Should You Take Home Hotel Supplies? What You Need To Know

Staying in a hotel allows you to enjoy luxury and comfort. It offers you a place to destress and indulge in some relaxation time. Moreover, it also provides you with an amazing sleep experience that feels impossible to replicate at home. 

However, given the abundance of quality guest supplies for hotels and bed and breakfasts available to guests, you might be wondering what you can take home or not if you stay at a hotel. 

When you book a hotel room, you’re paying for room accommodation as well as the hotel amenities. You might be confused about which things you can take home or which might be considered stealing should you decide to slip them inside your bag. 

To help you stay on the safe side, below are the things you need to know if you want to take home hotel supplies:

Things You Can Take Home

Even if you paid for the entire room, know that you can only use some amenities temporarily, depending on how long you stay at the hotel. To avoid additional charges, listed below are the hotel supplies you can take home:

Anything That’s Complimentary

As you look around your hotel room, you may see items labelled as complimentary. It could be a bottle of water, fruit, or a snack box. If an item is complimentary, you are free to take it home. Consider it as part of what you paid for.

However, be careful with minibar items as most of them are not free. While you can take them home, you’ll need to pay for those items. You can always check the minibar menu to confirm which items are free and which items are not. If an item is not listed, it’s most likely complementary.

• Soap

Your hotel bathroom will usually have two bars of soap—one for bathing and one at the sink for washing your hands. These are part of what you paid for. 

For hygiene purposes, hotels never reuse soaps for the next guests. After you check out, the hotel staff will just replace the soap with brand-new ones. 

To avoid waste, you can take home your used soap or put it to good use by donating it to an organisation. Many hotels have sustainability programmes in place where they donate used soaps to organisations for recycling. 

• Shampoo And Bath Products

Hotels usually provide plenty of bath products for their guests. These may include shampoo, conditioner, shower gel, and lotion. Since those are consumable products, you can freely take them home after your stay. Similar to soaps, the hotel will not reuse your leftover shampoo and other bath products for their next guests, but rather provide them new ones. 

• Personal Hygiene Items 

Along with bath products, your hotel will also provide you with your own personal hygiene kit. This can include a dental kit with a toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, and toothpick. 

They might also provide cotton swabs, wet wipes, toilet paper, and makeup remover pads. Since they’re for personal hygiene, you’re free to take them home. If the package has been opened, the hotel won’t reuse them but rather just throw them away. To avoid such waste, you should keep and take them home with you. 

• Pen And Paper

Most hotels usually also provide guests with a pad of paper and a pen. You can find them on a small work desk in the corner of the room. Even if they’re stamped with the hotel’s name, you can also take them home. Consider them as complimentary gifts with the hotel branding. 

The same applies to slippers. The slippers that hotels provide are usually light and typically okay to take home with you.

Things You Cannot Take Home

As mentioned above, there may be plenty of things you can use inside the hotel, but it doesn’t automatically translate to items you can take home. To avoid getting charged, take note of the items listed below that are most likely not complimentary:

• Robes

Most hotel rooms include at least two robes in the closet or the bathroom. Even if you’ve already worn them, you can’t take them home as they’re still hotel property. If you’re worried about hygiene, the hotel will thoroughly wash and dry every robe to guarantee safety and sanitation. 

• Sheets And Towels

Sheets and towels are basic hotel necessities you can freely use during your entire stay. However, these are things you can’t take home with you, no matter how many times you’ve used them. Depending on the frequency of the housekeeping service, or your personal preference, the hotel staff will replace sheets and towels with fresh and clean ones during your stay. That’ll help to keep your hotel room neat and hygienic. 

• Pillows 

Even if you ask for extra pillows for your hotel room, it doesn’t automatically translate to free stuff. Your extra pillows are only available to you during your stay, and you’re not supposed to take them home with you. If you do, they’ll be considered lost items, and you’ll be charged accordingly.

• Hangers

A hotel room closet will also have plenty of hangers to help you organise your clothes. They may be small and light, making them convenient to take home, but remember that they’re hotel property. Unless they’re labelled as complimentary, you can’t slip them inside your bag. 

• Utensils

Your hotel’s minibar or coffee-making facility will include utensils you can use during your entire stay. These can include a set of cups for tea or coffee, wine glasses, and silverware. Even if they’re highly portable items, you shouldn’t take them home as they’re hotel property.

Should You Take Them Home?

To answer your question, yes. But not everything. You should only take home hotel supplies that you’re entitled to. You paid for the hotel room and the complimentary items that come with your accommodation, such as personal hygiene products. This will help you enjoy your getaway more as you get to stay in an amazing place and also take home some amazing hotel supplies. 

Takeaway

Knowing what you can and cannot take home in the hotel room will keep you on the safe side. Staying in a hotel, more often than not, doesn’t come cheap. With that, you can get your money’s worth by taking home hotel supplies you’re entitled to and letting yourself enjoy the extra perks of your stay.