While this ranks way down on the list of things that matter in the world, I’m now quite invested in the answer to this, based on a reader’s research up until this point. Let me explain.
In this post:
What’s wrong with the MOMO products from W Hotels?
OMAAT reader Chris recently stayed at the W Hotel Amsterdam, and said he noticed how watery the MOMO shampoo was. Initially he thought that maybe a previous guest had diluted it, but then he got a replacement bottle, and had the same problem. So he wondered if the hotel was playing games in order to save some money, or what.
What’s awesome is that he didn’t just wonder what the answer to the question is, but he also actually investigated further. So he bought a bottle of the MOMO shampoo from Marriott’s online store, had it delivered to his home, and… the product had exactly the same issue he found at the hotel.
He even shared the below video comparing the products. On the left is the shampoo bought from Marriott’s store, while on the right is the same shampoo bought directly from Davines, which produces the MOMO products.
Out of curiosity, I asked Chris if he could share the ingredients labels for the two bottles. You can find those below — based on a cursory glance they look very similar, though some terms being used do differ. If I’m missing anything obvious, please let me know.
Chris commented the following:
This whole thing strikes me as astonishingly poor quality control from Marriott for one of their most premium brands; are we really saying nobody at Marriott has noticed this widespread and systemic issue? Or have they noticed, and just don’t care?
Chris also pointed out how while both bottles say “made in Italy,” the product intended for W Hotels additionally references a UK-based company named Angel Consulting, so one wonders what their involvement is in this.
I don’t have a strong theory here, but I’m curious…
As I said at the beginning of the post, this is hardly the most important topic in the world, but I sure am now invested in the answer as to what’s going on here. I love how Chris took his experiment so far that he even ordered the same product through two separate channels to see how they compare.
Based on the above video, there’s simply no denying that almost anyone would want their shampoo to look more like what’s on the right, than what’s on the left, as the latter looks mighty watery.
That raises the question of what’s going on here. Is the shampoo really formulated to be that watery? This doesn’t seem like a fluke, since this is how the shampoo was on-property and via the online store.
If this is in fact formulated differently, is the primary difference just that the one for W Hotels is watered down? If so, that’s a very strange way to go about coming up with a special formula…
Bottom line
W Hotels has a partnership with MOMO for bath products. In theory that’s a good brand, but an OMAAT reader reports how the formulation seems a bit off. He found it was so watery at the W Amsterdam that he decided to order a bottle from Marriott’s online store, only to find the same problem. Meanwhile if you buy the product direct, it doesn’t have that problem.
Anyone have a theory as to what’s going on here?
I bring my own "tar" shampoo , which is better than any hotel or airline shampoo .
I bring my own "tar" shampoo , which is better than any hotel shampoo .
I've mentioned this before, but when I was working for a soap company, it was common knowledge that the hotels are merely paying for the logo/appearance and signature fragrances from the high-end companies like Momo. The actual product bases that are used are bulk produced (usually in China) and simply white-labeled and drop shipped to the hotels.
Yes, that’s correct. But some companies - such as Molton Brown - have declined a branding only deal and insist on their “genuine” product in the hotel bottles. But, really - how many people are going to notice this? This is in the intersect of attention to detail, staying in a hotel long enough to notice/care and not bringing their own hair/beauty products. That’s a small intersect (mostly male) vs the large marketing fee on offer
Did you try asking Marriott for an explanation?
Thank you for posting stuff like this. Name and shame!!
So, a while back, you posted about the service carts having gallon jugs of slosh, instead of what the label inside the rooms list. It would definitely appear that hotels are lying about the contents of the shampoos.
Hyatt does this with Le Labo. All of the Park Hyatt Le Labo stuff is made in Malaysia by what appears to be some sort of third party called "Woleco Hotel Supplies". "Real" Le Labo is typically made in the USA.
Though the hotel Le Labo stuff seems to generally be of a decent quality compared to the "Real" stuff, in other words I don't see too much difference with it than the stuff I have bought direct.
Pure speculation/opinion, not claims of fact: Marriott licensed the brand, "Angel Consulting" value engineered it into something super cheap to buy in the millions of gallons, W now gets to pretend it is offering a luxury product when it is selling something far less than that. Seems like a pretty risky bet for a "luxury" amenity brand-who is going to buy your real product when they've only been exposed to an authorized but lower quality "knock-off"?
May of the Acca Kappa bar soaps are made in China, and are labelled as such.
I'm at a Marriott at the moment, and they (not Marriott, but the manufacturer) has *drilled holes* that run the length of the teeny bar soaps, so really, a "bar" of soap is good for one use.
The cheapening of hotel amenities marches on apace.
Bonvoyd again!
At least there still providing bar soap. So many hotels now want you to take the risk of using only bath gel in community bottles in the shower.