The End of the Icons of Travel: Tiny Shampoo Bottles

Have you ever used the hotel complimentary shampoo bottles placed in your bathtub when traveling? You probably have and let's be honest although they are like what we use on the daily, using the hotel's complimentary bottles of shampoo creates a different experience and adds on to the excitement of traveling. However, travelers will no longer enjoy that luxury because hotels will no longer provide their guests with these icons of travel. Hotels are replacing those little bottles of shampoo with bulk dispensers mounted on the wall.  

The Marriott and InterContinental Hotel Group chains are changing from little bottles of shampoo to wall-mounted dispensers. According to hotels, having wall-mounted dispensers reduces costs saving about $2,000 a year per hotel. Hotels also say that having these large dispensers is better for the environment due to the vast amount of half-full bottles that are thrown away every

year. 

Although the studies that several hotel chains conducted resulting in the discovery that travelers preferred the wall-mounted dispensers, there are others that say the large dispensers convey a low-class look.  Dennis Lennox, a strategic communications consultant said, "What's next, getting rid of the packs of coffee and making us scoop out of a can?", clearly demonstrating that he disagrees with the idea of larger dispensers. Hotel chains say that placing wall-mounted dispensers would allow them to offer higher-quality products such as the implementation of Paul Mitchell's products in the Marriott brands.

This article is quite interesting because it is part of a bigger problem that the world is facing today: landfill waste. To better understand the hotel's perspective as to why they want to make this change, a SWOT analysis can be conducted, studying the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that this change has. 

Strengths:

•  Reduces Costs
•  Help customers not struggle with the quantity of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash but rather having a vast amount of each in wall-mounted dispensers

Weaknesses:

•  The low-class look that the wall-mounted dispensers convey

Opportunities:

•  Beat competition because hotels will now be able to offer luxury brand shampoo, conditioner, and body wash
•  Help make the environment a cleaner and safer place by not contributing to the large masses of waste in landfills

Threats:

•  Lose customers that want to have small sized toiletries to the competition that continues to offer them
•  Complaints from customers regarding the sanitation of the dispensers

Now, what do you think? Should hotels implement this change from tiny bottles of shampoo to wall-mounted dispensers?

Written by Elsy Perez
WSJ Article:The Beginning of the End for Those Tiny Shampoo Bottles