staying in has a notice in the bathroom stating that they use dispensing units for shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, etc which are refilled as required. Despite this note, I don’t seem to have these dispensers but instead have normal bottles of toiletries; however I have had the dispensers when I’ve stayed in other rooms at this hotel.
I worked summer jobs in high school as a hotel chambermaid.
This was the deal.
All towels replaced when a room was vacated, even if they looked unused.
Bedlinen changed every third day and whenever a room was vacated.
Half empty bottles of shampoo/conditioner were NEVER topped up where I worked- always replaced with brand new. If the guest was staying over and the bottles were empty they got new bottles .
Used soaps were thrown out, but unused, still wrapped soaps were left for the next guest if they were pristine- if the wrapper had become wet, they were replaced.
I had to sanitise the phone handsets daily and fold paper points onto the loo roll too.
Refilling the minibottles is (checks forum) quite painful and not worth it unless you need to be able to pass a small amount of liquid through airport security.
OTOH, several of the last hotels where I’ve stayed had shampoo dispensers instead of minibottles. Some have a refillable deposit, some carry an upside-down bottle of regular shampoo, plugged into a “faucet.” These have definitely been used by other people but if you’re so squeamish it bothers you, you shouldn’t be in any place below 5 stars.
I’ve been in hotels where I’d hide my barely-used bar of soap because they’d throw it away and replace it if I’d so much as opened it. For a month-long stay that’s quite an absurd waste IMO, but I’m sure there’s people who’d throw an absolute fit if they didn’t get a brand-new mini-bar of Heno de Pravia every day.