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Is it acceptable to hoard hotel room toiletries?

Humans, it seems, are powerless to resist the lure of such shower candy - ©sarsmis - stock.adobe.com
Humans, it seems, are powerless to resist the lure of such shower candy - ©sarsmis - stock.adobe.com

My wife feels she hasn’t extracted value from a hotel unless she departs with a suitcase clinking with miniature bottles of shampoo and body lotion. She even insists on stashing unused bottles every day of our stay, so they’ll be replaced, only to be purloined. Kindly settle our dispute: do hoteliers really expect us to swipe all the toiletries?

Ah, the hotel bathroom shelf sweep. The soapy moral quandary, the battle of the tiny bottles, the travel practice that separates… oh, who are we kidding? Everyone nicks a mini shampoo from time to time. I used to believe that I would finally be a grown-up traveller when I could bear to leave the toiletries in situ.

The sort of classy, poised model of moderation who can daintily nibble two squares of dark Green & Black’s chocolate and leave the rest in the cupboard. After all, I have enough shampoo. I probably have enough shampoo under my bathroom sink to last me until 2025. And when 2025 comes, I will hopefully still have a full-time job and be able to afford a new bottle. 

A hotel bathroom - Credit: AP
"I walk into a hotel room bathroom and am greeted by an army of shiny petite bottles" Credit: AP

But then I’d walk into a hotel room bathroom to be greeted by an army of shiny petite bottles, and they would march merrily all over my reason, my restraint, my eco-minded rationale. Humans, it seems, are powerless to resist the lure of such shower candy. 

And technically we don’t need to. Having quizzed countless GMs and hotel owners, I can confirm that they fully expect tiny toiletries to be swiped. A daily supply of dinky bottles is well and truly wrapped up in the price of the room.

The exception is when full-sized bottles are provided. And the eco-minded hotels that offer this alternative are rarely sufficiently hippyish to rely on restraint alone, protecting bigger bottles in a sort of wall-fastened stainless steel chastity belt. 

Toiletries - Credit: AP
Fight "hygiene poverty" by donating your hotel freebies Credit: AP

However, while we don’t owe hoteliers any sheepish glances as we lug our significantly heavier suitcases out of the lobby, we should feel guilt towards the environment. None of us can afford to be blasé about plastic waste, and tiny bottles mean more plastic per millilitre.

To this end, I recommend Lush’s pioneering bottle-free shampoos, shower gels, conditioners and suncreams, particularly its shampoo bars, easily one of my top 10 products for travellers. 

Travel etiquette | Advice on holiday conundrums
Travel etiquette | Advice on holiday conundrums

And this week, an innovative scheme has been launched by beauty journalist Sali Hughes and beauty PR Jo Jones, redistributing toiletries to the homeless and people living in poverty. In July, the In Kind Direct charity warned of a rise in “hygiene poverty,” where families across the UK were reporting being unable to afford essential toiletries.

By donating your freebies to Beauty Banks (@the_beauty_banks on Instagram), or by posting them off to Jo Jones at The Communications Store in Kensington, you’ll be fighting hygiene poverty, like a sort of lathery Robin Hood. So yes, there is such a thing as a victimless crime.

Anna Hart’s travel memoir, Departures, published by Little, Brown (£13.99), is out now. Order your copy from books.telegraph.co.uk