Why do hotels provide bar soap for handwashing but liqiuds for the rest?
August 1, 2024 7:44 AM Subscribe
The trend seems to be for hotels to provide large, wall-mounted liquid bottles of body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and sometimes lotion — but still the old-style bars of soap to wash one's hands in the bathroom. Why this disrepancy?
At every hotel I've stayed at in the last few years, they've switched to large, wall-mounted liquid dispensers for body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and sometimes lotion. I get the reasons for that, or at least I think I do. But they still provide small bars of soap for washing hands at the bathroom sink, and that's what I don't get.
Why this discrepancy? Maybe this is just me, but washing my hands in the bathroom is the time when I would most prefer liquid soap to bar soap. Even if that's idiosyncratic, I still don't get why handwashing soap would be treated differently.
I've found plenty of articles that talk about the general switch to large mounted containers of liquids, but I didn't see any that addressed this question.
At every hotel I've stayed at in the last few years, they've switched to large, wall-mounted liquid dispensers for body wash, shampoo, conditioner, and sometimes lotion. I get the reasons for that, or at least I think I do. But they still provide small bars of soap for washing hands at the bathroom sink, and that's what I don't get.
Why this discrepancy? Maybe this is just me, but washing my hands in the bathroom is the time when I would most prefer liquid soap to bar soap. Even if that's idiosyncratic, I still don't get why handwashing soap would be treated differently.
I've found plenty of articles that talk about the general switch to large mounted containers of liquids, but I didn't see any that addressed this question.
I think it's just a matter of convenience for housekeeping.
posted by niicholas at 8:03 AM on August 1 [4 favorites]
posted by niicholas at 8:03 AM on August 1 [4 favorites]
Soap dispensers get crud under them.
Unless you want to mount an industrial thingy on the wall? Not cute. Where would it go? How far away from the sink are you dripping?
Refilling a screw top soap dispenser is kind of annoying. Refill jugs are heavy.
Your room is out of soap? Someone has to come up there and refill the dispenser, much easier for the front desk to hand you a tidy bar.
Also you touch the pump with poo poo hands. Well maybe not you, but definitely the last guy who used the room.
posted by phunniemee at 8:06 AM on August 1 [7 favorites]
Unless you want to mount an industrial thingy on the wall? Not cute. Where would it go? How far away from the sink are you dripping?
Refilling a screw top soap dispenser is kind of annoying. Refill jugs are heavy.
Your room is out of soap? Someone has to come up there and refill the dispenser, much easier for the front desk to hand you a tidy bar.
Also you touch the pump with poo poo hands. Well maybe not you, but definitely the last guy who used the room.
posted by phunniemee at 8:06 AM on August 1 [7 favorites]
I suspect the logic is that some people want bar soap, maybe not for the sink, but for the shower as well. So hotels have to put bar soap in each room anyways. It's simply a matter of comparing the cost of putting in a soap dispenser, refilling and cleaning it versus just putting the bar soap by the sink, which they would have to do anyways. No surprise that the bar soap is cheaper than providing both.
posted by ssg at 8:10 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]
posted by ssg at 8:10 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]
If the trend is driven by eco/green considerations (or wanting the appearance of being eco/green), the million little plastic containers for the liquid/gel toiletries were the problem. Bar soap is relatively eco-friendly in that way, it doesn't necessitate single-use plastic waste. So maybe it just doesn't yield the same benefits (either real eco benefits or appearance of eco benefits) to eliminate it?
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:28 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:28 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]
I wouldn't look to any other answer other than money - it's about how quickly housekeeping can turn a room.
I'm with phunniemee, shower dispensers skip the restocking of little bottles and are kind of self-cleaning (the drips and overspill get washed down the drain) but cleaning a messy pump on a countertop takes a lot of valuable time. Much quicker to toss the used bar, wipe it all down, and replace it.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:30 AM on August 1 [2 favorites]
I'm with phunniemee, shower dispensers skip the restocking of little bottles and are kind of self-cleaning (the drips and overspill get washed down the drain) but cleaning a messy pump on a countertop takes a lot of valuable time. Much quicker to toss the used bar, wipe it all down, and replace it.
posted by JoeZydeco at 8:30 AM on August 1 [2 favorites]
Bar soap leaves soap scum that needs to be scrubbed from showers. Shower gels don't.
But the little bar still gives provides the fresh-wrapped-just- for- you feeling of luxury.
posted by Dashy at 8:38 AM on August 1 [6 favorites]
But the little bar still gives provides the fresh-wrapped-just- for- you feeling of luxury.
posted by Dashy at 8:38 AM on August 1 [6 favorites]
Much quicker to toss the used bar, wipe it all down, and replace it.
That tossed bar is likely to get recycled [YT 1m].
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:39 AM on August 1 [4 favorites]
That tossed bar is likely to get recycled [YT 1m].
posted by BobTheScientist at 8:39 AM on August 1 [4 favorites]
We stay in a lot of hotels and it seems like that's changing. We still get the little bars in the crapper brands of the national chains, but we stayed somewhere last weekend that had a traditional home-style (but same brand as the shower supplies) pump bottle hand soap on the counter, and a month or two back there was the same kind of wall-mount dispenser by the sink as in the shower, with hand soap and lotion.
I suspect that aside from longer-term purchasing contracts, many hotels have found that people are weird about the little soaps and the complaint rate is high if they're missing. I kinda get it, because every time I look at those dispensers all I can think is "what all is really in there though?"
posted by Lyn Never at 8:44 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]
I suspect that aside from longer-term purchasing contracts, many hotels have found that people are weird about the little soaps and the complaint rate is high if they're missing. I kinda get it, because every time I look at those dispensers all I can think is "what all is really in there though?"
posted by Lyn Never at 8:44 AM on August 1 [3 favorites]
I hope it's okay to link this, because it feels obligatory. Excellent comment from herrdoktor. Hotel soap bars 4evar.
posted by theora55 at 9:18 AM on August 1 [12 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 9:18 AM on August 1 [12 favorites]
Having managed facilities with mounted hand soap dispensers + kids, bar soaps are much superior. Kids play with getting the soap out, stick things up the dispenser, and pull the dispenser off the wall to see how it works. I predict hotels installing them will regret it.
At least most kids are supervised in the shower.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:20 AM on August 1
At least most kids are supervised in the shower.
posted by warriorqueen at 9:20 AM on August 1
Clarification: Little kids :)
posted by warriorqueen at 9:22 AM on August 1
posted by warriorqueen at 9:22 AM on August 1
I think this is changing as well - I have stayed in three hotels over the last week and one Vrbo and it was 50:50 hand soap dispensers v bars.
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:40 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]
posted by koahiatamadl at 9:40 AM on August 1 [1 favorite]
Some places are banning the single-use bottles, but that doesn't apply to the soaps.
posted by wintersweet at 10:53 AM on August 1
posted by wintersweet at 10:53 AM on August 1
My skin reacts badly to almost all liquid soap, ranging from “why do I itch all over” to “nasty rash that can turn into an infection requiring antibiotics”.
So I rely on the tiny bar soaps for shower purposes too. (I already bring my own shampoo, I don’t want to have to bring my own damn soap when regular cheapass bar soap is fine)
posted by nat at 11:00 AM on August 1
So I rely on the tiny bar soaps for shower purposes too. (I already bring my own shampoo, I don’t want to have to bring my own damn soap when regular cheapass bar soap is fine)
posted by nat at 11:00 AM on August 1
Soap dispensers make me think of public bathrooms.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:33 PM on August 1 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 12:33 PM on August 1 [1 favorite]
Luxury hotels still use beautifully wrapped small hand soaps.
posted by Czjewel at 12:45 PM on August 1
posted by Czjewel at 12:45 PM on August 1
Because they've still got boxfuls of bar soap they need to use up?
posted by Paul Slade at 2:47 PM on August 1
posted by Paul Slade at 2:47 PM on August 1
They seem to be moving to liquid hand soap too, just more slowly than converting to big bottles of shampoo.
posted by Sparky Buttons at 7:58 PM on August 1
posted by Sparky Buttons at 7:58 PM on August 1
I feel like sometimes those little bars are labeled as "facial soap" -- I wonder if some people use them to wash their face (I cannot IMAGINE, but who knows). Liquid hand soap isn't really a good substitute for something that's suitable for face washing.
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 6:17 AM on August 2
posted by leftover_scrabble_rack at 6:17 AM on August 2
I don't know, but I have the same policy at home:
-->Bar soap for the sink (not because I favor bar soap--I don't--but because people will give you scented soap for every random gift occasion, so I always have a glut of it [if the soap smells good, I store it in closets and dresser drawers to impart its whiff to clothes]);
-->only detergent-ey stuff in the shower (because soap scum is a nightmare to clean off of a large area, but you can get it off a sink and sink taps in seconds flat).
posted by Don Pepino at 9:27 AM on August 2
-->Bar soap for the sink (not because I favor bar soap--I don't--but because people will give you scented soap for every random gift occasion, so I always have a glut of it [if the soap smells good, I store it in closets and dresser drawers to impart its whiff to clothes]);
-->only detergent-ey stuff in the shower (because soap scum is a nightmare to clean off of a large area, but you can get it off a sink and sink taps in seconds flat).
posted by Don Pepino at 9:27 AM on August 2
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Maybe it's the design of the bathroom? Most hotels I've stayed at, there's a huge mirror and a wide counter with the sink in the middle, so there's rarely any open wall space near the sink. Maybe trying to figure out a permanent under-counter or countertop dispenser (to prevent theft) is just too much, so the soap bars wind up being easier?
posted by xedrik at 8:02 AM on August 1