When is a freebie not a freebie?

There seems to be a common and amusing thought process that is shared by anyone who stays in a hotel. Remember that episode of ‘Friends’ in which Ross was packing his suitcase with almost everything that was not fixed to the walls of his hotel room? His suitcase was full of toiletries, flowers and even the toilet roll hanging in the bathroom.

His rationale was that the hotel’s rate covered the cost of all these items so they would not miss them. I don’t know if this is true but, yes, people do take tokens from hotels. Tokens such as the mini bottles of shampoos, conditioners and hand creams. But that is it. They never go beyond that. It’s really about remembering their stay at the hotel; a sort of memorabilia. But many people go beyond that token.

For example, some guests take not just the toiletries but the mini-towels, if the hotel provides them, the writing pad and pen, the leftover tea and coffee sachets, soaps and the bedroom slippers. Now these are items that are not affixed to the room so people are tempted to take them and maybe the hotel expects them to be taken by the guest. But here’s the hilarious but not really funny thing. Some guests will even have the nerve to try and take items that are not really supposed to be taken because they are assets of the hotel.

Assets such as the hairdryer that is screwed to the wall, the kettle, though not fixed, it’s still an asset, lamps, bedding and bathrobes, and anything else such as crockery and cutlery, the taking of which is really tantamount to theft. In fact, most guests doing such things on vacating a room don’t realise that maybe this is one of the reasons hotels insist on credit card details on check-in. If anything huge goes missing from a room, they’ll just charge it to the card. So anyone thinking of doing such bizarre things should remember that what they’re taking is not free.

But some people like to get freebies. I mean, don’t we all? And while the taking of the odd shampoo bottles and coffee sachets is acceptable, the big ticket items are not. That being said, there are plenty of events where you can pick up nice freebies without the staff frowning upon it. In fact, they want you to take them because it’s good advertising for their brands. The places to which I’m referring are exhibitions.

Over the years when I was working, I went to many exhibitions both in England and Dubai. I’ve been to education shows, art shows and library resources exhibitions where the agency I worked for was also exhibiting. Things were there and free to pick up. But I always asked if I could have something and was always met with generosity. One time a young man from the stand opposite ours came over and handed me a mouse pad. I was somewhat taken by surprise but thanked him. It was an unusual thing to do but there you have it.

In fact, I was somewhat of an expert in receiving freebies from other exhibitors in England. My technique was to pick up a bag full of the freebies we gave away and offered a trade to the other exhibitors. One morning one of my older colleagues, who had come out of retirement, asked me to go to every stand in the hall and not come back until I got something for everyone.

And Lawrence was serious. I laughed but he ushered me away and said ‘go’. Off I went and did come back with goodie bags and several reusable bags made from cloth. Unlike today, back in the 90s those types of branded cloth bags were a novelty. The point is that there’s a place for everything. There are some places where picking up items is not acceptable because they are not freebies. And then there are places where freebies may be picked.  One thing I have noticed over the years. The cost of items has gone up so freebies at exhibitions are a rarity. But that doesn’t mean hotels are for the taking.