By David Ellis.
There wouldn’t be too many of us who haven’t done it –
But talk to hoteliers, from those running 5-star places in the biggest cities to others with a half dozen rooms in country towns, and you’d be amazed at just what else some guests decide should be theirs.
Like the three blokes at one city hotel in the UK who, dressed in overalls, nonchalantly wheeled the pub’s nightclub piano right past staff in Reception, through a service door and down the street, never to be seen again.
And here in Australia, others who’ve borrowed hotel luggage trolleys, and walked them off, loaded with suitcases and suit and garment carriers – and tucked away amongst those, their room’s flat-screen TV or the fridge from the mini-bar. 
Which makes those toiletries like shampoos, soaps, body lotions and shower gels seem pretty boring stuff to want to knock off. And which is why most hotels cost these into the price of the room from the start, as they expect the majority of guests will help themselves anyway.
Internationally, would you believe the most things pinched after hotels’ toiletries are actually light globes from bedside and floor-lamps .
Plus, more bizarrely some guests have unscrewed and taken off with the numbers from their room’s doors, while at one hotel in the UK a
PLEASE NOTE:
This is David Ellis' last STRUTH! column. David passed away on Friday, March 1. Our thoughts are with his family and we say thank you to David, who lived an amazingly full and adventurous life and enjoyed his writing with a passion.
