Hotels encourage you to fly out for a visit while claiming to be going green by ditching plastic toiletries in favor of cost-saving bulk shampoo and conditioner – when if they cared about guest experience and the environment they would stick with single use biodegradable packages.
Marriott is moving to bulk toiletries worldwide by the end of next year. However we’re already seeing the problem for guests with this strategy. There are three basic issues.
- They don’t get refilled properly and when they do get refilled hotels are more likely to use counterfeit products.
- They’re germ magnets. They simply aren’t sanitized by housekeeping. Here’s a National Institutes of Health study on bacterial contamination of bulk-soap-refillable dispensers.
- 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.
I stayed at a Marriott Courtyard last year where the shampoo was empty. I stayed at the same property a week later, assigned to the same room, and the shampoo was still empty.
One Marriott guest shared an experience much worse.
At this property, in the shower are three large toiletry bottles – soap, shampoo and conditioner. After using them for several days it was noticed that the soap bottle had the tamper proof bracket removed. On closer inspection, the bottle was filled mostly with water, and what looked like semen. This bottle was then compared to with the soap in the other room and it was very evidently tampered with. …
The bottle was taken to the front desk, and the associate was horrified and sent up a replacement bottle, and arranged an opportunity to meet with a manager in the morning. In the morning, a manager offered his sincerest apologies, as well as 5000 points and the option to switch rooms. He also said he needed to investigate further and meet with the team. The hotel is in possession of the bottle.
I don’t know what the substance was in the bulk toiletry and it really doesn’t matter. That these get tampered with in practice should be enough to stop the project in its tracks. And 5000 Marriott points as an apology for this is genuinely offensive. How can the hotel expect to charge for a room that is so poorly cared for by housekeeping, and that jeopardizes a guest’s health by allowing the toiletries to be compromised in this way?
Two years ago someone replaced the soap in dispensers at the Detroit airport with a disgusting bodily fluid making this the most easily predictable – and predicted – consequence of bulk toiletries imaginable.
Don’t tell me this is the price we’re expected to pay for the environment when hotels have the option to provide single use biodegradable packaging for toiletries instead of unsanitary bulk packaging.
(HT: Reid F.)
I will never use these – same as the in-room coffee makers.
Given that it seems to be only one gender who is incapable of using a shampoo or soap bottle without injecting their bodily fluids in them, maybe the ban should simply be on men.
Honestly, what is it with dudes?
Yes they are akin to in room coffee makers. I have stayed at Hyatt’s that have the dispensers theirs were well secured and filled. Much more so than what is pictured. I am ok with dispensers look to Europe where they have been doing this for years, the issue as stated in your post is security and until they can get that perfected we have a issue.
I started traveling for work a little over 2 years ago, and chose to mostly stick to Hilton. Since then, really nothing I’ve seen from Marriott has made me wish I had gone their direction. I’ve certainly stayed at a handful of their properties and they were perfectly fine, but it seems like they have a knack for making loyalty difficult by continually regressing.
OMG, have you people ever used a public bathroom? The waste in hotel rooms is a little excessive and every little bit helps. It’s soap dispensers, you are not ingesting it you are cleaning with it. It’s job is cleanse away dirt. Do you test the water in every hotel you use? I do over 150 nights a year and it is time to lighten up. I applaud Marriott in making an effort especially as an Ambassador and Lifetime Titanium blah, blah. Come on people, move along, nothing to see here!
Though there are problems associated with bulk dispensers, those problems can be fixed with a little effort and not too much money. The issues with plastics — contributing to global warming (they’re petroleum based), pollution of our rivers and oceans, killing of animals who constantly ingest them and have little bits of plastic filling their digestive tracts thus preventing them from taking in nutrients from food (plastic can break down to a point, but that makes the little pieces even more dangerous to turtles, whales, rays, dolphins, sharks, salmon, trout, etc., etc., etc.) — are far more pernicious, and not so easily solved. We have to have better priorities than focusing only on inconvenience, dirty hair, or a tiny number of terrible people doing disgusting things.
@Bill – Did you even read the article?
Yeah, we’ve all used a public restroom. I can’t speak for others, but personally I don’t rub substances from public restrooms into my hair and over my body, so it’s not a relevant comparison.
Similarly, a water supply is exponentially harder to tamper with than an insecure soap dispenser, these are two totally different things.
Yes, less waste is good, but not when it invites these kinds of problems. If you’re okay with having urine (or worse) in your shampoo, that’s your prerogative, but personally I don’t welcome that opportunity.
Anything in a public space can be tampered with, including the sheets on a hotel bed, so to criticize an important initiative to reduce plastics to save our environment should be welcomed and supported. The critics are often the same people who oppose government environmental protection initiatives and give a pass (or worse) support the oil & gas industries and oppose governmental mandates on automobile exhaust pollution, such as the strict measures in California. Plastics pollute our oceans: they are bad and often try to cover their mischief by polluting political dialogue with libertarian bs.
Gary,
“ They don’t get refilled properly and when they do get refilled hotels are more likely to use counterfeit products.”
Just wondering as I’ve never read any facts on this. Has there ever been any verifiable evidence of this assertion? Or is it more opinion/speculation or anecdotal?
The disposable soap containers at Marriott’s are not sealed with any type of tamper proof seal. As for washing your hair is more concerning then washing your hands?
I suggest if you want to have a secure supply of cleaning supplies you travel with your own sealed products. People will be people and I can’t say there won’t be some deranged individual that will do something that I haven’t even imagined, but I personally am willing to take a little risk. Hence the reason I travel and am not freaked out by a soap dispenser.
“Don’t tell me this is the price we’re expected to pay for the environment”
This is one of the most ignorant comments I had read in a long time…and that is after listening to Trump daily fior many months.
How about people just bring their own? With changes to carrying liquids on flights coming, this surely makes it less of an issue.
Here we go again. Short on topics, so you pulled this out of the recycle bin?
I had the pictured Tea Tree amenities at a Springhill. They had a very strong scent of menthol. It was really bad. After one use my hair stunk like Doublemint gum so bad it was hard to sleep, so then I used my own shampoo. Never again, ever.
As for the counterfeit/refill argument, that is bunk Gary, and you know it. The hotels have cases full of replacement big bottles. It would not possibly be cost effective to pay employees to take the time to refill bottles. Maids simply replace them with new bottles and get on with their work.
Troublemakers making it bad for the rest- then lawyers get involved and it’s a free for all. The company needs to figure out a system that makes everyone satisfied, since we can’t put our own shampoo in our carryon anymore despite paying $50 for the privilege. If we are that paranoid, probably should not sleep in a bed that isn’t ours either, much less sit on a toilet that isn’t.
So what is the new evidence that is in the headline of this post?
Another regurgitated post with only the same 3 items of disgust you post with this type of post, nothing new.
Another click bait for the day.
I am fast becoming disenchanted with Marriott and thinking of cancelling their replacement credit card (in Canada). I strongly object to Marriott’s assertion in previous articles, that we guests are stealing the toiletries. I am quite sure their price is factored into the room rate and once they are used housekeeping would have to replace them anyway. Where’s the body lotion – surely not on the shower stall wall? One more thing to do away with or to have to ask for. Not impressed.
Don’t get me started about the “new” rewards system.
Gary is a germaphobe and also very uncomfortable with airport body scanners (won’t play shrink on why that is).
I frankly love that he gets so worked up! Makes me feel better that something so minor bothers him that much.
Yes, Fairfield Inns pay housekeeping to refill the bottles in the showers. Check a housekeeping cart. No replacement bottles, just large squeeze bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash. They don’t even pretend to use a reputable brand. Everything is unbranded so they can use the cheapest option available.
I travel to Japan frequently and stay at New Otani properties. They switched to large, nicely designed toiletries a few years ago. It is a much better experience than the little plastic bottles.
Of course, this is in Japan where service is a positive attribute rather than a lowly position and personal standards of decency are higher than in the US.
The issue of contamination by guests is a separate issue and, as stated previously, cannot be solved easily. It is both a disgusting experience as well as a rare one.
Hotel staff training will never solve the problem.
If you don’t choose to play the odds/ bring your own toiletries. Problem solved.
The hotel needs to offer something to all guests and the little bottles are hardly the solution.
To condemn the entire hotel chain for the actions of a few malcontents is simply whining.
Offer a solution or get over it.
We need to write to our New York Senators to stop this. What if one person dies of AIDS because some junkie put her blood in the shampoo which got into a guests’ eyes? Or someone peed in the conditioner causing another guest to get hepatitis?
No, there is a reason why there is individual packaging. What next? Shared condoms to save plastic consumption?
I think one of the easiest ways to help the Environment and ease some of the concerns with “contamination” it move to bulk sealed containers rather than refillable.
You can have the containers themselves made of more environmentally friendly materials but have them in sealed bladders. This is pretty common in items like hand soap and hand sanitizers.
Plus it’s a lot easier for staff to swap them out rather than having to refill smaller containers.
Gary, what prevents people from ejaculating into the single use bottles? Or into your coffee maker?
Are you seriously this paranoid?
@Derek, sarcasm comes across better when you label it as such. 😉
Your post is as funny as AOC’s townhall discussion on eating babies.
My family stayed at TRU by Hilton this summer. They had bulk toiletries in long squeezable tubes mounted to walls. No pump dispenser. You had to wrap your hand around the tube to squoosh the contents out the bottom. My wife has bad arthritis and couldn’t make it work. It was pretty tough for me without that problem
People fly all over the world spewing carbon by the ton and they are concerned about some tiny 3-gram scrap of recyclable plastic.
Go ahead, rub semen in your hair every morning. Include me out. It’s literally insane some of the stuff I read here.
When celebrities stop traveling internationally daily by private plane, while bitching at me over using a straw, get back to me. I might conceivably care a smidge.
The whole concept of doing this for the environment is complete BS. If they cared for the environment, they’d go to reusable coffee cups and stop using single-use plastic trays for coffee. Those use far more plastic than the shampoo and conditioner bottles. A small bottle of shampoo will last 2-3 days. Someone having two cups of coffee in the morning will go through two single use plastic trays for the coffee. Two single use plastic wraps for those plastic trays. In addition to a plastic wrapper for the single use cup itself. And some places have the worst of all — k-cups.
They also often use plastic cups wrapped in plastic for water cups in many properties. Keep in mind the plastic bag to use with the ice bucket.
Marriott is totally hypocritical here.
They could easily use environmentally-friendly and fully recyclable containers. Even water now comes in paper containers. There is zero reason these bacteria traps are good for anyone other than Marriott’s bottom line. It’s filthy and disgusting.
I’ve had someone put a colored substance, maybe dye or food coloring, into a hotel bottle once. It was not pleasant. I like little toiletries bottles and agree that if it’s a matter of waste, they could give me single use toiletries in a biodegradable package. I don’t like bulk containers and think it disingenuous that Marriott is hiding cost cutting behind environmentalism.
It’s not so much a cost saving measure, as it (probably) is a sucking up to the enviro-nazis who likely threatened management with hateful PR on social media.
@Traveler Dave – you’re only quoting part of the sentence, the point is there are better things they could do for the environment that would be better for the customer too. Avoid quoting people out of context.
There are plenty of enviro-friendly options besides big, sealed, refillable tubs. Tiny waxed paper packet that tear open, like a bag of chicklets. Solid shampoo, that looks similar to a bar of soap, that is wrapped in paper. Thin, clear plastic tubes, about Ziplock thickness, that are 1/4 the thickness of a traditional small bottle.
There are many options. I don’t understand why they aren’t being promoted more.
I do think that an action – like this move away from individual units to bulk refillable – can have BOTH an environmental benefit (however large or small it may be) AND a cost savings as well.
The mere fact that the merchant may receive some level of cost savings then does not negate or diminish the fact that it can ALSO have some level of environmental benefit **at the same time.**
So.. I don’t think there’s anything wrong per se with a business touting the environmental benefits of a policy change (so long as said benefits are in fact true) and not also stating their economic impacts (savings) as well.
I get it that from the consumer-side, a policy change that may have a negative impact (or perceived negative impact) on the guest AND has a perceived (whether true or not) positive economic impact on the business, will never get a strong consumer buy-in.. but I don’t think that moves which help the environment (and I do tend to believe that the basic idea of going to bulk versus individual disposables is a net gain for the environment) and also produce savings should be panned or viewed solely as motives by the economics.
I agree the bulk dispensers aren’t a good idea for all the reasons Gary mentioned. But the real problem is all the members of the church of environmentalism who have deluded themselves into seeing meaningless actions as somehow virtuous or sinful. This has nothing to do with “saving” anything besides money for Marriot — and the company knows it can count on the green useful idiots to shout down anyone who complains.
Simple solution: When you check in the front desk clerk ask you if you wish to use the Hotel shampoo, conditioner, what ever items they have to offer. Then depending on your answer the clerk hands you a baggy of the items you wish. Safe, and they will save a lot on waste and “take homes”.
These are not bottles that are refilled. They are used till empty then replaced. The tops cannot be removed without obvious damage to the plastic, plus the ones in the showers cannot be removed without the key unless you destroy the bracket.
As far as supposed body fluids found in a bottle… Have you ever seen what a small amount of white shampoo/conditioner looks like in water? Just because it looks like something doesn’t mean it is.
I work for Marriott so I know a bit more than Mr. Leff on this topic:
1) They are NOT reusable. They are meant to be recycled whereas the mini ones cannot. The mini ones have too small and opening to be washed out properly for recycling whereas the big ones can be cleaned first.
2) They are tamper proof so cannot be opened by anyone except housekeeping when being recycled (the pump part is not recyclable).
3) Since they are not being opened and closed all the time they are quite clean.
With these changes across all 7000 hotels Marriott expects to save 3.5 million tonnes of plastic from going into landfills.
Hope this helps clarify the disinformation from the article.
Empty shampoo at my hotel last weekend. Used body wash. Close enough but annoying
@Zachary Weinstein – what a bunch of non-sequiturs. No one is taking about reusing miniature toiletries. And the bulk containters have clearly been tampered with. Being “opened and closed all the time” doesn’t do anything to clean them. Indeed, I cite an NIH study on this. Working for Marriott means you know more though eh?
Seems like a spoiled attitude, they aren’t a disaster and they’ve been in place at plenty of places for over a year. The Paul Mitchell stuff is good quality and when locked you really have to break them to get into them. If you’re really that paranoid ask them to replace them when you get there or carry your own. The tiny bottles are a huge waste and have the same issues, there is no guarantee they were replaced after the person before you
We always travel with our own toiletries. Never have housekeeping service during our stay. Would not dream of using the provided coffee maker. And always thoroughly disinfect the bathroom and all surfaces including doorknobs, remotes. I’ve seen enough Disgusting stuff in hotel rooms…..even those that are known for being super clean. You’re right….I stay in a hotel room as little as possible! Too much work! Not so bad if we’re staying several days and all the work is done the first day. Our hotel rooms are always left cleaner than when we arrived.
That study looks at contamination in public health facilities, ie places notorious for elevated levels of bacteria, probably reflecting both how difficult it is to control levels in such places, but also the fact that those who use them are sick.
You accept thousands of tons of plastic to go to landfill simply to avoid an infinitesimally small risk of an acquired infection ( but meanwhile prepared to accept a greater risk from every other surface in the room, including remotes, door handles, etc)
I stay in hotels 50% or the year and Airbnbs for the rest. I’m sure the ones in Airbnbs are counterfeit or worst. Who knows what people do on your first class’s seat, maybe they smear semen and faeces there.
The point is this is an important initiative. I’m checkin out of… a hotel right and that half used tube is going right to the bin as I don’t have room to pack kit. Sure you can use biodegradable but the energy and transport of producing those are a waste… On top of our terrible carbon footprint.
Sure you’re going to get a bit of semen on your face… But its hardly going to kill you….some might even like it. The hotels just need to take a bit more care…
Before everyone goes ballistic and think up doomsday scenarios I’m pretty sure this can be solved with some product redesign. In wall containers, encasing the bottle etc. It will get solved. Give members some points for using their own etc. Let’s worry about more important things or is that ridiculous for social media comments.
@Zachary. You are also citing preposterously false numbers – wherever they might come from:
Marriott has about 1.3M rooms worldwide. If you were saving 3.5M tons of plastic, that would be almost 3 tons per room! You really want to argue that each room uses almost 6000 lbs of plastic toiletry containers a year? I’m guessing the true weight of all the empty plastic bottles used in a room is more like 3 *pounds* per room a year and not 3 tons – and even that is likely to be a high estimate. You are likely off by at least a factor of 2000.
If you case was so good, you would not be peddling obviously false and preposterously high numbers. But glad you wrote to “clarify the disinformation”.
Tsk, tsk. And I thought it was me being cranky. Guess not!
And I understand that this adoption of “Bon Voy” is also a disaster. Not surprised there either. Somebody needs to bring back the family
Lets save these plastics and have no more discussion on this BRING YOUR OWN STUFF FROM HOME.
The recycling system is a sham and has a net negative impact on the environment. If any virtue-signalling “environmentalist” eats meat, he should kindly shut the front door. Plastic is not the problem. People are the problem.
https://fee.org/articles/america-finally-admits-recycling-doesn-t-work/
https://www.aier.org/article/most-things-recycling-harms-environment
Putting aside the ad hominem attacks on environmentalists by others, Gary argues against replacing single use plastic bottles with multi-use dispensers with three arguments I seen over the past year.
1. The dispensers are subject to tampering
2. There are better ways to address environmental concerns
3. Marriott is not reducing room rates to compensate consumers
Regarding item 1, anecdotes are not evidence. With 1.3 million rooms and 475 million room nights, how many incidents would indicate a problem? If there were 13 “tampering” events, that would be once every 100,000 rooms per year. I’d be interested in comparing the incidence of bed bugs to incidents of tampering. Or the incidence of sheets not being changed after a guest checks out.
Regarding item 2, the hypothetical harm of widespread tampering juxtaposes against the actual reduction of 500 million small plastic bottles and 1.7 million pounds of plastic. This comes from Marriott’s press release. And these numbers seem realistic compared to 475 million room nights. The problems of plastic waste disposal are well documented. It is unclear what alternatives offer better energy savings and better reduce waste.
Regarding item 3, in a competitive market, any reduction in costs is passed on to consumers through lower prices. Hotel rooms are not a purely competitive market. The fact that a handful of companies each controls hundreds of thousands of rooms coupled with loyalty programs suggests hotel rooms are not sufficiently competitive to force companies to pass every penny of savings on to consumers through lower prices. It seems unlikely that the small savings per room per night (if there are actual dollar savings)would lead to significant price reductions when mergers which results in tens of millions in cost savings don’t force price breaks.
There are clear environmental benefits to the move away from single use bottles. And there is a really simple solution to those who don’t like or trust multi-use dispensers. Bring your own. I like to choose the shampoo and conditioner I use.
It seems highly inappropriate to permit posts that equate environmentalists with Nazis. Whether you agree or disagree with environmentalists, they haven’t systematically murdered millions of people.
Bring your own toiletries. It’s a simple solution, and the most responsible.
Do you think housekeepers change out the small bottles after every guest? Because they don’t. You are going to have the same issues as you currently do. So might as well do this and save plastic.
I will never use these. Sad!
One off case, I have had no issues it is fine and Holiday Inn does the same…
There are more bodily fluids on the downtown streets of American cities these days with all the homeless.
5000 pts I weak for a one off situation, room night should be comped.
Also have we all forgotten on their massive data breach? I wouldn’t stay there on that issue as they have not followed up to their customers to confirm improvements to their data of customer reservation information. Instead they launched dynamic hotel point bookings, and knock off to Airbnb, and this.
Ridiculous and DIRTY CHEAP policy. Bring Back MinI Toiletries… CRAZY posts from Tree hugging green folks are just plain dumb. Instead of banning straws why dont you ban all plastic in your own homes and throw away your bins, garden hoses, cleaning products, appliances, picnic utensils, and more? Cmon, your “every little bit counts” mantra is getting old. Tell that to China India and Russia…the biggest abusers. Marriotts policy is cheap, dumb, anti consumer and DISLOYAL to members…especially to Titanium and Ambassador members like myself. Just take home the towels then each visit as a protest. Use them fir dish rags.
@Birny said: “Whether you agree or disagree with environmentalists, they haven’t systematically murdered millions of people.” The environmentalists banned DDT in 1972 and have been systematically restricting alternative pesticides. From Yahoo answers: “It is estimated that since DDT was banned in 1972, more than 96 million people have died of malaria, a disease that had almost been eradicated in the 1960s.” Just saying.
Marriott is the worst hotel company, it try imposing new thing just for hack of changes they don’t look into nitty and gritty of consumer point of view staff working this bitching company is leaving for good…this company is going to doom….
@OtherJustSaying
Taken directly from Breitbart ? ( Breitbart lists Rachel Carson with Hitler, Mao, Stalin, Pol Pot).In any case, certainly from the Fruitcake Fringe. The issue with DDT was in its application, ie, the utterly absurd way in it was used as a cure all: kill everything. Malarial mosquitoes were already developing resistance to it at the time of the ban. Probably you’re one of those disappointed by the asbestos bans given it was so cheap and effective.
There’s a huge irony in the inane ramblings of the Trumpster loonies: they bemoan the DDT bans but deny climate change and the FACT that malaria is going to spread even more widely as a consequence of that change, including to Sydney by 2050 or so.
Man a lot of hate in the comments. I always find it ironic when someone pulls a comment from a story, takes it entirely out of context, and then bashes the entire article based on their false context.
That aside I stayed in a high dollar Residence Inn last week for a meeting and they had the dispensers. After shampooing and conditioning I went for the soap and it was out. So whoever was saying there’s “no new data to support the headline”, there’s your new data.
Not the end of the world, but it does get under my skin that Marriott is trying to hide a cost-cutting measure by virtue-signaling.
I can attest to the problem of bulk refill. I stayed in Residence Inn at WTC last year for a week and during the entire week, the shower gel was empty! That was despite my 2 reminders that it should be filled up.
2 weeks ago I was at the Towneplace Hawthorne again with the same problem. I wonder who’s been stealing the soap. It is not fair to put the blame on the guest. Perhaps we should start packing our soap in the future.
People do horrible things no matter where you stay. I always bring my own soap,and lotion. Housekeeping need to step up a little to make sure they are sealed tight and refilled when needed. We need them to do there job better and I understand their pay is low, but they knew this when they accepted the job. Do more receive better tips.
Nasty. My first thought was some dude is going to jzz in the bottle and of course there it is, the first thing that happened. There are plenty of recyclable or biodegradable containers they could use.
This is a tertible article.
Why? Finally there is done something against environmental pollution, where by good reasons, many folks are complaining. Instead to add addutional activities or give them some merits – other people stand up and start complaining again about possibilities. Personally I want to aid that if everybody will take action and stop complaining a big piece of the problem will be solved. Me? Of course I started …
I can attest to the problem of bulk refill. I stayed in Residence Inn at WTC last Nov for a week and during the entire week, the shower gel was empty! That was despite my 2 reminders that it should be filled up.
2 weeks ago I was at the Towneplace Hawthorne again with the same problem. I wonder who’s been stealing the soap. It is not fair to put the blame on the guest. Perhaps we should start packing our soap in the future.
How great will it be for the environment when we all check a bag and add weight to the plane, because women can’t get by with the tiny bag of itsy bitsy soaps we’re allowed to carry on? Ridiculous. I work events/ promotions where I watch them give out thousands and thousands of plastic tcotchkes that go straight in the trash.. sunglasses, reusable water bottles, tote bags no one wants at the end of a day. But we should all share liquids that go on your face and body in a time when everyone is a pervert and a prankster.
I stayed in Four Points Sacramento on Friday night and the conditioner wasn’t refilled. It’s just going to get worse.
Simple solution. Take your own toiletries. I always do.
Bring your own toiletries. Ask for a credit for not using the hotel products due to concerns of contamination.
The only option is to bring your own toiletries. Especially with states now outlawing mini bottles.
The only place I’ve used bulk toiletry bottles has been in high end spas where attendants immediately clean after each use.
@Paolo. You threw a lot of ad hominem attacks my way. Put a lot of words in my mouth that I did not say. Attributed my comments to a hated news source that you want to ban. Tied it into the President. Typical anti-fact condescending liberal. Enjoy your bubble.
Yea, I grew up being taught that Rachel Carson was like the Bible. Save the planet, save the whales, save the bees, save the trees, worship Rachel Carson, ban DDT. Rachel Carson’s book was a very emotional appeal based on analogy rather than science. In other words, pseudo-science. At the time they banned DDT, EPA studies said that DDT was safe and there was no need to ban it. Yet EPA head, William D. Ruckelshaus banned it anyway for political reasons. Politicized-science and pseudo-science are a chicken and egg type of thing. Hey, I have an idea. Let’s call it FAKE SCIENCE.
Further, at the time they banned DDT, the EPA stated that there were perfectly viable alternatives. In other words, typical lie: zero cost banning: pure halo building. Actually, all the alternative were worse than DDT. Then they banned or restricted those alternatives. The environazis are still working hard to ban the remaining pesticides.
Most of the current bug infestation, would be controllable with better pesticides like DDT. To take this a step further, the remaining pesticides are controlling pests that would otherwise kill the food the world eats. Banning all pesticides would cause mass starvation. Yet environazis are working towards such a ban. If they achieved such a ban, they will celebrate, while the world starved. Just like they celebrated while people died of malaria, mostly in third world countries. Just like the lefties celebrated when they prevented Nixon from entering Cambodia to prevent the communist idealist Pol Pot from taking over. Aren’t environazis wonderful?
Some other things environazis are against.
–Fossil fuels which makes modern day civilization possible.
–All plastic, which is a subset of banning all fossil fuels.
–Bio-engineered crops (which can make the use of pesticides less necessary).
–Dogs and other pets, because they are not carbon neutral.
–Electromagnetic waves (read cell phones and 5G) because they might cancer.
–Humans because there are too many of them.
–Babies because they are little humans. In fact, some environazis openly talk about forced sterilization of lower classes and poor people, especially in third world countries, to reduce population levels to sustainable levels.
–Actually, the list of things environazis want to get rid of is almost infinite.
The environazi’s are Luddites of the worst kind. This type of movement has been in history forever. Sir Thomas More wanted to kill all the sheep in England in the 15th century because the wool industry was destroying the natural order of life, ie subsistence farming. He wrote a book entitled “The Utopia”. He was sainted, got a real halo, if you believe such things.
If evironnazis/luddites ever got ultimate power in the world, people would die: In the billions.
Same issue on Cruise Ships for years
I always bring my own face soap and small travel size of bath gel and shampoo. Don’t need to use theirs so if they disappeared, would not bother me. Some people take them (sometimes also off the housekeeping cart) to use in charity packages for homeless and veterans.
Think this is the exact reason why I don’t use any of the hotel’s toiletries.. even the mini bottles I’m a little skeptical of, considering you can’t see inside them till you use it. Probably the bar of soap is the only thing that ever gets used when I stay.
If I’m checking a bag, I pack my own shampoo, washcloth, and bar of soap… if I’m travelling carryon only, I’ll stop by a local pharmacy or supermarket and buy a small set of toiletries.
I could be a bit paranoid, but in today’s world, a little bit of extra caution can go a long way.
@Other Just Saying is a true example of fake news and cognitive dissonance. S/he decries ad hominen attacks while engaging in numerous such attacks. S/he presents conspiracy theories as facts. From Wikipedia with references to actual scientific research:
Criticism of restrictions on DDT use
A few people and groups have argued that limitations on DDT use for public health purposes have caused unnecessary morbidity and mortality from vector-borne diseases, with some claims of malaria deaths ranging as high as the hundreds of thousands[132] and millions.[133] Robert Gwadz of the US National Institutes of Health said in 2007, “The ban on DDT may have killed 20 million children.”[134] These arguments were rejected as “outrageous” by former WHO scientist Socrates Litsios.[102] May Berenbaum, University of Illinois entomologist, says, “to blame environmentalists who oppose DDT for more deaths than Hitler is worse than irresponsible”.[102] More recently, Dr. Michael Palmer, a professor of chemistry at the University of Waterloo, has pointed out that DDT is still used to prevent malaria, that its declining use is primarily due to increases in manufacturing costs, and that in Africa, efforts to control malaria have been regional or local, not comprehensive.[135]
The question that … malaria control experts must ask is not “Which is worse, malaria or DDT?” but rather “What are the best tools to deploy for malaria control in a given situation, taking into account the on-the-ground challenges and needs, efficacy, cost, and collateral effects—both positive and negative—to human health and the environment, as well as the uncertainties associated with all these considerations?”
Hans Herren & Charles Mbogo[136]
Criticisms of a DDT “ban” often specifically reference the 1972 United States ban (with the erroneous implication that this constituted a worldwide ban and prohibited use of DDT in vector control). Reference is often made to Silent Spring, even though Carson never pushed for a DDT ban. John Quiggin and Tim Lambert wrote, “the most striking feature of the claim against Carson is the ease with which it can be refuted”.[137]
Investigative journalist Adam Sarvana and others characterize these notions as “myths” promoted principally by Roger Bate of the pro-DDT advocacy group Africa Fighting Malaria (AFM).[138][139]
Mini toiletries can be tampered with too.
@Greg’s idea of asking for a toiletry credit is a good one. If enough frequent travelers do this, it will become a pain in the ass for hotel front desk operations and perhaps they will move back to small packages toiletries. Otherwise, expect hotels to use “green environmentalism” as justification for cutting back on services. What’s next? Do we bring our own clean sheets?
Even though my husband and I are Marriott Elite members, we have decided to leave the Marriott family. There have just been so many changes over the last year or so and now every time you try to book online, they up the amount of points needed and up the price between website visits. The room that I was looking at went from 35000 points to 55000 in less than an hour after logging out and logging back in. Then, they told me I couldn’t use my free night certificate because it wasn’t available at that time, even though it was available the hour before. Also, the price had jumped from $184 to $289 in less than an hour! I can’t believe what’s happening to the Marriott company. Not only are we switching our Marriott credit cards, we will rarely stay in Marriotts ever again due to their recent dishonest practices. So DISAPPOINTED!
Every major religion, along with ethical humanists, value kindness and enhancing the common good. The so-called libertarians who oppose much needed government regulations to save our planet and make it hospitable for everyone, regardless of income and geography, espouse ideas that are inherent to the philosophy of Ayn Rand: selfish to the core. Everyone of good will needs to oppose libertarian policies that undermine the common good and destroy our planet by worshiping the unregulated use of fossil fuels and plastics and idolizing those wealthy evil doers who, being financially invested in such, use their wealth power to directly and through various co-opted fronts to further their cause.
Not wading into any controversy about environmentalism, however, the scientist in me just has to respond. There is no chicken/egg controversy. The egg came first but it wasn’t laid by a chicken.
@Birny. I find Wikipedia handy, but it is hardly reliable, and definitely far left leaning. In any case, I have been following the DDT issue before 1972 and do not need left wing sites to program my brain with talking points. Rachel Carson was just a purveyor of pseudo-science. Junk science is promoted 24/7. Everyday there is a new story. It was politicized-science that led to DDT and other effective pesticides being banned or restricted.
WTH. if DDT was not banned, the New York Times could use it to get rid of their bed bug problem. Instead, they have to run around with a dog and try to find a bedbug area and freeze it. If they miss one bedbug area in the whole building, they have to repeat the process in couple of months. If they actually get rid of the bed bugs, when they interview another liberal lunatic that has not washed in a month, about how evil Trump is, and whoops, bedbug problems are back. Start over.
BTW. One such loony leftist is Ira Einhorn was the founder of Earthday. According to friends, his apartment had a really weird smell that he was proud of. He even taught at University of Pennsylvania. So one day, he goes out and kills his girlfriend. Puts her body in his apartment. It rotted for 18 months in his apartment, but nobody noticed because his apartment smelled too bad anyway. This is the type of expert that goes to the New York Times and causes bedbugs, which they cannot get rid of because they have gotten rid of pesticides.
@VaCavalier. Are you watermelon? You sure sound like one.
@NoOne. No argument here. However, I totally believe a non-turkey was running around, got radiated, and then transformed into a turkey. Then she laid the first turkey egg. So in the case of the chicken, the egg came first. But in the case of the turkey, definitely the turkey came first.
You travelers are nightmares for hotels. Honestly asking for a credit because you didn’t use the soap. And you “elite” members have a sense of entitlement that makes me sick to my stomach. All point programs should be eliminated. Trust me you make hotel staff hate the public.
Aloft has had “bulk” toiletries forever and I’ve had zero problem with them. It helps that they’re actually good products. Bulk means I’m not twisting and squeezing single use containers six ways from Sunday to get the last drops out. Perfectly happy with the move to apply this to the greater brand
I work for a Marriott hotel and at the front desk and when a guest needs a refill or replaced item. I have a special key to unlock the locked in products. They are brand new never been open till I get to room. We don’t refill them that Takes to long to refill. Plus we buy cases of each item. If there is any product left I leave the bottle and let the guest use it up. Other wise the bottles get thrown away.
You are obviously bashing the whole thing based off a few kinks.
I stayed at Mama Cuchara in Quito recently. Their bulk items are in clear containers, so you can see what is in them and how much is left. Used the shampoo and conditioner and both seemed fine. And they wait until they are empty to replace them – both shampoo and conditioner were down to maybe 20% full. Not Marriott affiliated but effort seems to be working at least at this hotel.
hahaha
throw away society ….
Garbage Pyre …
Not sure if anyone will see this, But as of Sep 2021, we are receiving legit tamper proof bottles. They will be thrown away once empty, not refillable. I work at a Courtyard by Marriott. Hope this helps!
Not only do I bring my own toiletries, I also bring my own single serve coffee maker! And I fly carry-on only.
I don’t trust strangers with my health and hygiene.