Shareholder

Just got to wondering about all that stuff they put into hotel room bathrooms. From time to time, it seems this becomes one of the battle grounds for one-upsmanship among chains. The higher category room, the more little bottles and jars. The more stars, the higher the quality of their contents. At the Conrad in Singapore I found a Teddy Bear. In Hong Kong, it was a plastic duck. [In addition to the usual emuliants and eblutions.)

While I don't obsess about such things, my curiosity was peaked by a recent stay at the Hilton Park in Munich. I had a very nice Business Floor room and while the bathroom lacked hand/body lotion [a very nice variety of which Sheratons in Germany have adopted] and a few other little things [cotton swabs, mouth wash), it did have the most unusual containers for the liquid soap, shampoo/conditioner and bath/shower gel that was provided.

There was a small plexiglass rack into which were inserted what appeared to be three test tubes. Each of these clear plastic tubes contained one of the afore mentioned liquids. I found this a very attractive form of packaging/design. Needless to say, I did take the remaining two-thirds contents of each of the three tubes home with me, but resisted filching the plexiglass holder. (The contents were based on an herbal formula of essential oils, or so the label read.

We've discussed the merits of W's Aveda lotions in the Starwood forum, but I was just curious about what others consider to be interesting discoveries on their travels.

doc

At the Conrad Singapore you should also have gotten a duck with your bear!

UK Stages

i like the molton brown shampoo, soap, etc. they used to use at the langham hilton in london. on a recent stay at the westin, century city (LA), i found the same stuff - but in bigger bottles. the langham now uses penhaligon's, which is also a "top shelf" british brand. this is what i appreciate most, when a 'local" product is showcased.

i've also run into the test tube bottles, but at the four star hilton properties in london (metropole, kensington). i love the look of them, but i found them impractical. they won't stand in the shower - or anywhere - without that darn plastic thingie. and to open them definitely requires two hands. i noticed the maids' carts in the hall also had "regular" soaps and shampoo on them... not sure why, but i'd like to think it's to meet the demand of travelers who don't like the test tubes.

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Take Me 2 London!

Hammertoad

I quite like the rubber bath mat provided at Homewood Suites. Whilst I'm sure they're complimentary, I've not taken them home as I have an ample supply.

Seriously, I do like them as they prevent me from slipping & cracking my head when showering after Mrs. 'toad (or some previous guest, not properly cleaned up after) has had an oil bath.

Cheers,

'toad

Efrem

I too had those "test tubes," at the Heathrow Hilton in December. I found them totally impractical in the shower for UK Stages' reasons: there's no place to put them. Their showers don't even have a soap dish higher than the one for use in the tub; if you try to put two (soap and shampoo) in it one always falls out; and since they don't stand up, you have to put the cap back on each time you take a dollop out.

I used over half the soap in one shower, mostly due to spillage. I often take two showers a day (one in the morning, one after working out). Two people often share room, so a total of four showers a day isn't a stretch.

I mentioned this on the hotel comment form. I got a personal letter back, explaining that these things were a directive from above, that all comments would be taken into account in evaluating them, and that meanwhile there's a cake of soap in the desk drawer (an odd place for it, especially since there's nothing to tell you it's there). Maybe that's why UK Stages noticed soap on the carts. And maybe they've moved it out of the desk drawer since then.

(I am not against liquid soap, I use it often from wall-mounted dispensers, but in this case I think Hilton management put trendy fashion ahead of what real people need. If anyone from Hilton is reading this: your bread-and-butter frequent visitors don't come back, time and again, for trendiness.)

HK-UMICH

The Hilton Ilsington,formal Hilton St Ermis and Hilton LHR all using the test-tube like stuff. My friend was surprised when we check-in the first day

Just guessing which hotel will have a room full of Garfield (cartoon cat), I will sure pay a stay there Mewo

Shareholder

You're right, UKStages, about these containers being a case of attractive design over practicality. Though I was able to set them in the corner, standing up at the join of the walls. But I also had a small bar of soap in Munich, clearly set out by the sink. I will be staying at the Kensington in two weeks, so I guess there will be more of these in my travels to Europe. And come to think of it, there was also a duck in Singapore, doc. [I left the ducks, but couldn't resist the bear!]

As for Garfield, didn't Embassy Suites use him as its advertising mascot a few years ago? Not sure if there were actually stuffed Garfields in the rooms...

DOC 2 BE

All London and perhaps UK Hiltons appear to have adopted the tubes. I like them because, as I am one to take these things with me, a tube of liquid soap comes in handy, as opposed to a used bar (which I will leave).

LikeItUpFront

This is a bit different and I don't even remember the name of the hotel but it was in the Toronto area and it was in the dead of winter and the bathroom had a heated floor. I don't know how they did it, must have had some kind of heater embedded below the surface. But it was a odd but pleasant feeling in the middle of the night.

Shareholder

Are you sure you weren't rooming over the pizza oven or furnace? But I do like those old style meta pipel towel racks which are hooked into the hot water heating system and keep towels nice and warm.

dnw

Hilton Paris has these tubes too. Perhaps its a European thing, I've never seen them in any of the NY Hiltons.

wideman

At the Krasnapolsky in Amsterdam, the bus. suites have the plumbing-spaghetti showers in which you can have the water come at you from four different level (more or less knees, waist, chest, neck). A great deal of fun, esp. after visiting any of the finer vegetable material shoppes nearby.

GK

|For me the most useful was the copy of Miami Metro magazine in a rack next to the toilet at a motel in Miami Lakes... As for the shampoo provided anywhere - I refuse to use it .. prolonged use causes hair damage, it is very low grade quality !

sully242

The Trianon Palace in Versailles had a heated towel rack and a shower with six shower heads pouring water all over your body in different directions. Nice slippers too.

Watchful

Not exactly on topic, but when we spent a week at a lovely little hotel in Steinach, Austria, I never could figure out how to take shower without totally flooding the bathroom. Had a tall tub, with the shower attachment on a rod where it could be moved up and down...no shower curtain. I am 6'0" so it might be easier for a more down to earth person.