I’m curious. When you stay at a hotel for multiple nights and they set out two bars {sometimes 3!} of soap each day, what do you do with it? Do you just leave it there, or do you take the hotel soap home with you?
I mean, you paid for it, right?
Over the years I’ve found that one little bar of hotel soap will last on average seven to ten days in our shower at home {yes, I do experiments like that because I’m weird}. So essentially a four night stay will net me 8-10 weeks of free soap. The packaging is minimal and can typically be recycled.
I know people who leave it behind, take it and and also donate their bars of soap to shelters. I also know people who have even bought large bags of soap from the thrift store to use in their guest bathrooms!!
But I’m wondering…. what do YOU do with all the hotel soap you come across? Do you take hotel soap home with you?
Inquiring minds want to know.
~Mavis
Kathleen Paje says
For sure, take it and use it at home
Lori says
As of July 1st, the wonderful state of Illinois has banned individual hotel soaps, shampoos, etc. They have to be in large pump containers or you have to bring your own.
Lucy from SC says
Several resorts in SC and TN have started doing the same thing. But I do take the individual sizes when present.
Erin says
If the soap doesn’t have crazy scents, I take it home & use it in the guest bathroom when we have people staying overnight. Same with shampoo/conditioner bottles, if the hotel has them. Most use large bottles now, so it’s more & more rare to have any to take home.
Wendy C says
I take it home with me.
Mrs. C. says
Sometimes I do, and then donate it to shelters.
christa says
I bring my own soap and shampoo, and use any liquid soaps provided by the hotel for sink laundry—on long trips where packing space matters.
Lynn says
I would leave them if I could but my husband takes them, including the slightly used one which he puts in a plastic bag, brings home and finishes using. He used to bring home any small bottles of shampoo and lotion but I said no more since we have containers full and have started donating. I guess he figures he’s paying for them but I just see them as clutter.
Lana says
Never. I have very sensitive skin and it is just not worth a flare up.
Tiffany F says
This is my exact answer.
I would take them if I could use them, but I cannot.
Mary G says
I didn’t always, but more recently, I have started to take the soap home with me. Even more than I paid for it being a factor, I hate the idea that something perfectly useful will be thrown away after I check out of the hotel or inn. That just seems so wasteful to me.
Tracey says
agree! All these items are thrown away – better to recycle – I use mine out in the garden shed sink.
Marianne says
Depends on the quality of the soap –
Sue says
Nope, no bar soaps allowed in my home. The scum makes extra work that I don’t need.
I will bring home little bottles of liquid soap and lotion if they smell nice. The lotion is great to keep in the car, when seeing my hands on the steering wheel makes it clear I need to moisturize them.
Katherine says
Dawn is really good for washing soap scum from showers and tubs very easily.
Emily says
I take them as we give them to homeless people and create senior bags using them at our food pantry. We also give them for a care closet at our schools.
Joan F says
I do the same. They need everything they can get.
Mary says
I take the soap, shampoo & conditioner home and give them to a food pantry.
Cindy Brick says
Mavis, you ask the most interesting questions…
Yes, I take the soap home. And the shampoo, conditioner and body lotion. If the coffee’s any good (it usually isn’t), I take that, too.
Born a Hollander, raised a Hollander. I’ll use the soaps in between the regular stuff. The nicer soaps go in my underwear drawer for scenting before they’re used. I have passed these items on to a homeless shelter, as well.
We try hard not to waste anything. Went to a free dinner (for some kind of arthritis treatment) last night, and came home with a doggy bag of steak and baked potato. That became our breakfast hash this morning. Two meals, for free? Yay!!!
Annette Horsley says
I take it and give it to the homeless shelter in town.
Lynda Rees Kling says
I really be only travel to the UK, but if places have it in a bar, I’ll take it. The old pub I stay at in the UK has bottles of shampoo provided and attached to the bathroom walls.. I usually use my own that I bring them. I like mine better….
Marcia says
I only take it if I’ve opened it, because I don’t want to waste it. I leave the unopened one. Many hotels now have the refillable containers.
My parents used to collect these. My stepfather passed away last year and there were DOZENS of little soaps in the bathrooms, so old they were crumbling. Don’t do this
Karin says
I take the soap. But the real question is: how do those little bars last you for 7-10 days!? My husband goes through a large bar in a week or less all by himself. (He does take 2-3 showers a day.) A little bar might last me 3-4 days.
Cecile says
I bring it all home, soap, shampoo, lotion, shower cap etc. I donate all the unused pkgs and bottles but keep the shower caps for bread making or watermelon during the summer. Our neighbour is a paster of a downtown church which has many people in need so I give him the bags of travel items I collect (tooth paste twice a year from both mine and my husbands dental appointments and floss as well) and he takes them to their church and they give them out. I take them because like you said, we pay for them and because I know there are people that can use them more than me. I have the brands I prefer to use and usually take my own toiletries for hotel stays.
Julie says
I take it and the 1/2 used one….and the bottles of stuff!! We did indeed pay for it!
Linda Sand says
It depends in part on how I am traveling. If overseas with only a carry-on bag, I don’t have room for extras.
Sue says
I take home the one soap I opened to use, because it will only be thrown away otherwise. But I don’t take unopened ones (or the shampoos and lotions I don’t use), and I don’t open more than I actually need. On the other hand I will take all the bottles of water they put out — while I don’t need bottled water at home, I will drink all they provide during my drive.
Ashley Bananas says
We’re a shower gel family. So unless the soap has some quality that I want to bring home or unique scent I often leave it.
I did have someone leave a bag of hotel/travel size bath products in a large bag on the free table at work. I took it. I might put it back.