Towel "allowance"

Personally I have a cupboard with clean towels in the guest shower room and the guest can take one if they wish. In practice guests take about 2 towels a week. I change the hand towel and some women use a hair towel as well. The towels are to my standard I guess because they are spotless and not worn but air dried and not expensive or fluffy (I have several Hammam towels). I think leaving loads of towels out is wasteful because guests end up not knowing which is which, and they end up being washed anyway.

1 Like

3 uses IF the towels can dry between uses. Our environment is too humid for the towels to dry between uses. Which is why I provide 1 towel per two days per person, and an extra hair towel for shorter stays. Sometimes people use towels to clean up the floor if it gets wet, or any number of other things. So one towel per two days per person seems conservative in a humid environment.

And I never end up washing ā€œloadsā€ of extra towels - maybe one or two. Because my estimate seems to satisfy most guests. Iā€™ve never had complaints about too few (or too many) towels.

I donā€™t have an extra cubbard to put them in, and I donā€™t want to put one in the bathroom that could potentially be pulled over by a child. I could put them in the nearest closet, which is several steps away from the shower, and in the main living area. Or I could just put them on a shelf convenient to the shower where a guest can grab one when they forget to get one before the shower. I assume people traveling with coworkers donā€™t want to have to request someone bring them a towel. :joy:

By definition people are at their cleanest, just having finished washing, when they use a towel. So why would anyone need a new towel every couple of days instead of just hanging it to dry? I provide one white towel per person regardless of how long they are staying (max 1 week) and there is a heated towel rack in the bathroom if they wish to dry it faster than just by hanging it up. I also provide a green towel if people have ā€œwashedā€ mud off their feet or dog, and, of course, a separate hand towel. Having said that stains indicate that some people clearly donā€™t know how to properly wash themselves ā€œdown thereā€ so may feel they need a new towel sooner. Though I like to think it reminds them about their lack of personal hygiene, which is easily fixed by proper washing. (I have officially turned in to my mother).

2 Likes

How did the dog feel sharing his towel with a teenager? :japanese_goblin:

8 Likes

For two people, three bath towels, three hand towels, two washcloths. This is for any length of stay but I always tell guests to let me know if they need anything. Only a few have asked for extra towels.

They also get two coloured towels to take to the beach (or use in the apartment if they want) and two towelling bathrobes. (Many guests, well most really, donā€™t use the bathrobes). I also provide paper towels in the kitchen and if guests want to use that for hand drying etc., then fine.

We do have laundry facilities if they want to wash their towels and offer a complete bedding/towels/robe change free for guests who are staying for more than seven days.

No-one has ever complained that we donā€™t supply enough towels.

I use the same towel for a week, sometimes even longer. After showering, I am wiping clean water from a clean body so I donā€™t see why this should be a problem. Overuse of towels isnā€™t good for the planet, after all.

7 Likes

which reminds me I must change over from my Summer to my Winter towel.

9 Likes

Iā€™m leaving 2 towels per person for stays up to a week, a bigger one for the body (50x100) and a smaller one (50x70 cm) for the face, plus a hand towel. I think that is enough as we live in a warm and dry climate and towels get dry fast. I never buy those bulky towels that take ages to dry. Recently I have been staying with a host who was providing such towels and they got mildewy smelling after just a day, as there was nowhere to dry them. They are too thick to dry on their own.

So far no one has complained about my towel policy, once or twice I had ppl asking for extra towels and they were provided with them. I have no problems with providing extra towels but I donā€™t want to have them lying around and being washed excesivelly for no reason. Even in a hotel I donā€™t use a new towel every day, itā€™s really a waste.

That being said, Iā€™m always surprised by guestsā€™ usage of kitchen towels. I provide three kitchen towels and I often find only one being used, even if guests stayed for 2 or 3 weeks. The one being used is usually disguisting looking as it is obviously used for everything.:grimacing: I have no idea why people keep using a disguisting, smelly kitchen towel when the fresh ones are provided.

1 Like

Amen to that. In the kitchen I think there should be a separate tea towel for drying dishes, a hand towel, a dish cloth for wiping surfaces and a washable silicone pot grab/oven gloves for hot things. Scouring sponges get thrown out most days and replaced with a new one from the pound shop. I launder these items every day (if I didnā€™t have a dishwasher it would be more often). Never mind fussing over using a bath towel for a few days on your own clean body, kitchen towels are really where the germs are at!

3 Likes

Yup. I change the sponge and dish cloth after every guest, and it actually bothers me that in most accommodations that I have been to this is not the case. In some places where I shared the space with the host, sponge was so old and used I just couldnā€™t bring myself to use it, I went to the store and bought a new one. Iā€™m not a clean freak but I find that really disguisting. As well as wiping dirt directly with a kitchen towel, instead of using the dish cloth and then a towel to dry it. I also keep a separate tea towel for drying dishes that usually lasts long as only clean dishes are wiped with it (as it is the case with towels!).

1 Like

Yep, if someone starts using the tea towel for hot things and gets food on it, wipes their hands on it or wipes down the surfaces with it then straight in the wash it goes. How can you possibly use that for drying clean dishes? I had a lodger like that and after washing dozens of the things I ended up hiding them. In commercial kitchens, NHS etc. paper towels is the way to go, but very expensive.

I also leave a role of kitchen towels for guests staying for three days or longer, and yet only few end up being used and the tea towel is still disguisting. :smiley:

Yep I donā€™t get it. Here we are discussing people using 2 bath towels each a day, yet these same princesses probably use the same tea towel for everything all week. There really needs to be more education about what it means to be clean.

4 Likes

The idea of people using a clean towel to mop up wet bathroom floors makes my blood boil too. Why are they flooding it? Why donā€™t they use a dirty towel? Arenā€™t we providing bath mats for stepping on after the shower anyway? For me 1) flooding the floor and 2) using clean towels is a do not recommend. Itā€™s just not house trained. When my dog gets out of the shower even she will respond to ā€˜on the matā€™ lol.

I provide a bath mat and a rag for the floor in the bathroom, I think there is really no reason for anyone to use clean or dirty towels to mop up the floor.

1 Like

Accidents happen. Surely you can understand this. Our shower only has a curtain and if the curtain isnā€™t adjusted properly the water can escape. And what dirty towels do you suggest a guest use to clean up their mess when you only provide 1-2 towels per person. Maybe itā€™s their first shower and they didnā€™t realize they have to adjust the curtain just so?

1 Like

If the curtain is in the shower tray there is never a problem. I always remind guests; a lot of people are just oblivious to their environment in general.
If someone floods the guest shower room they are asked to message me straight away, so I can check its clean and dry. A first port of call would be wringing out the bath mat and using that rather than a clean towel. Out of 300 guests probably only about half a dozen have caused floods. Only one of those has got clean towels from the cupboard and used those.

Have you read the book ā€œSpin Sistersā€? Itā€™s about how the media is constantly trying to get everyone alarmed about everything. Since reading it, Iā€™ve pretty much ignored these kinds of articles. (Although I do appreciate in principle knowing what the pathologists think.)

No I havenā€™t read it. The media exists for one reason: to make money. They are such an easy scapegoat. They only sell what the sheeple will buy.

I wasnā€™t clear in my point. It doesnā€™t matter what any host thinks is the appropriate amount of towels to supply. If the guest thinks itā€™s nasty to reuse a bath towel and they are only provided one towel then the host should expect a bad review.

So while some posters thought a new towel every other day was crazy I just posted the story as a data point about why a guest might think it was reasonable.

I donā€™t think that has been true particularly since the 1980s. Lots of media red ink for decades now. Lately itā€™s much more about trying to sway opinion. See all the vanity buys of newspapers by Jeff Bezos, Carlos Slim, the hedge funds.

I stand by my statement. I suspect there is no evidence I could supply that would sway you and itā€™s not important anyway.

Back on topic: Guests determine what the appropriate number of towels are, not hosts.

2 Likes