I have to say, I really find it disappointing that hotels play these kinds of games, especially over longer periods of time…
In this post:
Some hotels promise one brand of toiletries, deliver another
Over the past several years, we’ve seen a vast majority of major hotels transition from offering single-use toiletries and bath amenities, to providing them in refillable containers. Presumably the motive here is both financial and environmental.
I don’t actually mind this, though admittedly many people liked taking home hotel toiletries, and that’s no longer possible (well, some hotels let you take home the bigger containers, but then bill you for them).
Even with reusable containers, most hotel groups continue to have partnerships with certain brands for their toiletries, as it’s a win-win collaboration — hotel get discounts on toiletries, and brands can show off their products, in hopes of consumers buying them directly.
That brings us to an interesting situation, which was first discussed several weeks back (I didn’t write about it at the time, because I didn’t have pictures proving this). JdV is one of Hyatt’s independent lifestyle brands, and as a brand standard, these hotels have Jonathan Adler bath amenities. It’s something the brand heavily promotes. 
However, with reusable containers, it’s hard to know what product is actually being placed inside the bottles. Several weeks back, View from the Wing flagged how the Wild Palms Hotel in Sunnydale, California, was actually filling its reusable Jonathan Adler toiletries with Drift products, which are way, way cheaper.
When this was exposed online, the hotel didn’t switch back to the promised products, but instead, simply removed the Drift labels from these bottles, to leave less of a “trail.”
Despite that, the hotel’s amenities page continues to promote how it offers “Jonathan Adler Branded bath toiletries.”
The most recent set of pictures were taken by a reader in recent days, and he asked to remain anonymous. So it’s clear the hotel still hasn’t changed this practice, despite being exposed.
I feel like this practice is getting much more common
Look, I’m not some diva who thinks it’s inhumane to provide Drift amenities, and there are certainly bigger problems in the world. However, I still think this is a really unethical practice.
For one, it’s unfair to the toiletry partner, Jonathan Adler, when a different product is being passed off as being from that supplier, when really it isn’t. It’s also just plain unethical to market that you’re offering a certain product when you aren’t. It would be like Delta pouring Andre Brut in Dom Perignon bottles, and claiming it serves Dom Perignon on all Delta One flights.
Here’s the thing — ever since this story about the Wild Palms Hotel, I’ve been paying a bit more attention to housekeeping carts. I’m not meticulously photographing them or rummaging through them, but I can’t help but peek at them as I walk past, and look at the toiletry situation.
I’ve been surprised by how many containers I’ve seen that don’t look in any obvious way like they’re from the toiletry partner that’s advertised. Now, since I’ve started looking, I haven’t seen mismatched branding, but instead, I’ve just seen a lot of unmarked containers, which can’t help but make me wonder if the actual policies are being followed.
I feel like this practice is much more widespread than we realize, and quite a few hotels are promising one branded product, while delivering another.
Bottom line
Nowadays it’s common for hotel toiletries to be in reusable containers, rather than in single-use bottles. Most hotel groups still have a toiletry partner, which is supposed to be mutually beneficial, since the hotel can feature a premium brand, while the brand partner can be exposed to a large potential client base.
However, at least some hotels are marketing one product, while filling branded containers with another product. One particular Hyatt has been doing this for quite some time. The more I observe hotel housekeeping carts, the more I think this is actually a fairly common practice.
I think it’s really low to see hotels playing this game. It’s totally fine to offer just random toiletries, but don’t serve people Andre and claim it’s Dom Perignon.
Where do you stand on this hotel toiletry controversy?
I recently stayed at a Grand Hyatt. Loved the hotel. They supposedly use Balmain toiletry. They smelled and felt industrial. No way they are Balmain.
Stayed at this exact hotel and wrote a review on TripAdvisor calling out this exact issue. Received a generic response from the manager that they would be taking the feedback seriously and addressing them with the team. This was back in May 2025…
I think both brands would just be more upset with being associated at all with Wild Palms. What a disgusting flophouse. I did a few mattress runs there when it was a cat 1, made the mistake of actually staying one night. Just gross.
Nothing about the Wild Palms Hotel surprises me. It's a real dump. I made the mistake of booking there once; left after two hours
For me, it makes no difference as I am one of the unfortunates allergic to scents, fragrances, certain chemicals, etc., so I must carry my own tiny bottles of "safe" toiletries. It's a pain, but better than ending up in emergency.
I spend 60+ nights a year in hotels. The quality of the bulk bath products in many hotel are questionable at best. The only hotels that have been consistent for me are the IHG hotels using the Dove brand bath products. Maybe their cost is low enough that it would serve little purpose substituting something different. The situation of finding the refillable bottles empty are a constant annoyance.
This isn't just "unethical" it's straight out lying to consumers.
Ben you really do know how to entertain the proletariat or are they entertaining you?
Back in the day when hotels started moving away from small containers to these stupid refillable bottles, most travel bloggers and readers praised them for “saving the planet”. I raised my concerns about exactly what you described here. It is much much harder for hotels to mess up with quality of small bottles but super easy to do what’s happening here. Also, I have dozens of instances where I went to take a shower and...
Back in the day when hotels started moving away from small containers to these stupid refillable bottles, most travel bloggers and readers praised them for “saving the planet”. I raised my concerns about exactly what you described here. It is much much harder for hotels to mess up with quality of small bottles but super easy to do what’s happening here. Also, I have dozens of instances where I went to take a shower and one of the bottles were empty and most of them are not transparent so lazy housekeepers don’t bother to check them. Stayed at a very upscale hotel the other day which had refillable LeLabo bottles. Shampoo was so watered down that had to use half bottle to wash my hair. Total scam that all brainwashed planet savers promoted.
Maybe spend a day working as a housekeeper before you call them "lazy." But point taken when they made the switch this created a new responsibility that I am certain they were in no way compensated for performing.
Sorry, they have one job: ensure the room is ready for the next customer. It is their job!! You can’t check the stupid shampoo bottle to see it is empty? Also, if that is the new standard, at least make them all transparent so it makes the housekeeper’s lives easier.
I assume the hotel is in Sunnyvale (the wealthy Bay Area suburb) and not Sunnydale (the fictional town on the hellmouth in Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
Yeah. In industrial sizes you are getting an industrial product of dubious quality. Sometimes with a tiny measure of a licensed scent added. Best to hope for a sample sachet of a genuine product from top tier boutique hotels
Couldn’t care less… half of these promised branded toiletries are from designers/brands that don’t actually produce or sell toiletries, prime example being Jonathan Adler. It’s simply a licensing/white labelling agreement and always has been.
Was a GM a while. This is more about advertising and brand association than providing a branded product experience. Yes ideally thats whats in the bottle but far more people are exposed to the branding and advertising then people who use the product and are disappointed in some way. But its going to happen, and a lot. Anything from supply chain issues to rogue managers or any other scenario. The uncommon scenario is leaving the...
Was a GM a while. This is more about advertising and brand association than providing a branded product experience. Yes ideally thats whats in the bottle but far more people are exposed to the branding and advertising then people who use the product and are disappointed in some way. But its going to happen, and a lot. Anything from supply chain issues to rogue managers or any other scenario. The uncommon scenario is leaving the incriminating labels on the bottles. The entire hk department failed there. Kinda crazy.
Don't give Ed that idea, he might do it.
Is this false advertising or breach of contract?
"It’s also just plain unethical to market that you’re offering a certain product when you aren’t"
Oh, you mean like United stating window seat when there is no darn window?
Outside of true luxury properties, you're taking a chance with hotel toiletries. Even the "nicer" products can be heavily diluted compared to the normal product that you would purchase at a store, and contain so many chemicals. I always travel with my own shampoo and conditioner for this reason.
"so many chemicals."
LOL -- what the hell do you think these things are made of? Every.single.one is a concoction of chemicals.
So, next time I will pay my 5000 dollar hotel bill with a 5000 yen banknote. It's 5000, after all, just not the same brand...
Soon enough, it will be 5000 Rubles.
I’ve been really grossed out twice as a result of this practice, before I became aware of how common it is. The first was at a Hyatt Regency. I know from many previous stays that the Phamacopia shampoo is supposed to be transparent in appearance, but this time it wasn’t. I was convinced someone had maliciously put something in the bottle, because what I had just pumped into my hand clearly didn’t look right. The...
I’ve been really grossed out twice as a result of this practice, before I became aware of how common it is. The first was at a Hyatt Regency. I know from many previous stays that the Phamacopia shampoo is supposed to be transparent in appearance, but this time it wasn’t. I was convinced someone had maliciously put something in the bottle, because what I had just pumped into my hand clearly didn’t look right. The second time was at a Thompson and their DS Durga product is in clear bottles. I now believe the refill product wasn’t mixing well with original and it looked like something nefarious was put into it and was oozing down to the bottom of the bottle, but at the time I thought otherwise and reported it to the front desk and had them send up a fresh bottle. Those bottles aren’t even tamper resistant which made it even more alarming. I imagine this could potentially end up costing the hotels more in the long run, especially if they get sued, but also if they have to spend more money on new dispensers if they lose their brand affiliation or lose the confidence of the guests because the containers are too easy to open and refill.
After having read some article about how teenagers amuse themselves by urinating into those containers I have never used anything that comes out of these gallon-size wall-mounted containers. Some hotels provide mini-size bottles if you specifically request them.
Of course it matters. Lying matters. Full stop.
How would you like if you ordered a vodka martini with Belvedere and instead there's Absolut in that bottle? You're assuming that what's in that bottle matches the label. News flash, switches like this do happen and it's not ok. There was a massive story on this about restaurants switching qualities of fish and steak.
Yup. It's been known for years (decades?) that the majority of seafood is mislabeled. Doesn't seem to matter much how much you pay or where you buy it from.
Yesterday, I was thinking about how I'm currently staying at a Le Méridien, and the shampoo, conditioner and body wash are three different, quite distinct scents—meaning if they were switched for a different brand, or just put in the wrong bottle, people would notice.
It would be a great experiment for them to switch the shampoo and body wash and see how long before anyone noticed.
This was the first time I’ve heard of Jonathan Adler OR Drift. Ditto for 99% of the *premium* brands you mention in your reviews.
Are there ppl out there who are passionate about these brands or are we all just pretending we’re fancy?
As I read somewhere, all this stuff comes out of the same giant chemical plants in the New Jerseys of the world.
But, that said, I agree it’s still unethical...
This was the first time I’ve heard of Jonathan Adler OR Drift. Ditto for 99% of the *premium* brands you mention in your reviews.
Are there ppl out there who are passionate about these brands or are we all just pretending we’re fancy?
As I read somewhere, all this stuff comes out of the same giant chemical plants in the New Jerseys of the world.
But, that said, I agree it’s still unethical to Mr Adler and his brand for a hotel to misrepresent it.
And all this maid cart “exposing” will just kick it up the chain and they’ll start refilling their old Jonathan Adler gallon jugs with whatever other product.
Seems like the best way to get this addressed is by informing the company that owns the brand the hotel is supposed to be providing. Between revenue they aren’t receiving from orders and the misrepresentation of their brand with cheaper crap, they’ll have many incentives (and strong legal claims) to get the hotel back in line.
Agreed, this is a brand damage lawsuit waiting to happen
Yea to this. The ones that expect to get more exposure are getting waxed. Think about if one of those high end brands actually got a bad rapport with travelers bc they were being presumed to be smelling like Irish spring or some of the cheap crap I used to use
I informed a brand once and they did not care.
I agree, unless, of course, this is something the brand is aware of and endorses. It is entirely possible that the contract states that Jonathan Adler is paying Hyatt for placement of their logo bottles in rooms, and allows them to fill those bottles with “approved” cheaper toiletries. As most people know, even more famous brands smell and fell different at hotels, and explain this by the use of hotel-only versions of the products. Could...
I agree, unless, of course, this is something the brand is aware of and endorses. It is entirely possible that the contract states that Jonathan Adler is paying Hyatt for placement of their logo bottles in rooms, and allows them to fill those bottles with “approved” cheaper toiletries. As most people know, even more famous brands smell and fell different at hotels, and explain this by the use of hotel-only versions of the products. Could be an interesting research idea if any journalist is reading…
"As most people know..."
I don't think most people know this.
"...even more famous brands smell and fell different at hotels, and explain this by the use of hotel-only versions of the products. Could be an interesting research idea if any journalist is reading…"
Prime example is Acca Kappa; the brand sells soaps made in Italy, while many of the hotel soaps (and some sold in stores) are made in China (and even labelled as such, so they do get points for honesty).
While I don't doubt you, I'm kinda of surprised they'd do this. Like if they are cool with a "good enough" alternative that they figure will give them brand equity with guests, why are they even bothering making their retail version any better?
My favorite brand tie-up was with the beautifully descriptive bath product brand "Toilet Paper" (not kidding) shampoo, body gel and conditioner at the Parkhotel Surenburg in Riesenbeck, Germany. It was possibly the worst smelling stuff I have ever run across, so I guess on that level it delivered on the brand promise. I don't think they were cheating on the refills, at least, so points for honesty all around.
Most toiletries are produced similarly and the only difference is the label.
As someone who grew up using the cheapest toiletries sold at Walmart, I can assure you this is false.
I agree you can tell the cheap stuff, but in my experience it’s bc of the smell and maybe color. Of course that can ruin the whole experience. I’m not fancy but I’ll throw a few extra bucks in for something that smells nice.
Curious — did you notice a difference in your hair/skin after using them?
The cheaper products are more likely to leave residue or buildup in the hair and definitely don’t moisturize well.
“ It would be like Delta pouring Andre Brut in Dom Perignon bottles, and claiming it serves Dom Perignon on all Delta One flights.”
BA does it in First putting cheaper bubbles into the Premium champagne bottles and routinely claiming they pour you the premium one vs the cheaper. They would even put some sparkling water when they're running out
I caught them twice and reported them
12500 avios compensation
So no surprise hotels do something like that
This sound like a load of bollocks!
I could privately send it to you the apologetic pre-canned email from Ba. But there are more than a few reports of this in flyertalk. All you need to do is check for yourself when you travel.
Unless your travels are restricted to watching other people youtube feeds so you have an idealized version of airline and hospitality services. These things happen in every hotel and restaurant and on many flights.
Wrong!!!! You said they don't let you take home toiletries. So far, no hotel employee has stopped me from bringing empty travel size bottles and completely emptying the bottles in the bathroom to take home. I get way more this way than the 1oz bottles they uses to give.
Haha I’m impressed
Gary at VFTW says that pranksters deposit every imaginable body fluid in those containers. Enjoy.
And you believe that, Fred?
I'm guilty of sometimes doing that with the conditioner, as I never know whether the next hotel/lounge shower will have any available. Only up to 90ml at a time though!
I bet you are really fun to hang out with.
I bet you are really fun to hang out with!
Meh. 3 oz of product from a giant commercial refill container is costing them what, $0.12? Maybe? Not going to comment on the ethics of what you’re doing but I don’t think anyone is hurting. And there’s no environmental waste, assuming you use those refills eventually.
If it is “unethical,” it’s unethical the same way it is to take a handful of mints from the big jar instead of just one.
LMAOL love this. Savage
I can’t find a single YouTube video or TikTok of anyone tampering with the bottles. If this was a popular “prank” you’d think the pranksters would be trying to get clicks?
I agree it might be about as common as putting razor blades in halloween candy. That said, the unfortunate thing is all it takes is one person to get inspired and do it for real, post it, and then it actually does become "popular."
I hate it here.