When we visit hotels, the most important things that go into our bookings are the price and location. Other things which might stand out are an easy check-in process, comfortable bed and clean bathroom.

Another important thing are the amenities. Some hotels offer free breakfast, have a nice gym and maybe even a pool.

One popular amenity could soon be disappearing from hotels- mini shampoo bottles.

Kim sent me an article from the Wall Street Journal, The Beginning of the End for Those Tiny Shampoo Bottles.

The article mentions how the, “little bottles of shampoo, conditioner and body wash in hotels- icons of travel- are disappearing, replaced by bulk dispensers mounted on the shower walls.”

In recent years, I’ve noticed and I’m sure that many of you have seen this change at various hotels. I’m not a fan of the change since I like to take some of the bottles home as a functional souvenir. (The mini bottles come in handy for Airbnb stays and if you run out of shampoo at home.)

WSJ reports that Marriott is switching to the wall mounted bottles at 450 hotels across five brands and could eventually increase to 1,500 hotels in North America by next year. InterContinental will be introducing this change at four brands in 2018  while already using the larger bottles in showers at Kimpton properties.

Using large, wall mounted bottles are a bit cheaper to supply but more importantly, they’re much better for the environment.

I never thought of it this way before, but the small bottles might not be enough soap for families staying in a room while the large bottles provide more than enough to share.

Of course there are also issues with the large bottles. Imagine getting in the shower to find the bottles empty!

A couple of hotel chains plan to keep the mini bottles- Choice Hotels and Wyndham. After doing some research, Wyndham will actually be increasing the sizes of the mini bottles from 30 milliliters to 50 milliliters. By doing this, they’re actually encouraging guests to take the bottles home.

What do you think of this change coming to many hotels? Will you miss the mini bottles or do you prefer the shower mounted and more environmentally friendly larger bottles?

Find out more from the WSJ here. (I was able to read the full article in Apple News. On my computer a subscription was required to open the full article.)