Hotel Freebies - May Be Harmful to Your Ego

As much as I travel, I still enjoy getting to my hotel room and hurrying over to the sink to see what types of freebies I get. I know that the less expensive the hotel the fewer little bottles, soaps and packets you get. When I stay somewhere that " leaves the light on for me", I know they will be off-setting their electric bill by only giving me shampoo and 1 small soap. In a moderate priced hotel, they give you shampoo, body lotion, conditioner and 1 or 2 sizes of soaps. When you get into a higher priced hotel (not luxury since I don't stay in those places) you might get all of the above mentioned things plus mouthwash, a shoe mitt, and a vanity kit (consisting of cotton balls, Q-tips and sometimes a flossing stick). I feel extra lucky when I get a small sewing kit. In fact I sometimes make a wish on my sewing kit because it is so rare.

I am not complaining because I do love getting those samples but I just wonder if we really need 2 kinds of soap. They say one is for your face and one is for your body but I can't tell the difference except that one is small and one is larger. It seems wasteful to open both when I'm only in the hotel for 1-2 nights. And forget trying to open those child-proof soap wrappers without using that free pen they given you. I have to stab and rip at that protective plastic-lined, heavy duty paper to open it. I often only open one soap because I don't want to be wasteful - I do try to be environmental conscious - and anyway, my pen is usually too broken to open the other one.

What do the cleaning people do with all of that used soap? Does anyone re-use it? They have signs all over the room about saving the environment by requesting that they don't change your sheets or wash your towels, yet they waste 2 bars of soap each day. If I didn't have so much trouble with the other bottles, I would recommend that they just put some liquid soap in a bottle, give it a fancy name like "Purity Suds for your Bodily Pleasure" and chuck those other soaps. And could liquid soap come in pink?

My problem with all of the little bottles is that the liquids are all either white or green. White liquids could be conditioner or body lotion and green liquids could be mouthwash or shampoo. Are you starting to get the picture? If you aren't alert you (I) could end up lathering your body with conditioner and lathering your head with body lotion. I can tell you that it is more difficult to get that body lotion out of your hair than to wipe the conditioner off of your body!
I almost confused the shampoo and mouthwash. The only thing that saved me was that when I unscrewed the lid and put the bottle to my mouth, the contents were slow to exit and just in time I realized I again had the wrong bottle. I wonder if the hotel has a direct dial to poison control because of the number of people who make this mistake. I know it's not just me!

I also sometimes wonder if management makes those bottles confusing on purpose and has a camera in the guest rooms for their own entertainment. I think that might be why they always seem to smile (maybe smirk a little) at me when I pass the reception desk in the morning.

But the other freebies I really like are the ones I get because I'm a frequent traveler. I feel special- and proud - when they say "do you want your 2 bottles of water now?" when I check in. How cool is that? And I have to admit to some self-satisfaction when I'm the only one given that bag of water bottles when others are checking in. I do try to look humble by lowering my eyes and trying not to smile.

Then I found out that frequent travelers who have even more travel points than me actually get a whole hotel floor where they can go to relax. They get a special key to use in the elevator to go to "that" floor. It does make me feel a little less special holding my 2 bottles of water while standing in the elevator filled with the "elite key people".

I once had a friend who took me to that "elite" floor and it was fabulous - free liquor, great snacks like cheese and dips and sandwiches and cookies and little stuffed things, as well as newspapers and magazines, comfortable chairs and a big TV. As much as I envied the people with the key, I would not want to travel that many additional trips to get to that elite status. Instead I will try to make friends with "elite key people". I hope they don't notice my polyester pants!