Amenity kit on LSL and CL?

[crescent-zephyr]

If I was designing a kit for train travel I would include hand sanitizer, soap and shampoo for showering, a tin of mints and ear plugs. I’d enjoy getting those items.

 

[PaulM]

You do get a bottle of wine with your box, at least on the CL and for now.

 

[jis]

Wine is not part if any Amenity Kit though. It is part of the Contemporary Food Service thingy.

 

[cocojacoby]

Don't most hotels offer trial size samples of such things and gift them at no cost to the hotel? When you take a Carnival cruise the bathroom has a basket full of useful trinkets to try. Surely Amtrak has enough clout to get a similar arrangement.

 

[jis]

The provider of freebies have to believe that enough people will actually try their product to make it worth their while. All the discussion on this thread suggests that enough people most likely do not bother with trying what is provided on Amtrak trains, specially one nighters. Ergo there is low motivation for product vendors to provide samples.

Hotels are different because the provided trial samples are quite widely used by customers. Long Range airline flights fall somewhere between hotels and Amtrak trains. I see quite a few people use the small package of stuff provided simply to avoid opening their hand baggage in flight. Besides the liquid restrictions actually prevent people from taking all their favorite toiletries on board in cabin anyway. Also the sleeping aids provided are used by a lot of people as are the pull over socks. The latter are very useful on planes since you don't really need to have your shoes on to go to the restroom or such on a plane. Again different from a train where you do need to have shoes on.

 

[PVD]

The hotel model is shifting rapidly. Even many of the better hotels are moving away from minis and are using refillable dispensers or holders for larger bottles.

 

[cocojacoby]

The hotel model is shifting rapidly. Even many of the better hotels are moving away from minis and are using refillable dispensers or holders for larger bottles.

So the providers will be looking for additional places to present their sample products.

 

[pennyk]

So the providers will be looking for additional places to present their sample products.

I was under the impression that hotels pay for the toiletry products, and that they are not given to hotels gratis.

 

[gswager]

Maybe the hotels are working towards reducing plastic footprint.

 

[jis]

I was under the impression that hotels pay for the toiletry products, and that they are not given to hotels gratis.

That is in general correct. They have long term wholesale discount priced contracts usually including an exclusivity clause and occasionally even co-marketing (e. g. United with Cowshed). The big chain hotels do not place random free samples in there bathrooms etc.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

The hotel model is shifting rapidly. Even many of the better hotels are moving away from minis and are using refillable dispensers or holders for larger bottles.

Instead of moderate grade bar soap I'm now presented with pungent "body wash" gel. The hotel benefits from a cheaper product, reduced stocking, easier cleaning, and decreased plumbing maintenance while I receive an objectively worse product with no cost savings whatsoever. Body wash goop employs a strong lingering scent to cover up for the lack of soap-like cleaning chemistry and mainly functions as a low grade wash cloth lubricant.

 

[cocojacoby]

I can't say for sure, but that basket of trinkets on Carnival (shaver, sun screen, lotion, etc.) looks like free samples to me. Seems like a good way to get exposure for your product and most large corps have a promotional budget just for this type of thing.

At the very least Amtrak should explore the possibility.

P.S. Several years ago we went to Hawaii and the hotel had shampoos and lotions from Aveda. We liked them so much that once back in Boston we looked for a store and were a customer for years.

 

[tricia]

Instead of moderate grade bar soap I'm now presented with pungent "body wash" gel. The hotel benefits from a cheaper product, reduced stocking, easier cleaning, and decreased plumbing maintenance while I receive an objectively worse product with no cost savings whatsoever. Body wash goop employs a strong lingering scent to cover up for the lack of soap-like cleaning chemistry and mainly functions as a low grade wash cloth lubricant.

I agree about the smelly, ineffective liquid soaps. Suggest you bring your own bar--better yet, make your own. Most supermarket bar soaps are in effect slaughterhouse byproducts. Make your own, and you can use your own choice of oils (I like mostly olive oil, with 20% coconut oil, a little cocoa butter, and a smidgen of castor oil). Making a batch maybe twice a year keeps us in good soap with no fragrance--and you can size some of your bars to be travel-sized. Requires a few soap-only tools (mold, blender stick, thermometer...), but isn't very time consuming, and not difficult at all: If you can follow a simple recipe, you can make good soap. Worth it, to me at least, to have one fewer thing to complain about.

 

[Rasputin]

The hotel model is shifting rapidly. Even many of the better hotels are moving away from minis and are using refillable dispensers or holders for larger bottles.

I must travel in different circles. I have only seen this a fewl times in the last ten years, including the showers at the Chicago Metropolitan Lounge. Doesn't seem to be much of a trend in my experience but that is only based on my random anecdotal observations. Maybe I just don't get out much.

 

[PVD]

I have seen it more and more, though not universally. Many articles in business and travel publications (also NY Times)

 

[PVD]

Of course, it depends on the hotel. The one I was at 2 weeks ago had the not so good body wash, much as you described it in the shower, but had a very pleasant soap in the dispenser on the sink. Day 2 I put the soap on the wash cloth and used it in the shower. The shampoo was actually pretty good.

 

[jis]

I have seen it more and more, though not universally. Many articles in business and travel publications (also NY Times)

It is more common abroad than in the US at present.

Classier hotels seem to provide both wall mounted shower gel dispenser and small bar soap. Cheaper hotels go for cheaper wall mounted shower gel dispenser only (e.g. Ibis hotels) in my experience in Amsterdam a few months back. Interestingly, that Ibis also does not have a front desk. There are one or two hotel staff walking around in the lobby with iPads, They check you in/out on the iPad and program a key for you (that they pull out a blank for from their pocket) if you need one, and cannot simply use your smartphone delivered eKey. This was all very new for me. I just used an eKey on my iPhone. When it came time, I checked out on my iPhone and walked out the door with the cleared receipt already with me electronically delivered. Of course this is something that I do regularly in the US too.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

I must travel in different circles. I have only seen this a fewl times in the last ten years, including the showers at the Chicago Metropolitan Lounge. Doesn't seem to be much of a trend in my experience but that is only based on my random anecdotal observations. Maybe I just don't get out much.

In my experience the move from traditional soap to shower goop is growing at an accelerated pace and has spread to mid level and higher end hotels in the last few years. That being said, even within a single physical hotel some floors may be converted to shower gel while other floors remain stocked with traditional name brand toiletries, leaving visitors at the same location with differing perceptions.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I must travel in different circles. I have only seen this a fewl times in the last ten years, including the showers at the Chicago Metropolitan Lounge. Doesn't seem to be much of a trend in my experience but that is only based on my random anecdotal observations. Maybe I just don't get out much.

Drury’s have switched, Holiday Inn Express, and Disney Value and Moderate Resorts (maybe deluxe too? Not sure).

Hilton’s and Mariotts seem to still have the physical soaps and bottles.

 

[MJDiAmore]

Maybe the hotels are working towards reducing plastic footprint.

I always assumed this was the case and welcomed the change. Hotel personal hygiene products seem like a massively unnecessary waste. I want them there, but the large bottles are great.

 

[Devil's Advocate]

Maybe the hotels are working towards reducing plastic footprint.

&

I always assumed this was the case and welcomed the change. Hotel personal hygiene products seem like a massively unnecessary waste. I want them there, but the large bottles are great.

I'd agree that most of that stuff is probably a waste for a majority of travelers (do most people really use the tiny lotion, conditioner, mouthwash, shower caps, shoe polishers, etc.?) but the loss of bar soap is definitely missed by me. More recently I've been carrying my own but conventional bar soap doesn't retravel easily and it's annoying to have to bring everything plus the kitchen sink to make up for what hotels no longer provide despite charging more than ever before.

 

[Sauve850]

Lots of articles about hotel companies reducing waste from straws, single use shampoo and even that little bar of soap that's used once or twice then ends up in a landfill. Im fine with that. I bring my own products on trains and to hotels.

 

[Rasputin]

From what I could see over the past year, Omni, Embassy Suites, Clarion, Quality Inn and Travelodge have not switched. Royal St. Charles in New Orleans had switched but if I recall correctly they had already switched when I first stayed there about 8 years ago so it was nothing new.

 

[jiml]

A lot of Marriott properties across the price spectrum have switched in the last year, compared to only a handful previously. They usually arrive with a tub to shower conversion during a remodel. The biggest problem is they're often empty. Even the clear ones, which are easy to check, are neglected by the housekeepers.

 

[crescent-zephyr]

I think it's funny that so many people assume that hotels get all the toiletries for free. People also think hotel restaurants make money... many of them don't. Like dining cars, the restaurants are operated as a convenience for the guests and to put the hotel in a higher class.