Took all the soaps and shampoos

I have 3 oz bottles and refill from larger bottles I get at Costco. I’ve only had mine about 2 years but if they get raggedy looking, a guest just left their two new 3 oz ones behind so I have replacements.

Over 1000 stays and if anyone has ever taken everything, I’ve forgotten it. I have more people leave stuff behind.

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Same here. No one has ever taken anything at all. But I have a basket full of almost full toiletries guests have left behind, and have gained 2 umbrellas and several good quality beach towels.

I’m really shocked ours haven’t gotten raggedy looking. I check them every time we do a flip. If I need some container graphics I suppose I should track down the company that did the ones on these bottles. We have at least 4-6 replacements for each one because we opened up 3 places at once and didn’t want to be caught off-guard needing a new one. It’s pretty funny now that we haven’t had to replace one. It’s probably because I really want to change to a different brand. Now they’ll never run out :grin:

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When I first started I got all kinds of extras that I’ve never needed and that just take up space in my home. Now that bookings have slowed compared to pre-pandemic I sometimes think I should just give up and give a bunch of stuff to charity and put the new stuff out even though I don’t need to.

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If you give away the extras and put the new stuff out, some guest will take it, even though no one ever has before. Murphy’s Law. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I know what you mean about having extraneous stuff taking up space, though. I’m a minimalist and it always makes me feel satisfied somehow to get rid of unnecessary things.

About kids stealing. My younger sister was caught stealing a coloring book. My older brother was caught with about 100 stolen bicycles ( a real racket) . My Mom gave my sister a piece of her mind and was going to disown my brother if he ever did anything that amoral again. I never stole anything, too chicken.

Our guests don’t steal anything except one who took a bunch of snacks back when I put them out for a few stays.

I just did a short trip interstate, stayed in 4 hotels over the course of the trip (2, 3 and 4* hotels), all of them had large bottles of shampoo/cond, two had wall dispensers. Also they didn’t have the usual selection of things like sewing kit, toothbrush, etc, you had to ask at the front desk if you wanted one of those items. I’m wondering if hotels also are getting sick of stocking items just for people to take away, the cost of those things, plus the extra time it takes to restock, must be part of cost-cutting measures.

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Another thing I do is put out a wrapped new sponge for every guest. I used to remove the perfectly fine once used sponge and other than leaving some under the sink I took them home to use. I still have at least a dozen waiting to be used.

So I started leaving the used sponge out after washing it and sanitizing in the microwave and also leaving a new wrapped one. 90% of the guests just use the one in the sink. The new ones stay put and I change them out as needed. The sponges are like $1 each so I save a few bucks and the guests still get a new sponge if they want to use it.

RR

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Reminds me of something that happened recently. We always have a personalized sign and fresh flowers waiting for the new guests. This particular stay, the sunflowers we usually put out were not available at the store, so my wife placed an orchid there from our home. The foreign guests thought it was an anniversary present. They even thanked us for the beautiful flower as our gift.
Facepalm.

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I think that’s sweet. Better to have guests who notice and appreciate extra little touches than those who never acknowledge them, even if it wasn’t intended to be a gift.

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that’s actually a great idea. I struggle with the waste of a fresh sponge for each guests, esp as my average stay is 1.8 nights. I usually use the sponge to wipe down the outdoor furniture etc so it gets pretty dirty, and then I toss it, but I still feel bad about that.

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I have started leaving (gasp!) the same bar of (fancy, handmade) soap by the bathroom sink over multiple guest stays. Of course I make sure it’s rinsed and not goopy. Guests have other options – a foaming soap dispenser and body wash in the shower. No one has reacted negatively.

I was previously putting out smaller new bars of handmade soap for each guest, so the used ones were piling up in little towers in my house.

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That’s just gross. The same bar of soap between guests?

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A bar of soap that is washed off so there are no hairs or anything on it isn’t gross at all in reality, and not a danger to anyone. It would only be “gross” as a scientifically unsupported personal perception. I can understand that some people would find it unsavory to use a bar of soap a stranger had washed their body with, but that’s like being terrified of harmless house spiders- if someone has that perception, there’s little you can do to dispel those feelings.

I do provide little fresh bars for guests, but I often find them unused, still in the box, guests opting to use the liquid soap, or having brought their own bar soap, so I seem to be able to myself use up all the leftovers from guests who do use the bars I provide.

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Thank you for sharing/gifting this.

I would have thought that bar soap was less hygienic in a shared environment, but it is not so.

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The whole concept of soap is that it cleans and washes off pathogens. That’s why we were all told to wash our hands frequently with soap to combat Covid.

Before bacteria and viruses were understood as the cause of disease, rather than “evil vapors”, doctors themselves were spreaders of infection- they would go from treating or examining one contagious patient to another patient without washing their hands.

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sounds like an apology was given. move on. not worth it.

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Very good advice.

2020202020

I am not sure what you are referring to, this thread has drifted all over the place. If you are talking about the original post, yes the guest did apologize and I accepted it. I was just sharing the experience.

RR

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