Towels in hotels (saving the environment!)

Squall Leonhart · 06-09-2015 04:58PM #1

Just noticed lately that almost every hotel I visit has a card stuck up asking you to kindly consider reusing your towels "to save our environment" (cough.. The hotels pocket more likely :-)), and instruct you to hang up your towels if you are happy to reuse or leave in the bath/on the floor if you would like clean towels. I have gone along with the option to just reuse a towel, yet usually find the towels are replaced anyway. What's the point of the environment notices?!

Stheno · 06-09-2015 04:59PM

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

Just noticed lately that almost every hotel I visit has a card stuck up asking you to kindly consider reusing your towels "to save our environment" (cough.. The hotels pocket more likely :-)), and instruct you to hang up your towels if you are happy to reuse or leave in the bath/on the floor if you would like clean towels. I have gone along with the option to just reuse a towel, yet usually find the towels are replaced anyway. What's the point of the environment notices?!

To make you feel guilty if you don't hang the towels up

One eyed Jack · 06-09-2015 05:02PM

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

Just noticed lately that almost every hotel I visit has a card stuck up asking you to kindly consider reusing your towels "to save our environment" (cough.. The hotels pocket more likely :-)), and instruct you to hang up your towels if you are happy to reuse or leave in the bath/on the floor if you would like clean towels. I have gone along with the option to just reuse a towel, yet usually find the towels are replaced anyway. What's the point of the environment notices?!

There's clearly nothing wrong with the notices as you're able to read and understand them. It's the members of staff that don't care enough to do their jobs properly are the problem there.

I always prefer the fresh towels option myself anyway.

Squall Leonhart · 06-09-2015 05:06PM

I've stayed in places that try the same craic with bedsheets.. (place this woodcarving of an animal on the bed if you'd like clean sheets).. There I draw the line!

LeinsterDub · 06-09-2015 05:08PM

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

I've stayed in places that try the same craic with bedsheets.. (place this woodcarving of an animal on the bed if you'd like clean sheets).. There I draw the line!

Why you hardly change your bedsheets at home every day

lollsangel · 06-09-2015 05:08PM

I bring my own towel I have a thing about using other people's towels

Señor Fancy Pants · 06-09-2015 05:09PM

If you steel them, they don't have to clean them!

Problemo solvedo!

Medusa22 · 06-09-2015 05:10PM

I don't wash my towels after every shower (sure I'm clean getting out, aren't I?) so I hang them up to dry and use them again a couple of times. When I'm in a hotel I do the same, I hang up the towels so I can re-use them a couple of times and the staff haven't replaced them in the places that I've stayed in anyway, so it seemed to work.

Squall Leonhart · 06-09-2015 05:14PM

You're absolutely correct in your assertions about the bed sheets not being changed daily at home, but I don't spend upwards of 80 a night to sleep in my bed at home, so I'll take advantage of the luxury of fresh bed sheets in hotels :-)

Guy:Incognito · 06-09-2015 05:22PM

Señor Fancy Pants wrote: »

If you steel them, they don't have to clean them!

Problemo solvedo!

Steel towels? How do they work?

Archeron · 06-09-2015 05:24PM

Señor Fancy Pants wrote: »

If you steel them, they don't have to clean them!

Problemo solvedo!

I really love the environment, so I steal the sheets too, just to be sure.

Medusa22 · 06-09-2015 05:25PM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Steel towels? How do they work?

You need Uri Geller on standby to bend the towels around you.

The Backwards Man · 06-09-2015 05:26PM

I've stayed in a hotel where the housekeeping staff made an effigy of me out of a towel (or it may have been some sort of domesticated animal, hard to tell), it was like one of those balloon dogs only with a towel. With the message 'we hope you are enjoying your clean towels

' pinned to it. They were probably saving the environment by not having them stupid printed messages printed everywhere.

Señor Fancy Pants · 06-09-2015 05:27PM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Steel towels? How do they work?

You tell me Bender

I'm telling a Mod on you!

PARlance · 06-09-2015 05:34PM

I appreciate it when they put the "save the environment" sign beside the 6 little plastic bottles of shampoo/body gel/conditioner.

Diamond Doll · 06-09-2015 05:36PM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

Why you hardly change your bedsheets at home every day

You would if you've had sex ... and sure you're hardly going to be staying in a hotel unless you're having sex ... so yup, I'd be expecting fresh sheets each day!

(I probably wouldn't be too bothered if it was a business trip or something.)

Boom_Bap · 06-09-2015 05:42PM

Diamond Doll wrote: »

You would if you've had sex ... and sure you're hardly going to be staying in a hotel unless you're having sex ... so yup, I'd be expecting fresh sheets each day!

(I probably wouldn't be too bothered if it was a business trip or something.)

How messy can a bed get though in the 2 minutes of magic?

As for the towels, I'd generally just use one for a few days, then throw it on the floor and hope to get a fresh one the next day.
There was a hotel in Amman that I stayed in where they came by each evening with the turn down service. For some reason I always asked them for more towels then and would leave them in the wardrobe. I think I was trying to see if I would get a warning from the hotel. You have to entertain yourself somehow when on work trips.

One eyed Jack · 06-09-2015 06:01PM

Boom_Bap wrote: »

How messy can a bed get though in the 2 minutes of magic?

Two words Boom - fake, tan.

Waking up the next morning was like that scene out of "Trainspotting"...

0ph0rce0 · 06-09-2015 06:07PM

Ask for extra towels, Then wipe your arse with the towels and leave a post it note on the bog roll saying your saving the environment by not using the toilet paper.

Mr.Crinklewood · 06-09-2015 06:11PM

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Steel towels? How do they work?

Easily ironed.

darkpagandeath · 06-09-2015 06:12PM

Don't you mean to save them money on the cleaning bills. This ls like off setting ones carbon on a plane. That plane is going to fly with or without you on it you are not offsetting anything.

cml387 · 06-09-2015 06:13PM

I stayed in a hotel once in the UK, (it may have been Hull. Don't ask) where there was a blue line on the bath indicating the accepted water fill level.

Stheno · 06-09-2015 06:15PM

cml387 wrote: »

I stayed in a hotel once in the UK, (it may have been Hull. Don't ask) where there was a blue line on the bath indicating the accepted water fill level.

Most hotels I stay in make it appear the max water temperature is lukewarm

Boom_Bap · 06-09-2015 07:09PM

One eyed Jack wrote: »

Two words Boom - fake, tan.

Waking up the next morning was like that scene out of "Trainspotting"...

I don't think i've ever been with a fake tanner so I'll need to take your word on that one.

freshpopcorn · 06-09-2015 08:14PM

I used work in accommodation in a hotel before. The hotel had the policy about towels and in general people obeyed it.
Some people used just throw a towel on the floor to get a clean one.
What ever you do, don't use the glasses in the rooms.

cml387 · 06-09-2015 08:41PM

[QUOTE=freshpopcorn;96905680
What ever you do, don't use the glasses in the rooms.[/QUOTE]

Yeah yeah. Urban legend.:rolleyes:

freshpopcorn · 06-09-2015 08:46PM

cml387 wrote: »

Yeah yeah. Urban legend.:rolleyes:

I know people who work in 5 star hotels and the same towel gets used do wipe down all surfaces in the room, toilet, shower, bath and of course give the glassed a wipe down. I've also seen it happen.

rubadub · 06-09-2015 08:52PM

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I know people who work in 5 star hotels and the same towel gets used do wipe down all surfaces in the room, toilet, shower, bath and of course give the glassed a wipe down. I've also seen it happen.

What did these people say to you when you told them they were degenerate cunts?

I hear chefs have so few kids since their sperm count is so low from jizzing on all the food customers send back.

I can imagine school guidance counsellors, "hmmm, degenerate, sociopath, possibly psychopath -you'll do well in the service industry, where all the scum go to like a magnet".

freshpopcorn · 06-09-2015 08:58PM

rubadub wrote: »

What did these people say to you when you told them they were degenerate cunts?
.

It's hard to say it to these people when they are your supervisor. Another trick they thought me is to use a use pillow case so you'll leave no fibers on the glasses.

ElWalrus · 06-09-2015 08:59PM

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

You're absolutely correct in your assertions about the bed sheets not being changed daily at home, but I don't spend upwards of 80 a night to sleep in my bed at home, so I'll take advantage of the luxury of fresh bed sheets in hotels :-)

Well, if you factor in the mortgage and utilities...

Eugene Norman · 06-09-2015 09:04PM

freshpopcorn wrote: »

It's hard to say it to these people when they are your supervisor. Another trick they thought me is to use a use pillow case so you'll leave no fibers on the glasses.

Do they also wrap them in plastic? I've seen hotels being cleaned and the bathroom glasses are replaced.

In terms of getting new sheets or not it generally happens every few days not every day. A different crew does the full clean at the end of a stay or whenever the sheer needs replacing.

freshpopcorn · 06-09-2015 09:20PM

Eugene Norman wrote: »

Do they also wrap them in plastic? I've seen hotels being cleaned and the bathroom glasses are replaced.

In terms of getting new sheets or not it generally happens every few days not every day. A different crew does the full clean at the end of a stay or whenever the sheer needs replacing.

Generally the glasses wrapped in plastic are in 3 star or below proprieties.
4/5 star hotels generally require a higher standard of glass and replacing them/having them wrapped in plastic would not be accepted.
All the hotels either worked or know people working in have one person assigned to rooms 200-214. These people generally have 20 minutes for a departure room and 12 minutes for a stay over to clean it.
Generally in accommodation one person is assigned to clean the room.
Sometimes hotels use a team method. So people would be working in pairs
This only really happens when people are being trained/the boss is sound.
Another method is the block cleaning method. I've never seem this happen/heard of it happen. One person is in has to clean a particular thing in each room.
Staff member 1 cleans all the baths.
Staff member 2 cleans all the toilets.
Staff member 3 changes the sheets.
Staff member 4 hoovers.
Sheets are generally changed upon request or after ever two days.

ArtSmart · 06-09-2015 10:26PM

I wonder do the 2000 quid a night hotels put up 'save the environment' notices?

Somehow, I'd think not.

Anyone on boards ever tripped the light fantastic (ie 2k rooms)

freshpopcorn · 06-09-2015 10:35PM

ArtSmart wrote: »

I wonder do the 2000 quid a night hotels put up 'save the environment' notices?

Somehow, I'd think not.

Anyone on boards ever tripped the light fantastic (ie 2k rooms)

I do know there's this called green hotels(I think). Basically hotels try to be more energy efficient. It's a selling point to tourists. It's mainly higher end hotels that try and achieve this because they have more capital. I have seen these signs in four and five star hotels. Sometimes the price of these rooms can be very high.

LeinsterDub · 06-09-2015 11:24PM

Diamond Doll wrote: »

You would if you've had sex ... and sure you're hardly going to be staying in a hotel unless you're having sex ... so yup, I'd be expecting fresh sheets each day!

(I probably wouldn't be too bothered if it was a business trip or something.)

I tend to have sex about once a day. Still no massive urge to change the bed sheets everyday

SuperS54 · 07-09-2015 07:16AM

Stayed in a "boutique" hotel last year that didn't supply any towels due to "hygenic reasons", small supermarket down the street was doing great business with their overpriced towels :mad:

Frequently stay in 4/5 star hotels for work trips, have never seen a towel not being replaced no matter if it was hung up or in the bathtub, except for a weird place I stayed in a small city in the west of China where the cleaning staff didn't work on the weekend so there was no room cleaning or changing of towels!

Mister Vain · 07-09-2015 07:35AM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

I tend to have sex about once a day. Still no massive urge to change the bed sheets everyday

Yeah changing the sheets everyday is completely unnecessary unless she's a squirter.

07-09-2015 09:12AM

Diamond Doll wrote: »

You would if you've had sex

Whoa whoa whoa - what?

Changing the sheets every time you have sex? It'd want to be some feckin' ride.

PandaPoo · 07-09-2015 09:23AM

I'd rather eat a bowl of my own sh*te than change the sheets after every ride.

07-09-2015 09:31AM

PandaPoo wrote: »

I'd rather eat a bowl of my own sh*te than change the sheets after every ride.

Can't say I agree with that, but the sentiment certainly

StonyIron · 07-09-2015 10:00AM

Those signs have been up for many, many years! Nothing new.

You don't need a fresh towel every time you shower unless you've some kind of serious skin problems.

Shower, hang up towel, use again.

The amount of energy and chemicals involved in washing towels at a hotel isn't small and because it's a public facility they'll have to sterilise the towels too so, they're most likely bleached with chlorine or heated up to boiling.

It's not going to be a wash at 40C in Persil like you might do at home.

07-09-2015 10:05AM

StonyIron wrote: »

Those signs have been up for many, many years! Nothing new.

You don't need a fresh towel every time you shower unless you've some kind of serious skin problems.

Shower, hang up towel, use again.

The amount of energy and chemicals involved in washing towels at a hotel isn't small and because it's a public facility they'll have to sterilise the towels too so, they're most likely bleached with chlorine or heated up to boiling.

It's not going to be a wash at 40C in Persil like you might do at home.

The OP isn't asking why the signs are there in that sense.

He's asking why, when he leaves his towel hanging up, is it changed anyway.

rubadub · 07-09-2015 10:11AM

Do any hotels give you discounts or some other sort of benefit for not taking up the service?

An earlier poster was saying he paid for it so was going to use it, so if he could get a discount he might have left it.

Squall Leonhart · 09-09-2015 11:05AM

rubadub wrote: »

An earlier poster was saying he paid for it so was going to use it, so if he could get a discount he might have left it.

To be fair to you I did say if I've paid for the room, I'm going to make use of having fresh bedsheets when possible, but likewise if the bed sheets weren't changed I wouldn't be upset about it, as long as they were fresh when I arrived.

StonyIron · 09-09-2015 11:09AM

I had the disgusting situation of staying in a 4 star hotel in Dublin during the week and discovering the bed was made up with dirty sheets!

There was blood on the sheet and ear wax on the pillow!!

They changed the room when I called down at about 1am and were very apologetic but you can see how one lazy staff member can cause problems.

Sometimes hotel staff just aren't doing their jobs properly. That's why the towels get changed when you hang them up.

Shergar6 · 09-09-2015 11:21AM

StonyIron wrote: »

I had the disgusting situation of staying in a 4 star hotel in Dublin during the week and discovering the bed was made up with dirty sheets!

There was blood on the sheet and ear wax on the pillow!!

They changed the room when I called down at about 1am and were very apologetic but you can see how one lazy staff member can cause problems.

Sometimes hotel staff just aren't doing their jobs properly. That's why the towels get changed when you hang them up.

That is so gross. It's why i don't like staying in hotels. When i do i bring my own pillow-case and top sheet. Only way i can relax and not be paranoid. I also never ever use the glass on the sink as i saw one of those undercover hotel programs where the cleaning lady used the same cloth she had wiped the sink/toilet with to wipe it. Shocking!

I'm sure the majority of accommodation staff do their jobs well - i mean, it's not like a hotel room can take that long to clean - it's done every day so there shouldn't be a build up dust/grime on the shower. Is there any Hotel workers here? - how long should a staff member spend on a room?

freshpopcorn · 09-09-2015 01:42PM

Shergar6 wrote: »

it's done every day so there shouldn't be a build up dust/grime on the shower. Is there any Hotel workers here? - how long should a staff member spend on a room?

Did it a couple of years ago.
Stay over rooms were meant to take 12 minutes. Departure rooms were meant to take 20 minutes.
Often took longer. I had the attitude that it shouldn't take too long to dust/etc but every surface had dust. From moving the bed around(to change the sheets) you used create a lot of dust and what didn't help was the room was covered with high gloss surfaces so easy en the smallest bits of dust were noticeable.
Regarding the the sheets. Where I worked the sheets used always go out to laundry and often used come back dirty. One day I nearly cried when I went through about three covers I the bed and they were all dirty.

rubadub · 09-09-2015 01:52PM

Squall Leonhart wrote: »

To be fair to you I did say if I've paid for the room, I'm going to make use of having fresh bedsheets when possible

Yes, I did not mean anything negative in my comments.

If you have paid for the service most people typically want to avail of it. If there was an cheaper option to not have daily sheet & towel changes I know I would probably take it up. I also dislike how so many hotels automatically include breakfasts, as I may not like the food or more likely will miss it. When I do have breakfast in hotels I usually make a pig of myself, to "get my money's worth".

NachoBusiness · 09-09-2015 02:24PM

LeinsterDub wrote: »

I tend to have sex about once a day. Still no massive urge to change the bed sheets everyday

Ah come on, whenever I indulge in the beast with two backs, the birds and the bees, some horizontal dancing, horizontal hula, horizontal mambo, slip someone the hot beef injection, bonk, hump, have a little rumpy pumpy, hanky panky, funny business, how's your father, jiggery pokery or just sexual intercourse, the sheets do be as wet as a Nurse on a Monday night. No way you could sleep on them two days straight. Hotel didn't change my sheets each night. Be the last time I'd return.

09-09-2015 02:33PM

Preparedness precludes the need to launder the linen liberally.

Fred Swanson · 09-09-2015 02:57PM

This post has been deleted.

Towels in hotels (saving the environment!)

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