Hotels Lying About Toiletry Brands: How Common Is It, And Does It Matter?

I have to say, I really find it disappointing that hotels play these kinds of games, especially over longer periods of time…

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.

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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?