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People will reuse towels if others do
The study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, found that the types of signs posted in hotel bathrooms had different effects -- signs that focused on the environmental benefits were less effective than signs that pointed out the level of participation of other guests.
Study authors Noah J. Goldstein of the University of Chicago, Robert B. Cialdini and Vladas Griskevicius, both Arizona State University, got a hotel chain to allow them to create a series of different towel re-use cards, which were placed in the hotel's bathrooms.
Some cards read "Help Save the Environment" and others read "Join Your Fellow Guests in Helping to Save the Environment."
Cards that focused on the level of participation of other guests, increased the percentage of participation from 35.1 percent to 44.1 percent.
In a second study, the researchers were able to boost towel reuse even further by placing a sign in the room that said 75 percent of guests in that specific room re-used their towels.
Copyright 2008 by United Press International
This news arrived on: 08/25/2008
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Posted Comments:
09-02-2008 12:04
Katie wrote:
Towel Reuse
Have you all stayed in a hotel in the last five years? They do replace ALL towels after a guest is done, but you are given the option to hang your towel back up to reuse the next day YOU are there. The sign usually says that a towel on the floor will be replaced, a towel hung up will not be.
My problem with the whole system is that I've NEVER had a hotel that didn't replace my towels. Why waste the money on the cards if you're going to replace them all anyway?
My problem with the whole system is that I've NEVER had a hotel that didn't replace my towels. Why waste the money on the cards if you're going to replace them all anyway?
09-01-2008 09:48
J Werner wrote:
re-use of hotel towels
I guess I'm confused; reusing a towel that a complete stranger used or reusing a towel I used the previous day? I can re-use my own towels, but under no circumstances would I use a complete stranger's towel. People do odd things with their towels, i.e. blow their noses, wipe the floor, wipe areas of bodies I don't wish to mention.
09-01-2008 08:27
concerned wrote:
towel reuse
I don't reuse towels at home, why on earth would I do that in a hotel room. Ick!
09-01-2008 04:13
wrote:
I'm quite sure when the staff is cleaning the room after a patron had left, they would surely know enough to replace all towels. They expect you to reuse your towels,assigned to YOU, not towels that the previous guest had used. You can generally tell if they're freshly and professionally hung or just thrown over the hanger by the previous tenant.
09-01-2008 03:10
Snowangel wrote:
Towel re-use
It's not so much as re-using the towels that's the problem as knowing that someone else could have re-used that towel and hung it back up, who would know for sure.. ick!
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