The huge free perks that hotels are hiding – but guests don’t know to ask for them
STAYING in a hotel can be a great experience, with staff doing as much as they can to make your stay as luxurious as possible.
However, few guests realise quite how much they are entitled to from their accommodation.
Luckily for them, hotel workers have explained the perks people can get for free that they only need to ask for.
Speaking to Insider, ex-hotel staff member Dani Quesnel explained that most guests will expect very basic toiletries to be provided.
But they can get their hands on much more, saving them money on larger items that could also take up valuable suitcase space.
She said: “My hotel had things I never thought to ask for, like makeup wipes and hairbrushes.
“Now, when I stay at hotels, I check with the clerks before going out and purchasing toiletries I forgot to pack.”
It’s not just the hotel that provides the guests with free items either, with guests regularly leaving things behind for the members of staff.
Hotels will usually have lost property storage, so guests can reclaim anything they’ve left behind.
However, there’s a limit to how long things can stay there, meaning staff will often get to take them home for themselves.
Dani continued: “Guests would frequently leave belongings behind, and it was surprising how seldom they’d come back for them.
“My hotel kept lost-and-found items for 90 days before they were fair game for the staff to claim. Occasionally, I’d find something worth taking, like a hair straightener that I still use to this day.”
Some free hotel perks could soon be banned, as part of new EU rules.
Rules proposed by the European Union aiming to ban single-use packaging would prevent hotels from providing guests with the mini toiletries.
A report from the EU Commission called for tough measures to tackle “this constantly growing source of waste” with the mini bottle ban one of several rules they have put forward.
The report claimed that each European generates almost 180kg of packaging waste per year and predicts a 46 per cent increase in plastic packaging waste by 2030.
As such, they are calling for “certain forms of packaging” to be banned as well as “clearly unnecessary packaging“.
The toiletries would fit within this category, meaning hotels would likely provide shampoo and conditioner in larger bottles, to be used by multiple guests instead.
There are still items that guests can take away from hotels though, including slippers and stationery.
However, dressing gowns and pillows should never be taken and could land guests with a bill.
Meanwhile, this etiquette expert revealed the five items you should never take from a hotel.
And these are the items that guests “accidentally” steal from their hotel rooms.