介绍:
Xiaohua: Hotels in East China’s city of Hangzhou are going to stop offering hotel toiletries in a move to reduce waste and protect the environment.
It means that there will be no free disposable toilet requisites in all the hotels in the city of Hangzhou.
近日，浙江省人大通过《杭州市生活垃圾管理条例》。其中特别指出“住宿、旅游、餐饮经营者不得在经营活动中免费提供一次性用品”。这就意味着以后在杭州入住酒店，客人将不再享受免费的牙刷、牙膏、香皂、浴液、拖鞋、梳子等一次性用品。
So is it a good thing?
Heyang: First question I have does this mean that the fees these hotels charge us is gonna go down? Because since they are not providing these free stuff anymore, and if not, then, when I check-in to a five star hotel, I demand to see my slippers, toothbrush and all those things, otherwise I will file a complaint.
Mark: I smell a scam.
Xiaohua: What do you mean?
Mark: My scam-detector is working overtime with the story, because the actual translation says the hotels will no longer provide free toiletries. That’s what it says. In other words, they found a way to charge us for something that we’re currently getting free. Just like with plastic bags from the supermarket, we used to get them free, now we still get them but we have to pay. It’s a scam, and it relates to global warming. So it’s another global warming scam in my opinion. I bet you, anything you like up to the value of one pizza each, right, I bet you that you can go to a hotel in Hangzhou year from now, and they will have these little things in the hotel bathrooms, but you’ll have to pay for them. That’s what this is about. Making people pay for something that is currently free. Can they seriously expect, you know, international business people and tourists and Chinese ones as well to go into hotels and not find these things which are in every other hotel in the world? People will never go there again, and the hotel chain will be out of business.
Heyang: And I think calling these things free for the moment is a misnomer, because it’s called free but it’s not, it’s in the cost, you’ve been paying for them already, but it doesn’t show up on the receipt. That’s all.
Xiaohua: I think it a gross overstatement to say it’s a scam, because, yes, maybe customers are going to be paying more, especially those forgetful ones who don’t take their own toiletries. But eventually it’s going to be good for the environment. It means fewer empty bottles are going to be thrown away. It means people are probably not going to waste all these shampoos and shower gels and it means that they are going to use their own brushes which they will use for longer. The hotel ones are disposable.
Mark: Actually, to be fair to the hotels for a moment and to the city, it might be that they’re gonna have those shower gel dispensers within the shower itself, and get rid of the little plastic bottles. That I wouldn’t have a problem with, because it still free or rather included the price of your room. But I suspect that what we might find, and I think it happened already in some hotels, that if you want these small items, you have to go to ask for them. We’re just one step away from you have to go to ask for them and pay. And I suspect that’s the slippery slope we’re on here.
Xiaohua: That’s true, but Mark, I suspect that one of your main reasons for objection is that you will not be able to take these free toiletries home.
Mark: I have a vast collection of stuff I’ve taken from hotels. I would never take the bathrobe. You can take those cheap slippers like you’ll get on a plane as well. Of course, I mean you’ve paid for that shower gel and the other things, the shower cap, the razor and the toothbrush. You’ve paid for them within the price of your room. Of course you take it home.
Xiaohua: How do you distinguish the one that are takeable and non-takeable?
Heyang: Mark, you should take the batteries out of the remote-control, and also the light bulbs from the light lamps, and also maybe the salt from the saltshaker. Those things are up for grabs for someone like you, Mark.
Mark: I think you’re being sarcastic.
Xiaohua: We know where these lines come from.
Mark: That’s from Friends, aren’t they? I think we’ve been sarcastic. The salt from saltshaker, that’s a good one. I haven’t thought of that. But come on. Admit it. You too take away the toiletries from the hotels, don’t you?
Heyang: I take the slippers, when they are really thick and really great.
Mark: Such a great politician’s answer. What about the hotel toiletries from the bathroom?
Heyang: Never. I do not want to have a shampoo explosion in my very expensive luggage. So you weigh the good against the bad, and you don’t take them.
Xiaohua: I’ve taken some very small toothpaste because they are handy. But taking something away because they are handy and requiring 3 additional set of them are very different things. And I’m not saying who is doing it.
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