Something is missing from your hotel — and you should know about it before your next trip.
Hotels started cutting corners during the pandemic, and many never stopped. Some things went out the window, from sewing kits to toilet paper to good customer service.
Wait, toilet paper? Yep. A few weeks ago, I was staying at a chain hotel in Lucerne, Switzerland, and my room had no toilet paper. I found a nearby supply closet and restocked my room with this essential item.
“I’ve definitely seen a decline in amenities,” says luxury travel advisor Jenifer Breaux. “The coveted amenities that guests were accustomed to receiving have decreased — or have become non-existent.”
Why are hotels running out of toilet paper?
Yeah, but toilet paper?
OK, I’m willing to give my hotel the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes, housekeepers forget. But I’ve also stayed in other accommodations, including vacation rentals, where there was just half a roll (guests quickly switched to tissues before heading to the grocery store to restock).
Kathleen Panek, who runs a bed and breakfast in Shinnston, W.Va., says the minimum is two spare rolls “and never less three-quarters roll mounted.” But she says part of the problem is that guests sometimes take an extra roll or two with them when they check out.
She recalls talking to a fellow innkeeper who told a remarkable story of a toilet paper thief.
“She was struggling down the stairs with a large suitcase to check out,” she says. “The suitcase slipped and rolled to the bottom of the stairs and flew open, revealing all the toilet paper in the supply closet.”
Here are some other amenities missing from your hotel
What else is missing lately? Here are just a few examples:
Clock radios.
There’s a good reason for this amenity’s disappearance. People no longer rely on the devices to wake up, preferring the alarm on their phone or a wake-up call from the front desk. Also, the devices were a real hassle, say frequent hotel guests like Richard Wong, a retired government worker from Washington, D.C. “Guests forget to deactivate the alarms when they check out, waking their neighbours at 6 a.m.,” he says. Still, some clock radios also had to charge helpful outlets; at least that feature is missing.
Soap.
According to veteran traveller Andy Abramson, all the extras that used to make a hotel stay memorable have vanished. “Mouthwash, sewing kits, individual soaps — I can’t find them anymore,” says Abramson, who runs a communications firm in Las Vegas. “Even if you ask for them, they’re not available.” Again, these small amenities are the victims of cost-cutting, and they’re often presented as an improvement because they make the hotel more sustainable. Hoteliers at luxury resorts say guests frequently complain when they don’t get individual soaps, but it reduces waste, making the hotel more sustainable—maybe not as luxurious.
Housekeeping.
Hotels saw an opportunity to cut housekeeping services during the pandemic, and some took full advantage. Many haven’t brought back daily housekeeping. You’ll only get a change of towels or your room cleaned on demand. “Missing services like housekeeping are probably due to continued cost-cutting measures,” travel coach Ariel Figg explains. Some properties claim that the changes make their hotels more “sustainable.” (Yeah — financially sustainable.)
Here’s the most significant missing item from your hotel.
Maybe the most significant missing item is invisible: adequate customer service.
Andrew Garnett, CEO of Special Needs Group, which organizes travel for people with disabilities, has closely tracked the decline of customer service. He says customer service has slipped in the hospitality industry, which has yet to fully recover from the pandemic.
Hotels quickly blame their customer service issues on staff shortages or supply chain issues, but there’s more to it. As the travel industry breaks record after record, it’s a seller’s market for hotel rooms. They don’t need to take care of you to be successful — so they don’t.
“My advice is to book with a reputable company that cares about their customers’ experience,” says Garnett. “The good ones will do everything they can to care for you.”
Yeah, but how?
What do you do if something is missing from your hotel?
I’ve encountered so many removed items in my hotel room lately that I’ve almost lost count—and I’m not even counting the toilet paper. I’m talking about missing soap, coffee makers, towels, and even pillows.
Ask for a replacement.
The easiest way to get the missing item is to ask for it. Even the worst hotels will respond to a request for a new towel or extra coffee. But you may have to ask twice.
Bring your own.
If it’s something fundamental, don’t rely on the hotel for it. Please bring it with you. I pack my shampoo and soap and always bring my French press to make coffee. The only hotel coffee makers I trust are those pricey Nespresso ones, and you don’t find those too often.
Escalate your case.
Sometimes, when a disappearing amenity doesn’t reappear, you must take your case to the next level. Ask for the manager on duty or the hotel’s general manager. It may take a while, but it will be fine if the hotel can fix it for you. And if that doesn’t work? If you’re at a chain hotel, you can go up one level and contact a manager at the company’s headquarters. I list their names, numbers and email addresses on my consumer advocacy site.
If room rates were reasonable and the hotels were more contrite, guests might be more understanding of these lapses in service and amenities. But instead of apologizing, they often charge extra fees.
“Most offensive is the extra resort fees for services like using the pool or gym, whether or not you want them,” says Mitch Krayton, a travel advisor from Aurora, Colo.
You don’t have to be a hotel analyst to know where this is headed. Hotel rates will come back down as the pendulum swings in our favour. Then it’s payback time. Angry guests will extract cheap rates from the same hotels, cutting their amenities. And the hotels will probably deserve it.
Written by: Christopher Elliott
BIO:
Christopher Elliott is an author, consumer advocate, and journalist. He founded Elliott Advocacy, a nonprofit organization that helps solve consumer problems. He publishes Elliott Confidential, a travel newsletter, and the Elliott Report, a news site about customer service. If you need help with a consumer problem, you can reach him here or email him at [email protected].
