41–50 of 116 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shampoo: get a small bottle. Then just fill it up before travel from your large bottle. Upon returning, return remaining shampoo to large bottle and wash it.
Oh sure, I could do that. Or I could stay in a normal hotel, where they provide it. (Or if I'm roughing it in the wilderness or something then I probably don't care that much about clean hair.)
Toothpaste is heavily branded in a health related fashion that makes it hard for hotels to get away with fake botique and paying for a real brand risks offending users of a "higher" or competing brand. Then there are also the foreign patrons who will find local brands funny at best. This is notable in that the one hotel that carried toothpaste felt they had to say which brand. (They were right, I once stayed at a hot…
> risks offending users of a "higher" or competing brand I strongly suspect that I am not alone in the stubbornness of my toothpaste preference. I will grudgingly use a different shampoo if I have to as most shampoos don't have too strong of a smell. In any given day I use probably 3 to 6 different soaps, with only the one in my house being my preference (mmmmmmmm coconut ginger) so using some random soap at a hotel…
Oh no, this like a "cannot unsee"-picture. I will never be able to stay at a hotel again without being troubled by the lack of toothpaste. It begs the question: What else in the world do we not see until we see it?
There is a wonderful podcast series dedicated to your question http://99percentinvisible.org
No other podcast or any other source causes this issue.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For years I had wondered about this toothpaste conundrum; as the author points out it is in fact one of the important toiletry component if not the most important (for me personally actually it is). I made up a theory that it has to be sourcing problem. Toothpaste is one thing that you don’t hear small supplier making on their own - I get to hear all the time about handcrafted artisan soaps, conditioner, shampoos etc…
But they have already set up manufacturing for such tubes for Hotels in Europe and Asia, so it should only make sense that they would want to sell more of these. Emirates also supplies a toothbrush and toothpaste on long flights in a nice little toilet bag, even for economy passengers. These things are everywhere, except apparently American Hotels.
Things do get topped up. Those big soap dispenser things with some posh label on, they do get topped up. There are different ways to do this - sometimes the trolley with towels and stuff on has a few pre-topped up ones on and they get swapped over. Some staff top up on a room by room basis, obviously only when the guests change lest the illusion be shattered. These items rarely get stolen (even by American tourists) in country hotels (can't say for big corporate chains). There is a matter of trust going on here and far less gets taken by guests than you might imagine, few people 'steal'.
The ratings thing is what defines what you have in a room. Some things like 3/4 length mirrors chime in on two stars, if I remember. Even number of coat hangers is star count related.
I have done my fair share of running around for guests, I cannot remember ever having to get toothpaste or even a toothbrush for any guest ever. It is just not a requirement or expectation or even something that people habitually forget.
Some things are available in the smallest of shops, toothpaste being one and tampons being another. I believe that people have no more of an expectation to find toothpaste as they do have to expect tampons, condoms or razor blades just there as a freebee.
There are more worrying things though in a hotel. That glass to drink out of, how do you know that it wasn't washed and then dried using the towel left behind by the previous guest? For that same towel to also be used to dry off the tiles in the bathroom, the floor and the sink? Usually the towels will be boil washed and dried by some contractor, however, they are as much in use by the housekeeping staff as the guests in many a place.
Another observation is the state of the toilets. Those guests that dine on fine cuisine in the restaurant probably don't eat that sort of stuff every day. It really does not sit with them too well and the toilets do show the signs of this. Compared to the staff toilets (or the loos at your workplace), hotel toilets are a mess, that posh food is just not intestine friendly. Therefore, if you are in a hotel, be far more concerned about what goes in your mouth rather than how you clean your mouth.
A further point, why didn't the research for this article include a word or two from housekeeping staff? Do managers really know how to do hospital corners or any of the multitude of things one needs to do to make a hotel room spotless in 20 minutes?
A thousand times amen to this. At home I share a tube of toothpaste with my wife: if we go on holiday together, we bring the tube with us. If I'm travelling solo, for business or whatever, then the home toothpaste stays at home, so I need to remember to buy a new tube to take with me. It's the only thing I need to expressly purchase other than the hotel room booking. This can't be that unusual a scenario... can it?
For years I had wondered about this toothpaste conundrum; as the author points out it is in fact one of the important toiletry component if not the most important (for me personally actually it is). I made up a theory that it has to be sourcing problem. Toothpaste is one thing that you don’t hear small supplier making on their own - I get to hear all the time about handcrafted artisan soaps, conditioner, shampoos etc…
A thousand times amen to this. At home I share a tube of toothpaste with my wife: if we go on holiday together, we bring the tube with us. If I'm travelling solo, for business or whatever, then the home toothpaste stays at home, so I need to remember to buy a new tube to take with me. It's the only thing I need to expressly purchase other than the hotel room booking. This can't be that unusual a scenario... can it?
Toothpaste is heavily branded in a health related fashion that makes it hard for hotels to get away with fake botique and paying for a real brand risks offending users of a "higher" or competing brand. Then there are also the foreign patrons who will find local brands funny at best. This is notable in that the one hotel that carried toothpaste felt they had to say which brand. (They were right, I once stayed at a hot…
> risks offending users of a "higher" or competing brand I strongly suspect that I am not alone in the stubbornness of my toothpaste preference. I will grudgingly use a different shampoo if I have to as most shampoos don't have too strong of a smell. In any given day I use probably 3 to 6 different soaps, with only the one in my house being my preference (mmmmmmmm coconut ginger) so using some random soap at a hotel…