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One of my dearest friends, a light packer by nature, was telling me about a trip she was about to take overseas and was sharing that she had to be 'compact' because part of her trip involved backpacking and there was no place to leave anything to come back for it. I asked her how she prioritized it and, in a nutshell, she said that every hotel had basic supplies. So, being the plan-for-everything type that I am, I asked what happened if she got to a particular lodge and they didn't have the hotel supplies she expected to be there, like an iron and ironing board, complimentary toiletries and an abundance of towels. Her response was simply that they always have before so why would they now stop carrying selected hotel supplies people counted on? Why, indeed? Hotels do things for a variety of reasons, among them customer service and budgets. Sometimes hotel supplies are removed or phased out because they're no longer useful. Bar soap, for example, is no longer carried by many hotels. If hotels suddenly offered hotel supplies that nobody used, what then? If they're suddenly forced to make budget cutting decisions, and they can make cuts that guests won't notice, such as eliminating seldom used hotel supplies, it's a win-win. However, if you're like my friend and you expect something to be there and it's not, it could well be an issue. So while I'm having this conversation with my friend, I ask her, purely out of curiosity, what she thinks are basic hotel supplies every lodge should carry. Without a second thought she starts ticking off items including a pad and paper, toiletries, towels, a blow dryer and an ironing board, among other hotel supplies. What about an iron? Hangers? She says 'yay' to the iron. Definitely. But, eh, hangers are great but not experience killers. Do you think your list of 'standard amenities' would match the hotel's? Do you have must have items that might be standard hotel supplies but you take them because you can or you prefer them or they make your life easier? I do. As an example, I have a hair towel that's far quicker at absorbing than a standard towel. Like my friend, I assume hotels will offer various hotel supplies like coffee makers, ice buckets, alarm clocks and the like. Do hotels know that my friend and I, and our fellow travelers hold these expectations. The hotel supplies they furnish guest rooms with indicate that they do. We all have expectations when we go places. Some of them affect us, others do not. If a restaurant runs out of steak, for example, you can probably find something else you like, though you may be a bit disappointed. However, missing hotel supplies like linens, towels or toiletries could leave you in a lurch. If you're going on a trip and you're trying to pack light, it's really imperative that the hotel supplies you need but don't want to pack for whatever, are offered by the lodge you're staying in, especially if a hotel's website says they offer desired amenities or hotel supplies. They can in fact make or break your hotel stay.
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