Do You Steal Hotel Bath Amenities?

Hyatt actually invites you to steal their bath amenities.

This reminds me of Holiday Inn’s towel amnesty But presumably Hyatt’s permission here means ‘take the ones with you that are in your room’ and not, however, ‘raid the housekeeping cart which they’re in the supply closet’.

Do you take hotel bath amenities with you? Which hotels offer the most theft-worthy ones?

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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Comments

  1. I wouldn’t call taking something you’ve paid for “theft”. That includes minis from the InterContinental minibar, but that’s a whole other argument…

  2. Used to. But as a crew member staying at hotels most of my life, that got old pretty fast.

  3. Of course! It’s a tradition for me to bring home bath amenities from business trips for my wife. Anything different from what we already have squirreled away in the guest bathroom is what I go for.

    Generally, the nicer hotel, the more theft-worthy. Bonus points if it is one of her preferred brands.

    I only steal the set in my room, not from the cart, though.

  4. Paid Room includes toiletries. Just because I like to smell on my trips gives me the right to not smell at home.

    LOVE the goodies

  5. I’m in agreement with Gene. Those items were included with the rate of the room. It’s not theft if you have paid for it. Would they cut me a discount if I were to bring my own toiletries and not touch the ones that they ave provided? Not likely.

    I find the Hyatt video a little low-brow.

  6. Yes, I do take the amenities that I paid for!

    W Hotel : Bliss
    Edition: Aqua di Parma
    Le Meridien: Hermes

  7. Yeah, I pay for a hotel 100 nights/year but think of all the money I save on shampoo when at home!

  8. I donate mine to Ronald McDonald House where they are appreciated for families that are staying there.

  9. I collect them and when I have a nice amount I donate it to the local womens shelter. They are quite happy to receive them and I feel I have paid for them anyways.

  10. Taking home shampoo, soap, etc is not stealng. They are a consumable intended to be used by the guest. Now towels are a different thing. Normally the towels even at the nice place are so rotten why would anyone want to take them home? I don’t want to even use them there not to mention at home.

  11. Yes indeed. I have been taking amenities for many years.

    When I have a large enough collection, I carry the bag over to a local shelter for abused women and childen. Many, if not most of these individuals have no access to these types of upgraded items.

  12. Don’t they just throw these things away anyway? I mean, what would a hotel do with a half-used bottle of shampoo otherwise? They can’t leave it for the next guest.

    Now, on the other hand, I practically live in hotels, and for the rare times I’m home, I haven’t purchased any basic toiletries in years because I have all these half-shampoos from the road.

  13. I no longer have room to put them anyplace. I make a special exception only for certain ones you can’t find at other properties, like the coconut-scented amenities at the HR Maui.

  14. A person in our office has a box in their cubicle, and asks everyone who travels to pick up UNUSED bath amenities and drop them in the box. When it get full, they drop them off at the local homeless shelter.

    Bulgari products are nice, but the only one I bring home these days are from Fairmont: Le Labo Rose 31. (I even went and bought some on line we like it so much – man is it expensive! Much more than Pert! :))

  15. Taking towels or stuff from the mini bar without paying is stealing. Taking shampoo, conditioners, soaps and lotions, which my wife has been doing for 25 years is not. You paid for all this stuff when you paid for your room.

  16. I work with a Non Profit group, and I take all the of toiletries each day and place them in the bag, I get a nice collection of them. I have gotten a couple of co-worker to do the same thing, I see them every 6 weeks, needless to say, I bring an extra luggage to get them home.

  17. Generally I’ll take it home only if I’ve used it. This is typically limited to bar soap, which goes into the bathroom to use at the sink.

  18. To me it’s like the amenity kits on airplanes. I take mine home but I don’t steal my neighbors.
    Also after awhile I don’t need the stuff at home. For example I don’t take the HIX shampoo home because I don’t want to smell like cinnamon (which it does on purpose).

  19. I’d hardly call taking shampoo “stealing.” Then again, I have put the shapoo from one day away, so I get additional to take on a two night stay

  20. I used to only take home the remainder of what I started using, and would leave the rest alone. But last year I started taking 1 bar of soap and 1 shampoo for each stay, and at the end of the year, I donated the pile of toiletries to a local homeless shelter.

    I spent over $12,000 last year on hotels, in return, they are “donating” soap and shampoo to my local shelter…

  21. The real stealing is that being taken from US taxpayers by the US government[google the title for the full article}:

    “Spending $50 Mil For TSA Uniforms Shows Washington’s Lunacy

    With the automatic spending cuts, known as the sequester, cutting only 2 cents per dollar out of the bloated federal budget, a budget that’s grown 71% faster than inflation over the past two decades, the federal scaremongers are rushing around putting padlocks on control towers at the nation’s airports.

    Just two days before the automatic federal spending cuts took effect, the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced it had awarded a $50 million one-year contract for new uniforms for airport screeners, clothes that will manufactured partially in Mexico.

    I checked Wrangler’s website and I can’t see how the government’s cost could total $1,000 per employee, especially on a $50 million order with truckload deliveries.

    Buying just one item at a time on the website, not 50,000, Wrangler Hero cargo pants are $19.50, a Hero jacket is $19.99, Hero shirts are $10.99.

    Add the socks, one belt, one sweater and two ties to the price of the six shirts and the two pairs of trousers and I get a total bill of $186 per screener for the whole deal, $814 less than the $1,000 the taxpayers are paying.

    Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the sequester will force furloughs at the TSA and is warning of increased waiting times at airports, plus there might be no one in the control towers, but the good news is that the non-furloughed screeners who are still at work will look mighty fine.”

  22. I don’t like that you call it “stealing”. It’s not in the least bit stealing. If I’m paying $100+ or $200+ for one single night in a hotel room you’re damn right I’m gonna be going home with a tiny travel-sized bottle of shampoo and conditioner.

  23. I don’t think it’s stealing since I paid for it, but yes. I’ve not had to buy soap from a store in years.

  24. I only take ‘solids’ like soap and emery boards, etc., that don’t take up precious space in the stupid plastic baggie still required for liquids in carry-ons.

    I thought that having a Global Entry card would eliminate the need for a plastic baggie – but since it is random, I can’t take the chance of carrying on a bunch of ‘liquid’ shampoos, unfortunately…

  25. Saying all this… I still think I’m one of the few people in the world who is going to miss Hyatt’s White Ginger….

  26. Agreed, the tread title is mileading. (or a poor attempt at sensationalism).

    I never thought of giving to shelters, that’s a great idea!!

  27. God, do I have an enormous stash of these things, along with free samples I’ve received from product purchases over the years. It never occurred to me to bring the stash to a women’s shelter. Thanks to the comments of your readers, I will do that first thing tomorrow!

  28. I never did, until TSA instituted the liquid restriction. They are the best for travel

    Hotels expect us to take them.

    now that shelter idea is wonderful !

  29. It is definitely not stealing. I do about 75 nights a year in nice hotels – mostly SPG, and I bring home all the unused, unopened extra toiletries, regardless of brand, and I donate them, through collection barrels we have at my synagogue, to one of our local food pantries. The hotel maids will just throw away any “leftovers” when they do the final departure cleaning, and this practice – one that many of us seem to have adopted – allows the less fortunate in our society to receive necessary hygiene items that they couldn’t otherwise afford.

  30. I have done it a few times, but generally don’t.

    it is surprising to see so many comments about doing it regularly. I also don’t see Gary’s title as anything but accurate. Your room rate is based on some average consumption of toiletries in the room, not you cleaning them out of every consumable. Do you also take the coffee packs? Or if you’re having some food at a cafe, do you also grab ketchup packets to take home? Those are lower value items, and ultimately the establishment won’t care about it, but it’s certainly not the normal expectation.

  31. “and this practice – one that many of us seem to have adopted – allows the less fortunate in our society to receive necessary hygiene items that they couldn’t otherwise afford.” Get over yourself!

  32. My favorites are:

    1) L’Occitane at the Regent Singapore.
    2) Aigner at Grand Hyatt Dubai
    3) Hermes at La Cigale, Doha

    And yes, I take them from my room, not from housekeeping carts :o)

  33. It would be criminal not to take home an item that you had opened in your stay, as to not to would almost certainly result in it being thrown away, and clearly you thought it worth using in the first place.

    If not opened by you, then if worth using elsewhere, particularly if it is the right size to have in a TSA travel kit, then why not, it is included in your room price anyway, and saves you later further expense.

    Taking just because it is there however, without intending to actually use it, does little to save the planet.

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