January 13, 2006
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The Environment
Everyone says they care about the environment. But the question is what do you do when you are confronted with a choice that requires action?
I am sitting here in a hotel room in Nashville, Tennessee. Before me I have the following sign:
When you care, it shows.
Dear Guest,
Everyday millions of gallons of water are used to wash towels that have only been used once. You make the choice:
A towel on the rack means “I will use again”
A towel on the floor means “Please replace”
Thank you for helping us conserve the Earth’s vital resources.
Do you hang the towel on the rack or do you drop it on the floor?
Comments (161)
gaaah!
always hang it up
And take their soap
Ben #68
I hang it on the rack. I don’t like the idea of people having to do things for me anyways.
I throw it on the floor. SOrry……
hang it
rack
I hang my towel, but my clothes are on the floor…
according to cnn this morning, in australia friday the 13th is considered a lucky day… i guess today is mine… never have i gotten first in all these months and twice in a day! hahahahah… yes!!!
throw it….oh yeah
xoxo
which reminds me…. when I used to go out to my parents Beach condo every summer, dude, we dispose towels after one use! I hunt down the maid for new towels as much as 3x a day.
i always leave the towel on the rack <3
I try to hang it…unless I’m really tired and forget to lol…
i like to live it up fresh, so they’re going on the floor…if im feelin lucky
…the towel… it goes with me.
Many Blessings, tony
I saw that in a hotel recently.
I hung my towel on the rack and the stupid lady still took my towel!!
Nicholas
leave it on the floor in my room or put it in the laundry.
Amanda
They had those all over the place when I was in Asia, but I haven’t seen them here. I always asked for the towels to be changed.
BUT my strawberry cheesecake is sooooooooooooo gooooooooood. Ppl always ask me are you I made them? kekeke. I did make the choco chip muffins too, tho. Just how the bakery does.. all puffed at the top, spilling over the paper cup
Oh wait in a hotel, hang it up.
If at home I can use my towel for one, two weeks sometimes w/out washing it, why cant I do the same in a hotel? HANG IT!
I had that same sign on the consierge floors of a Hilton and a Mariott in the past couple of months, I’d never seen it before, and I thought it was doubly funny on those floors. I hung it up.
I’d put it on the rack …
Hahaha, its something about nice, new, fresh, CLEAN towels, isnt it?! I love it!
Oh my gosh I acually thought about the question. Sorry.
I can’t use a towel twice. I’m OCD so I would leave it on the floor.
Amanda
lol, BUT youll like mine, I promise! Even if you dont, youll have to say you do, if not, I’ll cry. keke=P
oh yeah, i guess i should answer the question eh…
i actually post the “do not disturb” sign for my whole stay throughout the week (for work travels mon-thur)… so i dont even bother them tucking back my sheets…
I always use a fresh towel.
They go on the floor.
nor even get the unlimited lil’ toiletries… which i do get the weird look from my co-workers… they dont get why i wouldnt want my sheets tucked back in and free lil’ miniature bottles of mouthwash and bottled water every day…
I assume you are talking about at a hotel/motel. But no matter, at home and on the road, I hang the towels up. Everywhere I have stayed they always replace the used towels every day no matter what.
rack that sucker. It’s a bath towel, for goodness’ sake. Don’t you come out of the shower clean? College has taught me a towel is good for at least 10 showers. lol
RYC: thanks Dan
I take my own towels with me to hotels. Theirs are too rough.
hang it on the rack.
You hang it, dur.
I always use it a few a times. Hey, I’m clean each time, aren’t I?!
No one has said “FIRST!” to me before, but I haven’t reached close to your number of visitors yet. I think it might annoy me if it ever did happen. Does it bug you?
-Hil
They don’t care about water, they care about their money, soap, time, etc!!
It depends on what kind of towel…
I would never reuse a washcloth.
A “dry-off towel” is different though.
mind if you add me? your posts are “worth reading”. your protected posts intrests me.
I just don’t read the sign.
well obviously ppl listen to you alot….well I would put it on the rack…I mean it wont kill u to use it twice…unless ur the preppy type that think its gross to use it twice
One day stay? Rack. Two days? Floor.
as long as its clean and fresh, hang it up
I always bring my own towel… ha.
depends how long im staying there…but on the 1st day i put it on the rack. after that, every other day i put it on the floor.
does that make sense?
I ususally hang it, unless it’s incredibly wet or something.
Hang it but my parents always tells me to drop it on the floor
How long am I staying? If for one night, I hang it up. If for more than one night, I’ll probably throw it on the floor. You’d be surprised where I’ve been
.
Thanks Dan
Hey, I made #50!!!!
put it back on the rack.
I hang the towels up on the rack. I will reuse them because I use three towels when I am at the hotel. One for hair, one for body, and one to step out of the tub on…those bath mats are not enough. …and just incase you wonder about the other little freebies. I usually take my own and leave their products…unless its Pantene Shampoo…then I take it. I travel a lot so I have certain habits.
hang it up…
hang it- but with my gang i’d be calling for more towels- they never really give enough for a family
oh and we use cloth diapers in part due to envirnmental concerns- so i’m pretty committed to the envirnment!
Um, hang on the rack. If you leave it on the floor you’re a waster of resources AND a lazy bum!
hang it up
Drop it on the floor. You are paying big bucks for the hotel– the least they can do is give you clean towels and sheets
can’t say it is the right thing to do, but I through it on the floor
towel on the floor
I hang it up. A regular towel to dry your hands or what not can be used for days. However…a towel to dry you off after a shower…yeah, I’d want that replaced.
Ummmm. Depends. On what, I don’t know, but it does. Probably hang.
Throw it on the floor.. I really dislike using the same towel twice. Just a quirk of mine.
I hang mine, but after all, I AM a vegan environmentalist
ON THE RACK! Ugh! I can’t stand it when people drop their towels on the floor!
I hang the towell and drop the pillow cases on the floor…I have sensitive skin, they need to be washed daily!
RYC…that’s me in the green shirt that’s not upside down in the picture…lol Or…the one in the hoodie in my site logo.
Hang it if it’s not too wet or dirty…. and I do believe we can do our part…composting, recycling, etc…. ’til the next
hang it<3
Chrissy
I use an even better plan I avoid using towels at all by not showering, I guess I’m a little European in that sense. lol
ohh i wanna be on the list thing i read your site all the TIME!
<3stashe
Rack.
a hook!
shamelessly, my roomate and i own over 60 some bathroom towels.
each of us, a proud hater of doing laundry AND of using the same towel twice.
i do however, hang towels that i dont feel got TOO damp or too stingy on a hook for use once more.
throw it on the floor. I mean, how often do you get a clean towel everytime you shower? So rare. It’s a luxury
rack ‘em up!
rack. im not giving up much to use it again. on the other hand, at home i usually only use towels once, because i forget to hang them up, and they get musty-smelling on the floor by the next day. eww!!
i always hang it if i’m gonna use it again
Ill re-use a towel if I can be 100% sure no one but me touched it.
I drop that bad boy on the floor!
I put my towels in the hamper.
We have 6 people in our family; in a hotel bathroom, you can’t hang up that many towels, and also, they all look alike, so once you’ve hung it, you don’t know which is yours. So I would prob just put a lot of the towels on the floor as bath mats because 6 people make a lot of puddles on the floor. And, I wouldn’t be staying more than one night, because we couldn’t afford it. So I hang towels at home. One week, then wash. That’s what Mom taught me. I mean, you’re supposed to be clean when you get out of the shower, so how dirty could your towel be?
I usually hang it on the rack.
But after a two days it goes on the floor.
They get gross after a while.
i’d use it again.
If I were staying for more than one night, I would reuse the towel.
The towel goes on the rack and stays there until it gets dirty/smelly.
yes I hang it on the rack………… cuz Iraq, I don’t Iran………..haha
HANG HANG HANG I HAAAAAAAATE WHEN IT GETS LEFT ON THE FLOOR!
I hang it on the rack even if I am not planning on using it again. That way it drys and doesn’t hold as many germs for the person having to take care of it. But I still want a clean towel. I will use that one to put on the floor when I get out of the shower next time, that’s kind of like conserving. That way I don’t use two clean towels everytime…
Hang it every other day. =)
Hang
that reminds me…gotta wash the towels. i hang them…always, unless i forget.
hang it
RYC: lol I used to do that too….until one day I opened my bathroom drawers and they were full of hotel freebies I never used….and they all smelled the same.
Doesn’t anybody steal hotel towels anymore? Actually, I hang it on the rack, but leave the washcloth on the floor. The way I see it, the wash cloth gets dirty, the towel should only be getting wet.
I always hang my towel.
I’m the kind of person that would hang it up because it won’t need to be washed.
I’d hang it once, after the 2nd time, it’s goin in the floor…….
i hang it up… i don’t wash them every day at home so why should they?
I would hang it.
I throw it on the floor…
But only because the only times that I stay in a hotel for more than one night, I’m in Colorado snowboarding. When I come in, We use them on the floor to sop up all the snow we track in.
Hang it up.
Wash cloths go on the floor. Body towels and hair towels go on the rack. Just like at home!
I drop it on the floor in my room and use it the next day.
A better question is, “In the shoer, do you look down?”
Or, “Where is your hand in the tub?”
I’m gross.
rack it. . . unless we’re checking out. Just so they won’t think it wasn’t used and try to give it to someone else. Ew.
I drop it for a fresh towel each day
I hang it up almost always. They give me new ones anyways. :/
I always hang it up.
Erika
I always hang my towels no matter where I am.
However….With a sign like that in front of me…I would throw it on the floor just to make a point
i’d hang it, but drop it the next day!
of course you would hang it back on a rack. No use wasting a practically fresh towel.
Besides, why make more work for someone when you know there are already many people in the hotel who are going to drop the towel on the floor?
I say use it again. Hey, I’m Conservative. ;-D
God bless,
Shohna
Hang it on the rack.
hang it up. why would you possibly do otherwise?
floor
on the rack
Hang it..
Rack, rack, rack.
hang it up!
I live in California, we are well versed in water conservation, well in NorCal we are, SoCal is another story.
DUH!!!
The obvious answer is that I slip it into my suitcase and steal it! Along with the soap, toilet paper, kleenex, complimentary hand lotion, shampoo and conditioner, and the Gideon Bible and phone book.
Those bastards overcharge, and i’m getting my money’s worth.
hahahahaha!
(In fact, I have never stayed in a hotel…but I have seen them on tv and this is my plan for the first time I go to one)
It might as well of said “please don’t be afraid to be a slob if you care about the environment. Put your towels on the floor!!!”
LMFAO @ Anna_Lanche!!!!!!!!!!
I always hang my used towl over the shower rod,that way if it is wet it can drip the excess water into the shower,and so other people using the shower will know that the towl was mine
and not to use it. Throwing towels on the floor is just poor housekeeping in my oppinion.
I was not raised to leave stuff on the floor.
on the rack ..UNLESS it has been to the Pool.or for some reason they do not dry( atttttt the shore, it is too damp and towels tend not to dry.)
has anyone else seen those documentaries that show what grows on a used towel or wash cloth? sorry but after i’ve dried my hinney with it, i’m not using it again on my face or hair….no matter if i did just get out of the shower.
Well, if you visit my site you will discover I am a fanatic about the outdoors but does that mean that everything I do is environmentally friendly, wish I could say yes. At home we wash our towels after using them for a day. On the road I guess I could hang it up. I don’t shower three times a day when I am on the road like I do at home. However, how much water is being conserved by not doing a load of laundry. If the hotel really wanted to be environmentally friendly and conserve water then they would install filters and reclaim the grey water they use. Grey water, filtered properly, can be reused many times. Black water reclaimed can be used for watering the plants and other outdoor gardening. So are they just using it as a marketing scheme or are they truly trying to conserve water.
As long as I’m staying another night (that’s the important key) I would use it again, so it would go on the rack.
A sign like that would make me want to put the towel on the floor. If there were no sign, I’d hang it.
I don’t have qualms about using a towel twice if it isn’t really soiled, just used to dry off with, so long as it actually gets dry.
hang the towel. I can’t see throwing it into the was after one use…
Hang it up – obviously. What kind of selfish society do people live in ?
I hang it up; however, hotels do it primarily to cut costs. The management is much more concerned about money than the environment. It is their way of manipulating the client. If they were really that concerned they would stop air conditioning or encourage you to set it at 80F.
Usually I’m only in the hotel for a day, but if not I try to remember to hang it up. Sometimes the maid comes in before I can clean up though. : /
definitely put it on the rack. it’s not like i grow germs overnight.
rack.
no point in wasting water.
i use my towels at home like 3 times before i put them in the wash.
–paige
I always re-use towels.
It’s a ridiculous waste of water to have to launder that many towels over and over and over.
I only stay one night, so I throw ‘em on the floor. But if I stayed more than one night I’d hang it up.
I reuse towels. I hang them up. There is something nice about fresh towels, but they’re just drying clean water from you.
I’m a conservationist I guess.
It depends on how many times I’ve used it. If I used it more than 3, I’d put it on the floor but if it was less, then it’d go on the rack.
Pesky
both
I had that sign on the cruise my husband and I went on this summer. I thought it was pretty funny, and hung it up. My husband said “whatever.” and threw his on the floor.
Usually i drop them on the floor, because i get them all wet and soaked from shower water in some strange twist of fate. but if they’re not completely soaked, i put them back up.
probably 2 out of 5 i put on the rack.
drop it on the floor
wherever it feels most comfortable
The rack if it was used only once and that was to dry off. On the floor if it was used for any other purpose.
i stuff it in my bag and take it home to conserve it even more =P haha
i’d put it in a clean place..not the rack tho(i dont trust the rack).
hahaha i am so making it a daily habit to come to this addicting site now =D
they’re just trying to guilt you so they can save more money their maids! i am already a healthy environmentalist..i would join all my environmental clubs in school but i always forget and my eachers are so freakin evil they give too much hmk and i cant keep up..but still i will get my act together next year and join everything to prove my dedicatioN!
i usually mean to hang it, but somehow it ends up on the floor, or on the back of a chair, etc.
hang it!
I hang it on the rack.
towel rack
Hang it on the rack if I’m planning to stay in the room, of course. I don’t wash my towels after one use at home, after all.
hang it on the rack. no question.
on the rack
you don’t know me, and you will probably never see this comment, but i throw it on the floor. and the reason i do this is not because i’m anti-envirnment (as some people seem to think i am) but that the only reason NOT to reuse the towel is that the company wants to save some money. now, i’m all for saving money. if they say “reuse the towels and save some bucks” heck, i’ll even put OTHER people’s towels on the rack! but if they say “reuse the towel to save our most precious (oh yeah, and most abundant) natural resource” i absolutely will not give in. water is renuable, and soap is not even natural. wash my damn towels.
-bm
I only use shower towels once at home, so it’s going on the floor.
It depends on the condition of my body when I used the towel!
((( GRANDMA HUGS )))
Lori
rack, if clean. if dirty, i put it in the hotel’s laundry bin.
HAHAHA
i hang it! i’m all about the re-using if i can. as long as it hasn’t touched the floor or anything dirty, it’s all good 
I never understood people being so anal about reusing your own towels. You’re drying off your clean body. Why NOT reuse it?
at a hotel i toss it on the floor
Well, since I am germaphobic…I would probably take my own towels, but assuming that I did not, I would throw it in the floor.
I saw the same sign in a hotel in Detroit trip before last. The towels were thick and hearty. I would have used them a week or two, but the last trip, the towels were thin and cheap. We used them once and threw them down. Sheets were once in a week. Last trip was 7 days, Detroit was a 14 hour layover. Ironic…