everyday a new bar of soap appears in our hotel bathroom. what happens to all the used bars of soap?

The Klaus K Hotel in Finland is a luxury retreat for the discerning guest. As in many upscale hotels bathroom amenities are replaced on a daily basis to ensure that guests are getting a fresh “experience” every time they wash their hands. We love that kind of attention to detail here at HotelThrone.com.

Daily bathroom amenity replacement does, however, beg the above question. What does happen to all that used soap taken from luxury bathrooms around the world?

We can’t speak for the industry as a whole, but we can speak to one hotel market in Vancouver, Canada. In the Vancouver area used hotel soaps and shampoos often make their way to a company that makes soap flakes and laundry detergents under the Buffalo Manufacturing brand. Buffalo Soap has relationships with many hotels in the area to pick up their used products - keeping their costs down and keeping the soap out of the garbage dumps and landfills.

Here is an interesting image of a luxury hotel bathroom in Logroño, Spain. We can’t quite tell whether the sinks are porcelain, marble, or something else.

This was uploaded by “sm!!”, along with an interesting note about the quaint Spanish town of Logroño:

Logroño is a small, peaceful and cute place. In just two days I’ve had enough time to attend a congress, walk through the centre streets and squares, eat pinchos and drink fine wine, stay in a five star hotel and finally have an interesting talk with far away partners in some typical northern bars.

We also like this image because it reminds us a great deal of the public bathrooms at Vancouver’s contemporary Opus Hotel. The Opus was recently voted by local Vancouver residents as the “most likely bathroom in Vancouver to spot a celebrity”:

Ladies, welcome to the men’s room.

[Logroño, Spain]
[Opus Hotel]

Elliot gets ready to take Miles and I out for dinner to the Palliser hotel in Calgary. He insists that he hasn’t spent this much time on his hair in ages. I follow suit.

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]

Opus Hotel Bathroom, originally uploaded by yaknor.

This is the fabulous bathroom at the Opus Hotel in Vancouver, BC.

The hotel bathrooms strategically maximize natural light, and the floor-to-ceiling windows face out over the neighborhood, and yes, the neighbors CAN see you. Depending on one’s exhibitionist tendencies, patrons can pull the curtain, use a silhouette shade, or put on a show.

Hotel Site
Reviews [TripAdvisor]