When you ‘make a green choice’ to let hotels save money on housekeeping, at least they’ll usually give you points so you can share in the savings (but not at the Hyatt Regency Seattle).
Marriott revealed that wall mounted toiletries save a couple thousand dollars per hotel each year. That’s a big savings across all of their managed North American properties who are making the switch from individual bottles.
Now IHG will replace mini bottles with bulk toiletries across all 17 of its brands. Naturally they say they’re doing ‘what customers expect’ by giving customers less and not sharing the savings they’ll reap across “843,000 guest rooms in more than 5,600 hotels” when the change goes into effect during 2021.
The problem is that wall dispensers are awful and must be stopped.
- They don’t get refilled properly and when they do get refilled hotels are more likely to use counterfeit products.
- They’re germ magnets.
- And guests have been known to put stuff in them you wouldn’t want there. Even where there have been safeguarding locks in place I’ve had rooms where those weren’t locked.
California is working to ban plastic toiletry bottles in accommodations altogether by 2023. It turns out this is a gift to corporate hotel interests under the fig leaf of the environment.
Customers may not like this. But what if customers had no choice? Hotels could cut costs and not worry about competition. California’s proposed ban would be a gift to hotel bottom lines by enforcing a cartel that limits how customer-friendly their bathrooms can be. Enforcing a ban means hotels save money, and competitor hotels can’t compete on experience with single use toiletries.
Of course cheap bulk wall mounted toiletries aren’t the only way to replace individual plastic bottles. The first time I stayed at The Nines in Portland I discovered individual Bee Kind toiletries in a heavy paper – so biodegradable – packaging.
If hotels were doing this for customers and for the environment they’d consider changing the packaging, rather than moving to bulk wall mounted provision of shampoo or they’d consider adding amenities with the savings. Instead the environment is used as a fig leaf for cost cutting and customers who care about the environment and hotel quality shouldn’t put up with that.
(HT: Jonathan W.)
Well…..I’ll just pack an empty bottle or two…maybe even three or four and refill them from the bulk dispenser. I’m not about to give up my free shampoo, which I have taken home for years (why go out and buy something you can have for free), because hotel executives wish to be politically correct!
Let’s see how many hotels mount the dispensers at an appropriate height for wheelchair users in accessible rooms. Of the ones I have encountered so far, the answer is zero.
PS – consider is misspelled in the last paragraph.
FFS: And those little paper ones you suggest? Guests would probably use 1/4 of the contents, then throw them away, paper packaging and contents, thus not really achieving anything
I hate that hotels are still doing this. The alternative is the bulk supplies. In fact, the alternative is non at all.
In 2015, there were 1494 hotels in London alone. Let’s assume that half of them offered single use plastic. Let’s assume half the guests used them and binned them. let’s assume they weigh 10g each. Let’s assume 100 rooms per hotel.
That’s 136,327KG of plastic a year. Just from London.
Wake up Gary.
Single-use plastics are devastating to the environment. While IHG obviously just wants to make more money, I fully support phasing out millions of plastic bottles from ending up in the ocean.
Silly question but why don’t you just bring your own? I always travel with a small bottle of shower gel with me or a bar of soap in a container, if your on a longer trip then just go to the mall and buy one, its hardly going to break the bank is it.
Why do people expect that hotels should provide everything just because they have always done so, they used to do alot for customers more but times move on and getting rid of these single use plastics is the right thing to do (appreciate that you mention there are alternatives to plastic).
@Paul – single use plastics aren’t ‘devastating’ though there’s some issue, let’s not exaggerate – but as I point out in the post you can do single use without plastic.
Nothing awful about this. If the hotel saves a bit of money while doing the right thing, I see no issue. Gary, you are just behind the times… perhaps a follower of the esteemed US president?
Good God. Get over yourself Gary. Apparently you don’t go to the beach or eat seafood. This crap is killing the oceans. On the west coast you can see a thin line of micro plastics (ground up plastics) on most beaches in most days. In Houston, the bayous are full of single use plastic. Fish have plastic showing up in them all the time. Don’t be a stereotypical Texan and get educated. You have start with something and this is a start.
If the hotels really cared about the environment, they’d use corn-based plastic lookalike for the mini bottles. They’re 100% biodegradable and customers wouldn’t notice any change.
The difference, of course is that it would add around $.03 per bottle to switch from plastic to corn-based plastic lookalike. So NEVER believe the hotels when they claim any move they make is for the environment instead of saving a few pennies!
@garyleff
I’m afraid you are wrong. Single use plastic IS devastating, its harming millions of miles of coastline and countless miles of open ocean.
In 20016 we produce 335 MILLION tonnes of plastic and only approximately half of that is destined for single use- that’s crazy and a waste of resources.
We buy 1 MILLION plastic bottles a minute and only 25% of them are recycled within the US- where are the rest going- landfill or into the ocean.
It’s madness, people sticking their head in the sand and saying ‘its not a problem, is not a problem’ won’t make it go away.
I’m from the UK and they have added a charge fo plastic bags when you do your grocery shopping and since it was introduced there has been a 86% in plastic bag usage, you just remember to take your own now- it becomes habit.
I hope that other hotel chains follow suit and we just all get into the habit of taking our own gel/soap.
@ Gary — I think AWFUL is more overly dramatic.
Glad to see this change.
I’ve been traveling this summer and have seen a lot of hotels in Europe with just ONE product in the shower. It is a combo “shampoo + body wash” liquid. I am not a fan of that.
If a hotel has wall mounted shampoo AND conditioner I am happy.
But PLEASE continue to still give at least one bar of soap. Not all of us like using shower gel.
@Alan
Agreed. And I learnt a fab trick in Armenia a couple of weeks ago: Rather than ending up with soggy soak, just break bits off at you need it 🙂
@Gary As others have pointed out, you really do need to take a look at your plastic consumption. You’ll be arguing for the coal industry next. Have you got shares in Sysco, perhaps (suppliers of all thoseplastic bottles you so love)?
Gary I strongly disagree with you that this is an awful change.
This is a necessary step towards the right direction: plastic waste is really hurting the environment and this needs to stop.
There’s nothing wrong with wall-mounted dispensers, and your reasons for being against them are nonsense.
In addition, I sincerely hope you will realize at some point that this is the right way to go for the future.
@Oh! Matron! – you’re completely missing the point or maybe not reading the post. Hotels want you to think the choice is “plastic or bulk dispensers” but that’s not true at all, there are paper individual use toiletries they can use. They’re going bulk for cost savings alone.
@Gene – not when you consider the germs in the shower on these dispensers
@Scott Fraser – talking about the total amount of plastic tells you nothing (1) about its impact, and (2) the role that hotel toiletries play, but is ultimately a non-sequitur when they can just as easily use paper but won’t because this is all about cost savings and not the environment. Don’t be fooled!
@MT is the first reader to suggest I’m a “follower of the esteemed US president”..!
@Tom – why is bulk better than paper? By the way bulk comes in big plastic bottles.
Seriously? Telling someone there’s “some issue, but let’s not be dramatic? This coming from the same guy who continues to write these dramatic posts claiming the hotel bathroom experience is being ruined by hotel companies under the fig leave of environmentalism?
Of course the hotel companies are going to try and claim environmentalism, much like I’m sure you’d try to claim posts like this are not about generating clicks.
Well done.
Glad to see others are pushing back here. I agree – there’s no reason for the waste of all the individual packages. And using the ‘biodgradable’ paper variants? You’re still cutting down trees to make those, which are then wasted or often probably not even recycled properly.
All the ‘reasons’ why bulk are bad are just laughable – and easily solvable.
Plus – why is it a bad thing that these companies want to save money? Seriously, costs go up every year – either they maintain/expand margins by doing things like this (which are actually logical, says the rest of the world). Or they ‘cut’ somewhere else that we’ll dislike. If the marketing reason for this is saving the environment – I’m totally fine with them also saving money on it.
@gary
Not missing the point at all. It wasn’t that IHG are moving to bulk, it was your misguided opinion
Opinion in the absence of fact is prejudice.
I agree with Gary and will let any hotel that does this that I am not happy and do not plan to stay with them again. I do not want bulk mystery lotions/liquids. Hotels are customer-service businesses first and foremost, no?
Losing my business (and Gary’s and people like us) probably won’t impact them at all now, but when the economy turns south, you better believe they will feel the impact.
This is not a binary, either/or decision either.
There is a proven, “fake” plastic resin called polylactic acid, or PLA that is made from corn and is completely biodegradable. If hotels really cared about the environment, they’d switch to these containers and keep everyone happy. Instead, they go for the tiny bit of cost savings and anger their customers in the process. Dumb thinking.
I like the borrowing of Lucky/OneMileAtATime style headline writing
It’s funny how hotel rates don’t drop when hotels limit services and amenities as part of “going green” or other initiatives. For example, Residence Inn properties aren’t cheaper than other brands despite not having full daily housekeeping.
Change ALWAYS starts with the low hanging fruit. Sure the hotels might save some cash by doing this, but what is REALLY happening (your aging yourself by not realizing this, Gary) is the banning/shaming of single-use plastic is becoming mainstream. Everyone is getting behind it as the right thing to do. Go ahead and resist, but the world is leaving you behind. First little bottles and straws, then plastic bags, then everything else. It will start with the rich countries then gradually spread to the poorer ones. Ultimately, this is a wonderful change that will benefit the environment (and our kids) long term. AND it’s hardly unprecedented: I compare it getting rid of led-infused gasoline, and CFCs… (bet you would have resisted those things too – goodbye ozone layer).
Later on, if there’s demand, hotels can also bring this stuff back in bio containers as a way to differentiate themselves.
Agree with you Gary, it’s a bad move!
I think this is a great move. Paper or corn-based products dont solve the problem as you’re still manufacturing, packaging, and shipping something of which a majority will be thrown away, needing to be shipped and processed and again.
If you have a problem with the bulk dispensers, then travel with your own products.
@MrDioji
This. If Gary is so caught up on the cleanliness of dispensers, he’d never sit on a plane seat again
@Jason:
And THAT in a nutshell is exactly why the current “Millennial” generation has a well-deserved reputation as being incredibly ignorant and completely reviled by those that came before them, despite their supposed, great formal educational credentials. (or at least great amounts of educational debt)
When you disagree with someone, you do not “shame and ban” them, you use that thing inside of your skull to collaborate and invent novel solutions that everyone can get onboard with. For example, what’s the problem with biodegradable, corn-based plastic substitutes?
“Shaming and banning” = fascism.
What Gary was saying is that one should have a choice:
– if you like to save the oceans then use a wall dispenser ;
– if you are concerned what kind of &^%$ in that dispenser, then you should be able to get the individual bottles delivered to your room for free.
Finally, even now everyone who hates small plastic bottles has a choice to travel with his/her own bar of soap and shampoo in a glass container.
Your carryon is made of plastic anyway and I hope it is not biodegradable. It is also made possible by many years of research in large corporations. This is why it is light and durable. Save travel.
I personally think this is fantastic whether the hoteliers are saving money or not. Seems a bit odd to say this is “awful” but to each his own, I suppose.
There ARE great, biodegradable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics. I go to Africa frequently for safaris, and every place I have stayed has offered some kind of individual packaging made from a renewable, cheap resource.
Most offer toiletries in small packaging about the size of a Splenda packet. The material ranges from heavy paper to wax-paper to avocado pit paper. The most unique was individual, hollow bamboo tubes (bamboo is a grass that can grow 1 foot per day) with both ends of the tube sealed with cardboard. The used tubes–if not taken by the guests–were collected, sterilized, and refilled at the toiletry company.
My Millennial daughter uses solid cubes or tablets of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash (LUSH) that work as well or better than liquid packaged products. They are compact, space-saving, can be encased in paper packaging easily, and are easier to transport because they weigh less.
There are many decent, cost-effective, and superior options which benefit the guest, the environment, and the corporate bottom line. But my guess is the bean counters are clueless as to thinking in anything but black and white. Same attitude as the bean counters at the airlines.
Gary,
You’re way off base here. Single use plastics, especially those that are barely used before being discarded, are horrible for the environment.
If you are worried about what’s in the wall unit, being your own. Are you seriously mad about taking 30 extra seconds to pack in order to make a big environmental change?
This is an AWFUL take (using your language).
Disagree with you here, Gary. Tiny plastic bottles are so wasteful and unnecessary (and mini paper bottles aren’t a huge improvement either–think of the waste involved in manufacturing and shipping the packaging, and the waste of the leftover product inside the paper package). I’m glad they are moving to the large refillable bottles in all hotels.
And all businesses think about their bottom lines and make changes that improve the bottom line. If the result of the change is an environmental improvement then I don’t care what they call it!
Something can be primarily about cost savings *and* still be better for the environment. This certainly isn’t awful.
@Too Much Flying
Not a Millennial but thanks for the judgement. Unfortunately, when it comes to the environment, “shaming” and eventually “banning” is how it works. Pictures of disgusting clear cut forests all over the northwest led to the shaming of loggers who practiced it, and ultimately the (mostly) banning of it in public forests (and severe reductions in private forests_. Clear cutting is no longer a widely accepted practice. Pictures of cut up dead whales and factory ships led to the same sort of change, first the shaming of those who wanted to whale, then the banning of the practice.
The need to have millions of tiny bottles manufactured for ONE TIME use/pleasure and an unwillingness to evolve is something commonly associated with the aged/obsolete. The world is constantly changing. What is acceptable changes. Sometimes this sort of evolution is GOOD (at least according to the vast majority) when it comes to environmental progress. For me, I like being outside (would be much more difficult minus an ozone layer), I love forests, and I hate seeing single-use plastic (and microplastics) everywhere. Banning these tiny bottles is a start.
–Plastics are made out of hydrocarbons. As such, the bonds that hold the carbons together break apart over time, even faster when exposed to sun. In other words, plastics are naturally biodegradable, however, it takes too long. Even high quality plastic, such as early NASA space suits are disintegrating.
–When I did a report on plastics companies in the 1990s, chemical companies had already invented plastics that degraded faster. Current biodegradable plastic technology is much better than the 1990s. Widespread adoption of so called biodegradable plastics would resolve many of the current issues of plastic pollution.
–Rather than ban all plastics straws type of solutions, pushing industry to adopt biodegradable plastics would reduce plastic pollution dramatically.
I agree with Gary, the large containers may save the hotels money in the name of environment, but it is a totally disgusting trend, and will most likely do nothing to save the planet. Moreover, replacing all plastic with substitutes most likely has some nasty unintended consequences. WTH, if you get some kind of hepatitis, because the plastic container has been filled with soup that has been diluted with local feces water to save money, and you put you hands into you mouth after washing them, do go crying to me.
Ok, everyone can go back to virtue signalling now.
I’m perfectly happy to let the market sort this one out. If customers consider this a major service failure it will not survive. If there are other market-friendly solutions, other hotels will try them. I have to assume that IHG has done enough research to believe they will not be economically damaged by this move.
This is most likely motivated primarily by cost factors rather than any burning concern for reducing waste — but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a significant waste-reduction benefit. This one is probably a win-win.
As far as people being concerned that they might have to touch something that was touched by another human being or that people are going around ejaculating into the larger dispensers, while I have sympathy, I think this is best addressed by those people seeking help for the underlying psychological issue rather than forcing the entire world into expensive and inefficient accommodations.
Aside. In case you are wondering, feces water is a big problem in the Southern California beaches now. This is due to untreated sewage from large homeless populations washing into the ocean. So this is not just a 3rd world problem.
Good lord. Hepatitis? Spoken like a true Oil and Gas person. Don’t worry your job is safe: we will still need oil and gas for a very very long time… long after you have departed this world in your plastic coffin.
Unless you plan on EATING your shower gel (contaminated with the gizz of the past guest) the likelihood of contracting a disease is pretty darn remote.
In terms of contamination – grow up and relax. People don’t go around doing what you describe very often – AND – what stops it from happening in plenty of other locations? Fast food run by teens? Grocery stores? Bulk food? Rubbing your fecal matter all over the apricot you picked? Or maybe it does happen and it really doesn’t impact us very much.
“They don’t get refilled properly and when they do get refilled hotels are more likely to use counterfeit products.”
I can see this happening..,… but.,.. is there actually any verifiable proof that hotels have in fact knowingly used “counterfeit” products? Just a question.
@Jason. Obviously, hepatitis is just one example. What about flesh eating bacteria. I have never gotten it, but I know two people who have. Who know what they will pore into the containers, to save money. People are speculating that pesticides are accidentally in the alcohol in Dominican Republic and it is causing deaths. Maybe someone will accidentally put in pesticides in your soup (LOL: maybe good if you have lice, but otherwise not so good). Suppose the hotel ran out of the good soup and someone decided to mix industrial cleaners with water as a short term fix. Bleach in your soup dispenser, whoops. The examples are almost infinite. You can mock each example, but added together, it is disgusting.
In any case, I recommend everyone get Hepatitis AB shots. I have.
Actually, I’ll bet you can catch HIV/AIDS from semen in a hotel dispenser. The chances are remote, but still.
Good decision; hope that it becomes mandatory in every hotel, everywhere.
There is no reason why the dispensers cannot be kept sanitary. The ones used in Aloft properties are key locked and are refilled frequently.
In any case, if you believe there are freaky people who might want to contaminate them, what makes you think they would do the same to the miniatures: ie, what’s to say the previous occupant of a room hasn’t added something to one of those waiting for the next guest to checkin ? ( although it wasn’t something that had crossed my mind as a concern prior to reading this thread).
“ they wouldn’t do the same…”
As someone with longer hair that tangles easily, I welcome this because I find the single use conditioner (or even two of them) to contain so little product that it is useless. The wall dispensers actually give me enough product and let me leave my own shampoo and conditioner bottles at home instead of lugging them with me on a trip.
Gary – you need to update the Nines – they went to wall-mounted bottles as well. The only thing left in small paper container is the lotion.
Related sidetrack: I have a friend that caught flesh eating bacteria from the match in a wrestling tournament. Everyone else was fine, but he was in the hospital the same night. The bacteria attacked his muscles. He almost died. It took him almost a year before he was able to return to wrestling. Never cleaned soup containers is a recipe for disaster to that unlucky person.
Segue back to travel, I think almost never washed airplane seats are disgusting too.
Urghhh. Stop the whining. Bring your own. If I can do it, so can you. Big baby.
Good thing I don’t like hotel toiletries. Even highly regarded brands feel like bought dollar store ones and slapped their label on them.
Bulk toiletries are icky. Switch to:
– Paper. Not cheap, fragile, probably few suppliers. I’m assuming short shelf life.
– Biodegradable platics (e.g. PLA). Cheaper, but still cost more than non-biodegradables. Not too fragile, okay shelf life.
– Refillable and resealable single-use containers; if rigid, e.g. stainless, they’d connect to a dispenser that itself would be cleaned after every guest (and the guest, not housekeeping, would connect it). Softer materials might not be resilient enough, or might not be easy to sanitize, but wouldn’t need the dispenser. The containers would be managed like the bottle deposit programs in many states – shipped out, sanitized/refilled/resealed, and sent back. Probably expensive up front, and shipping out partially full ones might cost extra, but a stainless one would last hundreds or thousands of guest nights.
For all the people complaining, the solution is pretty simple. BYOT – bring your own toiletries. You bring your own toothpaste, deodorant, etc. You can buy 100ml refillable bottles on Amazon for $10 -> https://www.amazon.com/tsa-bottles/s?k=tsa+bottles
@@ptahcha – yes I suggested that they used paper the first time they stayed there, they’ve been wall mounted for awhile, it’s cheaper
I agree that we need to do something about single use plastics. One drawback of the bulk dispensers– hope that not all hotels will cheap out on whatever they put in the dispensers- the RI I stayed at last month… their bulk stuff seriously dried out my hair. Even the leave in conditioner didnt make a dent in the terrible condition of my hair. As soon as we moved on to the next destination, my hair immediately improved after the different products used at the next hotel. Germs? Well, our immune systems all benefit from some, don’t we? What’s to say there aren’t any germs on other surfaces in the room? If we went down that line of thinking we’d all stay home in our “sanitized” environments.
I love how germaphobic some people are (especially in the US). If germs scare you, you really shouldn’t be travelling (it’s not the shower gel that’s going to kill you!)
If refilling with counterfeit products was actually prevalent, I feel like that would be corrected pretty quickly by the toiletries brands themselves. I am sure the hotels sell this “branding opportunity” for a pretty penny, but I am also sure that for the price they pay for that increased brand visibility, the toiletries brands get rights to both planned and surprise inspections of hotels and their staff to ensure the brand is being properly presented to guests. With real penalties due from the hotels back to the brands based on their performance.
CPG brands do this all the time in supermarkets, to ensure proper display and presentation of their products against contract. Would translate easily here. So I think travelers can generally trust that the toiletries described on the big bottles are what you get.
No branding opportunities on the bedding though…
I know I’ll be in the minority here, but I think that this is a great move. The small bottles are simply wasteful and contribute to plastic solution. This is a step in a positive direction.
I’ve used large-format bottles in a number of places and the horrors outlined (while I’m sure that they do happen in some places) are greatly exaggerated.
Yes, people will still bring their own small bottles and create waste (or do as we do and bring small carry-on-sized bottles that we reuse and refill at tome), but for those who choose to use what the hotel offers, they are being moved in the right direction.
Cheers.
I already bring my own supplies, since I can’t count on the provided toiletries being compatible with my needs. However I enjoy the mini bottles as a chance to try something new (I would think that behavior would translate into more retail sales of full-size products).
But since now it has apparently become a thing to lick or take a bite from someone else’s delivery food, or food on grocery shelves, you can bet I won’t be touching bulk toiletries with a ten foot pole.
Perhaps the move to bulk dispensers will allow IHG to provide higher end toiletries. This would surely help overcome some travelers’ trepidation about using them.
Like we need another reason to avoid IHG. Sigh.
Why are bloggers so obsessed with people pouring bodily fluids into bulk dispensers, but think nothing of drinking from the hotel room coffee maker, drinking from the cups, laying on the sheets, sitting on the chairs, using the hair dryer, and so on and so on. Is there REALLY proof of some insidious ring of hotel guests extracting fluids and sneaking some into a shampoo bottle? Couldn’t they just as easily do this with a full single-use bottle?
I do not have the scientific expertise to comment on the consequences of single-use plastic in oceans, etc.
But I have the political know-how to realize that the fervent opponents of single-use plastic are surely exaggerating the consequences
I also don’t care about fish in the ocean as much as I care about my personal health and safety.
Of course, it’s not about the “fish in the ocean,” but about the health of the ecosystem that will have far more reaching consequences to your health and safety than all of the imaged and over-hyped issues of the evils of bulk shower products. The scientific background of these atrocities would be interesting to read as well, if they actually existed 🙂
Cheers.
I bring my own toiletries so this doesn’t really impact me but is there really that many issues of tampering and filling with fake product? I’ve stayed in several HIE lately and I see the replacement containers for the new Watkins product on the housekeeping carts. They are new bottles.
Is there new issues besides the one from your blogs last year? The examples you cite in the old articles are from a few hotels in China and one airport bathroom. Hotels are germ factories in general. And I don’t consider anything I get or experience at a HIE or Courtyard premium enough that I’d want to remember it later.
I’d rather focus my complaint effort on the 3 out of 5 hotels I’ve stayed in the past month with super loud/broken AC units.
Much ado about nothing. Guests should bring their own toiletries. End of problem.
God why are people so focused on germs and all that could wrong. Gary I sense a pattern given blogs you have written on TSA security pat downs and other examples where germs may come into play. As someone else noted – get over it you are likely to catch something from many other places and it you were really that paranoid you should never leave home. BTW I hope the replies about being their own shampoo are women – I really hate to there are men that worried about what they use to wash their hair. SMH
It’s great that so many of you guys bring your own toiletries. I do that too, along with all of the various other items that hotels have cut out over the years, like slippers, pens, notepads , Q-tips, razors, Etc. Shall I bring my own pillow next? What about towels and toilet paper? I bet the hotels would save a lot of detergent and money if they just asked us to bring our own sheets and towels, and then to reuse them when we went home. And the reason why I bring my own toiletries is not because I don’t like the hotel’s, it’s because I was unlucky enough to have someone add the ink from their fountain pen into the shampoo. It was mess and is hard to get off your skin. 4 star hotel in the US, obviously not the hotel’s fault unless it was a disgruntled employee and not a previous guest.
Rarely stay at IHG and obviously don’t expect much during my rare stays at HI and HIX properties. I was kind of warming to Intercon properties but if they move to this model then they will be 86’d from my list.
The suggestion to BYOB is idiotic. This is impossible for those of us who take 2 week biz trips with carryon luggage (particularly when transiting UK or Germany where the security personnel rigorously enforce the 1-quart “kippie” ziplock rule).
The bigger problem is the California rule – as if I needed more incentive to exit the state. Good riddance
Fantastic move! So glad hotels are doing this.
Gary, how about if customers had a choice pay $100 extra per night to get them and make the world less green or Bring your own soap. If you want to try out new products go to the Macy’s counter, I am sure every retail clerk in the men’s fragrance section would love to pull the $$$ out of your wallet to sell you.
Unless you have ever been to a DUMP site ( I mean a real land fill) to see the crap WE humans through out each day. To see how much plastic WE humans have dumped into the oceans. To see how much plastic WE humans have fed birds, fish, seals etc Then I do not think you have a judgement call.
It is like my grandfather said only a pig farmer knows the true value of a pig. It is called FOOD . A pig farmer does not waste any part of the pig. (yes they are called Pig Oysters for a reason). Pigs do not eat plastic, paper or any other stuff, it just gets stuck in there and KILLS them way too early.
I hate the bulk as well, but for any hotel I can drive to I bring my huge empty shampoo bottle and fill them up. Since I stay at a different hotel every night, I usually have 3-4 full bottles that will last me until the next local trip.
I pay hotels to provide me a bar of soap and shampoo in a sealed container. How hard can that be?? Why is it even worthy of a discussion?
It’s not hard. It’s just irresponsible.
Cheers.
Gary, I usually agree with most of what you write but on this issue, you are on the wrong side of history. Plastic in the environment is being found more in more in pretty much everything we consume, from beer to water to fish:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/08/20/636845604/beer-drinking-water-and-fish-tiny-plastic-is-everywhere
And US cities are scrapping their recycling programs now that China is refusing to take our garbage:
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/08/20/636845604/beer-drinking-water-and-fish-tiny-plastic-is-everywhere
We don’t know yet the long term health impacts, but I prescribe to the precautionary principle. Even though cost savings might be a contributing driver, it is the right thing for these large hotel chains to do. For our health and the health of the planet.
I’d like to add that I hate, and I mean really despise, that Tea Tree oil shampoo/conditioner in the photo. I’ve found it in Springhill suites. OMG, please don’t let that spread.
It has a really strong menthol mint scent. Who would want their head to smell like mint all day? I used it just once, that was more than enough.
Single use plastic has to go. Wall mounted shampoo and soap dispensers have been used in Europe for years. So far, haven’t read anything negative about them. One reason I always carry my own toiletries is that so many of the hotel provided amenities (IHG for one) are made in China. No QC issues there. I know we are all clamoring for Chinese shampoo and body lotion. Now you know where to find them.
I don’t mind the wall mounted dispensers. I haven’t yet found them to be empty, and the peppermint or tea tea oil in the ones that are pictured above are pretty nice. I bring along my own toiletries anyway and it’s nice not having to worry about running out if you don’t have housekeeping for a few days.
I think the most common defect I run into at a hotel is around the thermostats in the room, followed by an inability to connect to the hdmi port on a tv, followed by pillow quality. I also don’t like the trend to remove full size desks from the room. Toiletries don’t even register on the scale for me.
@Charlotte – IHG will not start using higher grade toiletries because that is missing the point here. This is all a backdoor, “let’s save the environment”, way to reduce costs, i.e. increase profits. It is much cheaper for hotels to use bulk packaged toiletries. Just go into any local supermarket and see how much cheaper per 100ml a liter bottle of shampoo is that the same brand in a 100ml bottle.
Gary got called out here and does not respond. He must be putting out his weekly 50 gallon size recycle bucket of used shampoo bottles
@Green one read back through the comments you’ll see plenty of responses, very few critics answer those
I’m in hotel management, and surprisingly, many of the bulk solutions are more expensive to the hotels than the small bottles. You can’t change them when they’re really empty, so there’s a considerable amount of waste. Also, they are a bit of a logistical problem (as in “housekeeping does not spot empty dispenser”). Most dispensers for the big brands wouldn’t be actually refillable (bottles will have to be changed when nearly empty). So that move, i am quite sure, will benefit the manufacturers of the stuff most money wise as pricing per guest isn’t really that much different in many cases.
I’m not too worried about the shampoo, conditioner, and lotion. But please bring back bar soap for sink and bath.
IHG places identical dispensers secured to wall with soap and lotion. It’s rolling the dice when trying to guess the soap after a late night bathroom break without turning on the blinding lights.
People with poor eyesight can’t wear glasses in shower to read small print off bottles.
No one in our family carries a sponge for using liquid bathwash (wet item in our bag to grow mildew?), which means most of the bathwash just gets wasted and washed away. I traveled with my family and my two teenage daughters used a full bottle in one day, leaving nothing for my wife and I but to go back and forth to the hand soap dispenser.
Also had a close call with an eye near the metal dispensers nozzles sticking out at us. Looks like a possible injury/lawsuit on the horizon.
Bars of soap are easy to tell are new, so you don’t have to wrap them with much for packing material.