Really wish we hadn't had to start this policy

[Moirae]

We have had so many towels and linens ruined recently due to makeup and other things, that we've had to institute a "if you ruin it, you bought it" type of policy.

Please please don't use hotel linens to remove your makeup. Mascara and liner don't come out, and depending on the amount of foundation you use, that may not come out either.

[Eevie]

Oh god, I can hear the screaming already...

[Canadian In Maine]

Oh god, I can hear the screaming already...

That might have been the resulting echo of me screaming at my stepdaughter for removing her inch thick foundation with one of my white embroidered towels.

I was madder than a wet hen.

[dalesys]

... removing her inch thick foundation ...

Tammy Fae, baby, this is the right tool for removing foundation:

[NecessaryCatharsis]

Many hotels I've stayed at have a make-up removal cloth offered in the bathroom with the other toiletries. I don't know if that will change the rate of ruined linens, but it might be something to consider.

It always confuses me why hotel customers think it's okay to do things to their room that would never in a million years cross their minds to do at home.

[XCashier]

It always confuses me why hotel customers think it's okay to do things to their room that would never in a million years cross their minds to do at home.

The same reason they trash store bathrooms: "What the hell, I don't have to clean it up!"

[EricKei]

By far, the most important thing is to make sure the higher-ups edit the agreement/whatever page that customer have to sign to check in, to make it say that customers are responsible for this sort of thing (explicitly the linens) -- do they not already have a line in there saying that customers are responsible for any damage to the rooms/their contents?

[LillFilly]

I didn't know that those things didn't wash out, but I did notice hotels starting to offer 'makeup wipes.' I will bring my own junk washcloth to remove makeup from now on!

[Moirae]

We did offer makeup wipes for the guests. The problem is they totally ignored them and used the white towels anyway. My question is "do you actually do this at home?" I wouldn't, I don't want to ruin my towels.

If I'm wearing makeup, I wash my face with soap and water first, then use tissue to wipe off any excess mascara. And, if I wash my face first, there's never any foundation left to wipe off after. Most of it comes off really easy with soap and water except the mascara.

I always figured, when staying at a hotel, that if I ruin something, they'll make me pay to replace it so I do everything I can to avoid harming anything, including the linens.

[alogram]

We always had this issue at the hotel I worked at, until the supervisor discovered that shaving cream gets it all out!

Kind of a pain that that is necessary, but can help save some linen!

[Moirae]

Shaving cream will get it out? We have several cleaning solutions we use but we're losing the linens anyway. I'll ask the housekeepers to try it. Thanks alogram.

[EricKei]

Well, shaving cream is (more or less) just fancy foamy canned soap...so, yeah, it makes sense to me ^_^

[taxguykarl]

Shaving cream

Shaving cream, be nice and clean
Shave every day and you'll always look keen

Sorry I couldn't resist

[EricKei]

karl - I always loved that song. People were getting crap (Ha!) past the radar even way back when ...

[MoonCat]

I don't wear mascara anymore, but I had a pretty simple solution when I did wear it.

I used mascara remover. Duh. A bit of tissue (toilet paper if there weren't any facial tissues but usually there were) and it wipes right off without getting it on the towels.

Though frankly, I've never understood why hotels use white towels. Probably be better off with black ones....or dark brown