# Hotel toiletries: take with you when you depart or leave behind? Is taking them stealing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 28, 2019, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761 "2019-07-28T16:26:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![JpnDude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/838e76/32.png) [@JpnDude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JpnDude)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/61 "2019-07-31T06:36:48Z")
At the Disney hotels at Tokyo Disney Resort, guests are encouraged to take the following and can request more before leaving the hotel. [Pictures from a Japanese site](https://castel.jp/p/1899). - shampoo - rinse (conditioner) - shower gel (liquid body soap) - soap bar - bath powder - body sponge - toothbrush (regular and kids) - hairbrush - amenity kit with: – cotton swabs – cotton balls – shower cap – hair cap - slippers - paper bag - flower on desk - complimentary coffee/tea bags - kids mug - stirrer - postcards - stationery - paper coaster - room key ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/62 "2019-07-31T08:04:48Z")
I always wondered about the people who would take batteries from the hotel TV remotes to the point that now most hotels I’ve been to now have the remotes that require you to unscrew the thing to get to the battery compartment. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/63 "2019-07-31T08:13:50Z")
Not only don’t I take toiletries or anything else from hotels, I bring my OWN because the stuff they supply is horrible. Now that might be because I generally stay in 2-3\* hotels, but even so, I truly doubt the posh ones give you seriously decent shampoos/soaps/conditioners/coffees/teas anyway. If they did, and if I ever stayed in one, I MIGHT be tempted to nick their stuff. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/64 "2019-07-31T08:17:14Z")
> [@Spiderman](#): > > Looks like this thread is going to be moot soon at [Holiday Inn](https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/30/business/intercontinental-hotels-plastic-toiletries-trnd/), Marriott, & their associated brands. Everything old is new again, I guess. I remember travelling with my parents when I was a child in the late-1960s and early-1970s. We often stayed in Holiday Inns, and all you got was a bar of soap. Two, if you were lucky. (And the toilet seat had a band on it that said it had been “sanitized for your protection”). The Holiday Inn supplied towels, and a clean room and bedding, and that was about it. If you wanted shampoo, conditioner, or anything else in the way of personal care products, you brought your own. There were no in-room coffeemakers, either. I remember, on a few road trips, Mom bringing along a coffeemaker, Coffee-Mate, some sugar, and a couple of mugs, so Mom and Dad didn’t have to visit the coffee shop or use room service first thing in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/65 "2019-07-31T14:44:16Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > Motel/hotel guests who [discover a body under the bed](http://www.the13thfloor.tv/2016/03/24/real-corpse-found-in-mattress-more-than-once/) or in the mattress are not entitled to take it with them. Proper etiquette says that you leave the corpse for the next guests. Can you roll the corpse for valuables? ---
**Author:** ![chela](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chela/32/21582_2.png) [@chela](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chela)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/66 "2019-07-31T15:13:34Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > I do wonder if this whole debate will be null and void in years to come, as hotels move over to larger, refillable bottles (IHG Group are starting to do this, even in the higher end hotels). Because, plastic waste - think about it, it is an awful waste of single use plastic. > > So, I’m in the camp of, it isn’t stealing, but it is wasteful, so I leave what I don’t use. I agree it is wasteful. Last thing I want is additional clutter at home. I welcome the use of bulk dispensers at hotels. Now if they can just serve more fruit with continental breakfast and ditch the styrofoam coffee cups I’d be even happier. ---
**Author:** ![mandala](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mandala/32/95_2.png) [@mandala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mandala)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/67 "2019-08-01T08:48:30Z")
Toiletries? Meh. I go for the more durable stuff. I have lifted pots and pans, towels, bed linen, and occasionally the bedside lamp. The coffeemaker has been useful back home too. Since hotel costs are outrageous, I am just trying to even the score here. Besides there is no category of crime called ‘hotel lifting’, which obviously means people are allowed to do it. Once, on checkout, the manager complimented me on my choice of luggage. “It’s sturdy and good-looking,” he said. Apparently he did not realize I was carting away the mini-fridge. But that was a close one. :eek: Just don’t get caught. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/68 "2019-08-01T19:06:49Z")
If it’s opened, I might take it with me, depending on whether I need it later. If it’s unopened, I always leave it there for the next guest. ---
**Author:** ![Emiliana](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@Emiliana](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emiliana)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2019, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761/69 "2019-08-01T19:23:49Z")
> [@Ann\_Hedonia](#): > > One hotel I stay at regularly has a sign reminding guests that all amenities EXCEPT TOILETRIES are for use during your stay only and should not be removed from the room. The emphasis was mine but I think that constitutes permission. > > Some of the higher end places (including that one) provide high end branded toiletries that I suspect are given to them for free by the manufacturer. They WANT you to use them because they hope you will like them and purchase the full-sized product. And if you don’t get around to using it while you are there, they WANT you to take it and try it at home. These places sometimes sell the full-sized versions of the product on the hotel website and in the gift shop. I became addicted to a very, very expensive hair conditioner this way. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hotel-toiletries-take-with-you-when-you-depart-or-leave-behind-is-taking-them-stealing/837761.md?page=3)