Le Labo lament: Travelers say bon voyage to mini shampoo bottles at hotels

Consider this the summer of soap slashing.

The membership base of Equinox practically stormed the Bastille, er, shampoo closet with pitchforks earlier this year after the luxury gym chain ended its 13-year relationship with Kiehl’s in favor of one with Grown Alchemist. TikTok erupted with disgruntled members taking to video and threatening membership cancellation over the soap switcheroo — and to pour one out for the golden days of pumping Kiehl’s Creme de Corps into small bottles for later use. (We at TPG do not advocate this behavior, but keep in mind that Grown Alchemist is just as much a luxe skincare and bath product line as Kiehl’s.)

But as the dust settled in Equinox locker rooms, the state of New York unfurled its own bit of toiletry tomfoolery this week. Hotels with 50 or more rooms can no longer offer mini bottles of soap, shampoo, conditioner and lotion beginning next year, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. Smaller properties with fewer than 50 rooms have until the beginning of 2026 to comply with the new law.

This means, depending on where you’re staying, you can expect to see more wall-mounted soap, shampoo and conditioner dispensers — or at least very decorative bottles holding toiletries.

This also means the lights are dimming on the era of pilfering an unattended housekeeping cart or, say, banking on an upgrade to a suite with two full bathrooms at the Hyatt Regency JFK Airport just to have access to multiple complete sets of Le Labo Hinoki products. I’m only speaking hypothetically, of course. What kind of person would do that?!

Yes, the travel orbit more than understands this is the right thing to do from a sustainability and waste management standpoint. Further, it’s not like the New York law is forcing something new on travelers: Most hotel companies are already moving in the direction of refillable bottles meant to stay in one’s hotel room rather than mini bottles that find their way into a guest’s luggage.

Related: Hotel CEOs on price gouging, daily housekeeping and mini bottles of shampoo

IHG Hotels & Resorts partners with Dove’s parent company, Unilever, for larger-sized amenities across its mainstream brands like Holiday Inn Express and Candlewood Suites. But IHG’s ultraluxury Six Senses brand led the charge in the high-end hotel space, moving toward larger dispensers over mini bottles. It’s becoming more of a rarity to find mini bottles these days than not across each of the major hotel companies.

“It's the right thing to do from a waste management standpoint,” said Nicolas Graf, associate dean and clinical professor at New York University’s Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality. “We need to educate travelers as to what really makes sense in terms of sustainable practices in hotels. I think the bottle of shampoo is one thing, but I think the second one is probably around buffet and food.”

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Graf is right: The travel industry can do so much more when it comes to sustainability, and it is clearly moving in the right direction.

But as I was reading up on the new law earlier this week, I couldn’t help but feel a little selfish sadness for my future house guests. Your days of having a variety of mini bottles of Aesop and Diptyque products from luxury hotels around the world are up, people! (Of course, saving the planet and preventing landfill overflow takes top priority over my weekend guests having access to mini bottles of Santal 33 shower gel.)

Alas, I wasn’t the only one feeling a little bit of mini Le Labo lament this week.

I granted anonymity to a few jet-setters to weigh in on the change, and — while everyone more than understood the sustainability push behind the move — there was also a tone akin to trying to score one last martini at the last call of one’s favorite bar.

One source from an undisclosed international location boasted of already having 13 mini bottles of St. Regis bath products in his checked bag and was hoping to increase that number to 16 after turndown service concluded the final night of his trip before returning to the U.S.

Multiple sources scoffed and noted my guest room basket of hotel soaps and shampoo was amateur hour: Several of them hadn’t bought shampoo and conditioner in years for their entire house thanks to stockpiling from hotels. One was particularly jaded about running low on Fairmont’s Le Labo Rose 31 soap — a personal stash last refilled from a stay more than a year ago.

I’m sure most hotel chief financial officers will be elated to know that people like this will no longer threaten shampoo spending and unattended housekeeping carts going forward.

But there are more concerns than just the above-mentioned crew of mini conditioner vultures. Others said they felt an “ick factor” about sanitation concerns around the mere idea of wall-mounted soap and shampoo dispensers. While the idea is that only a housekeeper has access to the key to open the dispenser and refill, some of those I talked to said they didn’t trust the mechanism. Several said they would just bring their own soap for future hotel stays.

On more than one occasion, I've found that housekeeping forgets to refill an opaque dispenser that isn’t clearly empty from the outside. This can lead to some awkwardness when needing to call midshower for a refill of soap and shampoo.

How hotels embrace the change

This is no case of one-size-fits-all in the push to go sustainable with hotel shampoo and soap.

Some Hyatt brands, like Hyatt Regency, have mandated wall-mounted dispensers in showers and tubs, while some of its lifestyle brands, like Thompson Hotels, instead offer large-format amenities on a bathroom shelf or in a shower niche.

All Hilton hotels were required to transition to full-size shampoo, conditioner and soap amenities last year to eliminate single-use bottles across the company's various brands.

"This transition has reduced our single-use plastic footprint by 50%, increased efficiency across our hotels by reducing requests for additional amenities while allowing our brands to offer a diverse range of products that meet our guests' changing desire for higher-quality, world-class brands," said Anu Saxena, president and global head of Hilton Supply Management. "For example, guests are now able to enjoy Byredo-branded products across our Conrad properties, Not Soap, Radio products in our Tru by Hilton properties or Aesop-branded products in our Waldorf Astoria properties. The feedback so far is extremely positive; people are really liking the product that they are seeing in our hotels."

Marriott International is also underway with a transition to larger, pump-topped bottles at its hotels. The company initiative had 95% compliance at its managed and franchised hotels globally by the end of last year, a company spokesperson told TPG.

“Once fully implemented, we have estimated that the switch prevents around 500 million small bath amenity bottles from going to landfills each year,” the Marriott spokesperson added.

Enticing guests with enjoyable amenities in large-format dispensers can even generate a cottage industry. Marriott’s Edition brand has a cult following devoted to its special line of Le Labo bath products, which guests can buy online.

In 2023, Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC in New York City switched from mini toiletries to larger vessels from Grown Alchemist, the same brand Equinox just switched to at its gyms.

“The alluring scent of Damask Rose, Black Pepper, Sage is tempting to take home,” said Cesarina Collado, the hotel manager at the Gansevoort Meatpacking NYC. “If the guest can’t live without these toiletries, they’re welcome to take a bottle home; however, they will pay a fee for removing the amenities from the room.”

Settling into shampoo sustainability

Of course, some travelers don’t see things the way hotel companies do. Just as Equinox members justified the high monthly membership fee with access to their preferred Kiehl’s products, travelers sometimes saw the mini bottles of luxury bath and skincare products as a benefit of forking over so much on a nightly room rate at a luxe hotel.

One well-heeled traveler I know has surprisingly (and repeatedly) bragged to me over the years about how, during a lengthy layover at Heathrow, he once filled up an empty water bottle with the wall-mounted Aesop lotion at an airport lounge — much to the horror of his husband. In light of the hotel industry’s push for more sustainable practices, he tells me he would probably just revert to that practice if a similarly luxe-albeit-wall-mounted bath product tempted him during future hotel stays.

Obviously, these are extreme examples, and I’d wager a guess most travelers are going to roll with the wall-mounted or large-format dispensers and be just fine.

Some of the more recent uproar across hotels and luxe gyms may have to do more with people not responding well to change rather than actual quality perception. After all, Equinox’s new toiletry partner, Grown Alchemist, is also what is found in Delta Air Lines' Sky Clubs — and I’d wager there’s significant overlap between Equinox members and Sky Club regulars.

As for me, I’m down to my last three mini bottles of Le Labo Hinoki products from my last suite upgrade at the Hyatt Regency JFK Airport. Sure, there’s part of me that wants to toss on a mourning veil and sob over the lingering supply of conditioner, but I also recognize most great loves like this are fleeting — and maybe mildly delusional.

So, instead of playing a sad Joni Mitchell track while shedding tears over an environmentally unfriendly mini bottle of hair product, I finally caved and popped into an actual Le Labo shop this week and just bought refillable bottles.

After all, it’s all about saving the planet, right?

Are you having a Le Labo lament of your own? Or are you a fan of the push for better sustainability? Get in touch to share your takeaways at cameron.sperance@thepointsguy.com.

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