Hotel stays can be comforting when you enjoy the amenities provided by the hotel. These amenities can range from aromatic toiletries of brands that you fancy to the soft and large bath towels and bath robes, soft pillows to a good cup of tea or coffee provided in the room.
Well, according to many hoteliers, these amenities are meant for guests to enjoy during their stay in the hotel and should not be taken out of the hotel. I have even heard of horror stories about guests cutting up pieces of the carpets that are well concealed below the beds to bring home or read news reports about guests trying to carry out a television or the air conditioning unit.
Many of the hotels under big brand names even offer the option to purchase some of these items. Grand Hyatt Singapore has a Hyatt Has It – Private Delivery Service which offers access to a range of electronics to beauty essentials for its room guests to have, borrow or buy. A programme spearheaded by the Hyatt headquarters in Chicago, this service offers the convenience should guests forget to bring any essential items. To make it more transparent, a card with a list of items that the guest can request are placed in every room.
Grand Hyatt Singapore offers in its missing must-haves for the guest to keep items such as baby shampoo, bath soap, coffee condiment kit, fabric detergent, deodorant, dental kit, hair spray and brush, lotions and soaps, mouth wash, razor, sanitary products, sewing kits, shaving cream, shower gel, slippers, tea and vanity kit amongst others. On its ‘To Borrow or Buy‘ must haves, Grand Hyatt Singapore loans or sells coffee cups, humidifier, foam pillow, free weight set, hair dryer, curling iron, computer or phone chargers, tea kettle, yoga mat, robe, shoe horn, steam iron amongst others, should you wish to purchase one to bring home.
The Westin lets you bring home a Heavenly Bed of your own, but just not the one you are sleeping on in the hotel room. Westin-hotelsathome.com is an online store that offers a selection of items in the heavenly experience, bed, bath, spa, gifts and design category.
A queen mattress from the Westin Heavenly Beds collection is available online at US$1,125 but during sale season, it can be purchased for as low as US$843.75 excluding shipping. Pillows, linens, down blankets as well as roll-away beds are also available for purchase online.
The White Tea Aloe Travel Set that comes with the mini versions of The Westin’s White Tea Bath shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion and bar soap retails at US$14.95. This exact set is what is provided in the guest rooms. Full size bottles are also available from the site.
In a recent survey, TripAdvisor revealed that two-thirds of travellers take items home from hotel rooms. Toiletries are the most popular item that go missing. But some guests get overboard and take home towels and light bulbs. Sometimes even the clothes hangers go missing and batteries get removed from TV remote controls.
We checked with some of the hotels here in Singapore but they were not prepared to share what was acceptable for people to take.
My take is it is acceptable to take back a reasonable quantity of hotel toiletries, disposable slippers or the tea and coffee since they have been provided and would not be recycled after you have used them.
Taking back the toiletries sometimes help you get a second opinion back home about the fragrance as well as more about them before purchasing them on your own. This is the case of Le Labo Rose toiletries which I first encountered during my stay at the Fairmont Abu Dhabi. I have since visited Escentials at Paragon to stock up when they run low on supply at home.
Disposable slippers come in handy when flying long distance. The thick fluffy ones keep the feet warm when flying. But, please do not take back the towels, bathrobes, bedsheets, clothes hangers or furniture.
Check out our other article about what happens to the soaps you use in hotels after you check out.
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