United Kingdom
United States
Asia Pacific
Marriott to phase out miniature plastic toiletries
From the end of next year there will be one less thing for hotel guests to swipe from Marriott hotel rooms.
The world’s largest hotel chain is removing small plastic toiletry bottles.
The small shampoo, conditioner and shower gel bottles will be eliminated from all hotels worldwide by December 2020.
With more than 7,000 hotels, that amounts to 500 million small bottles each year and about 1.7 million pounds of plastic.
The move comes after rival hotel giant, IHG, announced it was also phasing out miniature toiletries by the end of 2021.
According to Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson the company has been meaning to ditch them for years but has struggled to find suitable larger dispensers.
Now it has been able to source sufficient supplies of suitable tamper-resistant large bottles.
"There were a lot of technical features to this that we had to get right," Sorenson said.
The new dispensers will still be plastic but will be tamper resistant and hold at least 10 times the amount of shampoo or shower gel.
They are also easier to recycle.
Marriott began replacing small bottles with larger ones or pump dispensers at some US hotels and feedback has been positive based on guest surveys.
"More and more people have a general consciousness of it. They don’t want to be leaving half-empty bottles," said Denise Naguib, Marriott’s vice president of sustainability and supplier diversity.
Naguib said lower tier brands will have wall dispensers while luxury brands will have large freestanding bottles.
Sorenson said some complaints are inevitable, especially from light-fingered guests who like to pilfer hotel shampoo bottles to take home as a souvenir.
"Human nature is what it is and we resist change but people understand that this is so much better."
TravelMole Editorial Team
Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
Mark Jaronski of Explore Georgia on FIFA World Cup 2026
Connecting Small Businesses to Global Tourism Markets: Nate Huff of Tourism Exchange
North Carolina’s Resilience: Wit Tuttell on Recovery and Tourism
Kittipong Prapattong’s Plan for Thailand’s Tourism Growth: Taxes, Visas, and Campaigns
James Jin: Didatravel’s Journey from China to Global Reach and the Impact of AI on Travel
Darien Schaefer on Pensacola’s Evolution: From Small Town to Global Destination
Florida Tourism’s Next Frontier: Dana Young on Expanding Beyond the Classics
Patrick Harrison on Tampa Bay Tourism’s Resilience and Marketing Strategy
Bubba O’Keefe on Clarksdale’s Vibrant Music Scene
Commemorating Elvis and Embracing Tupelo’s Culture with Jennie Bradford Curlee
Craig Ray and the Expansion of the Blues Trail
Presenting Mississippi’s Cultural Trails with Katie Coats
BA suspending all Heathrow to Abu Dhabi flights
Turkish Airlines flight in emergency landing after pilot dies
Unexpected wave rocks cruise ship
Woman dies after going overboard in English Channel
Foreign Office issues travel advisory for winter sun destinations