Is it OK to sell hotel toiletries on eBay?

hcb42

I haven't quoted the post - but hotels do not refill small bottles. So if opened, take them and finish them off.

I work in hotel management and people take all sorts of stuff. (which they shouldnt!!) Taking the toiletries is par for the course, although selling them - unless Molton Brown or something, I wouldn't think it was worth the effort. and if it was Molton Brown, I would keep it for myself!

happyinflorida

Of course it is - they're included in the price of the hotel room you stay in.

Some people love these - like Disney hotels, I love their soap and have been tempted to buy some more from Ebay!

canal-man

"YOU" didn't pay for the toiletries. We ALL did, as we all pay the same.
So YOU are contributing in a small way to keeping up the hotel prices. No thanks to you for that.
Some hotels now provide the shampoo etc in a wall-mounted fixture, and I can understand why, if a lot of people do what you do.
I take only the _part used_ soaps / bottles, and I bring them with me to the next hotel. I think that's more than fair, and I'm not adding any cost to others' hotel bills. Be fair to others, mate.

pheasant_plucker

So you arrive at the hotel at the end of the day, go to bed without bath or shower, get up in the morning without a shower or wash and start your new day with a bagful of toiletries that you hope to sell on ebay. What a stinker!

gordon_retundo

lazer wrote: »

You must be part of the generation that can't be bothered to put in any work and expect money to be easily made.

That's a ridiculous generalisation about someone you know nothing about. And you've just completely contradicted yourself by saying those that are willing to steal tiny toiletries as a side-business are the ones that can be bothered to put in work and graft for their money.

Congrats on your £12.50 per car boot sale. You clearly have more money than sense. Other people, no matter how industrious or which generation they were born in, are able to make simple calculations about the validity of such an enterprise given the time and effort involved.

Your post both warrants a serious point-by-point debunking but also equally warrants no response at all.

Skintslimmer

Why is this so polarising? Here's my ethical guide to complimentary goods in hotels & B&Bs:


Big chains
Mini bottles of Shampoo/shower gel/individual things to use as part of your stay - use a reasonable amount during your stay, or take the equivalent if you really want to. Then do whatever the heck you want with them. Technically if you're away on business, the toiletries are the property of the company who paid for your hotel though.

Coffee/tea/milk/biscuits - again use or take a sensible amount - which means NOT all of them. I don't know anybody who doesn't take or eat the biccies!
B&Bs
Use the individual bottles or items if you have forgotten to bring your own; take half used bottles, leave what you don't need to use (the logic - taking e.g. £5 worth of goods you don't need from a small B&B that charges £40 a night will make a bigger % difference in their profit margins than taking £4 worth of stuff from a £80+ a night hotel who can buy them cheaper themselves and do factor it into their prices).


What's NOT fair game:


Toilet roll & tissues (come on people, really? How desperate do you have to be to take this? Not that desperate if you can afford to stay in ANY hotel or B&B. Use what you need to - which you inevitably will have done - and for goodness sake don't take more than that, this really is scummy).


Lightbulbs, Bedding, soft furnishings, hard furniture, crockery and cutlery, electronics, bathrobe, salt & pepper shakers... really, this is indisputably theft. Hotel & B&B owners if you don't have a means of finding out who took it and a means of charging them/taking them to court to get the money, you're very silly.


Things that are a bit meh in between: disposable slippers (really, why were these invented? they seem like quite expensive things for the hotel to provide them just to be chucked away after 1 guest, and they're not nice enough to bother with as a guest, or to take home but if you've opened them you might as well take them because they'll get chucked... weird circle :-/ ), single use shaving kits, complementary toothbrushes, sachets of sauce, pots of jam & butter, packets of cereal... again I'd go by the guidance of if I would have reasonably used it while I was there but didn't (e.g. I'm gluten free so I don't have toast with my fry up - so I take a mini jar of honey), it's more or less ok. Taking 5 packets of cereal, 4 pots of jam and a wad of butter portions is not okay.

KARO

I have sold 'complimentary' items on EBay but not from hotels. If for example I buy a perfume from a shop and they give me a premium body lotion as a complimentary gift with it, and I don't want to use that gift, I will sell it on.

I don't know how much of a market there would even be for small shampoo sachets and soaps that you'd find in a hotel room, but I can't see how it's worth the bother of EBaying them, as presumably you'd only get pennies in profit.

chloenightingale

I worked as a 'housekeeper' in a chain hotel one year during college and none of the cleaners nor the management cared if anyone took the toiletries. We would happily give extras to guests if they asked. We had to throw out any used toiletries or any toiletries that might have been unused but didn't look new (water damage on paper wrapping or whatever), so I was happy for customers to take them home, as it seemed less wasteful.
I remember asking on my first day if we, the staff, could take home some of the toiletries. The other cleaners said yes, but they were so sick of seeing them at work, they didn't want to take them home. ;D


(BTW, I think I have enjoyed reading this thread more than any other moral dilemma.)