Soaps, Shampoos, etc.

We too purchase the individual ammenities from a distributor that supplies hotels, etc here in Mexico.  Unfortunately, they are not reliable and also do not return calls or emails.

There is a company here that sells home made style soaps, shampoos, etc. and we purchased a loaf of Chocolate Soap, cut it into the sizes we wanted and wrapped the individual pieces in clear cello, tied a piece of rafia on it and it adds a wonderful touch to our theme.

They also sell individual travel size shampoos etc, but I would be interested to hear how a dispenser bottle works in the showers.  Do you put a large pump style bottle in that you keep refilling?  Does any one take this bottle thinking it is theirs?  Do you refill after each guest?  This sounds more economical. 

OK, Just talked with Greenwich Bay and they are most definitely still in business.  They said that they were short handed on Thursday and Friday and had their answering machine on.

We have been doing business with them since we opened ten years ago and get our soaps, shampoo's, toothbrushes and toothpaste from them.

we love the greenwich bay lines of soaps and having our logo on them really helps with repeat guests. someone else on here suggested the soaps and the other amenities or maybe it was the other forum. guests have called to book with us yeas later because they had kept the logod soaps with our name. cheap advertising. for the showers we use a dispenser from a place called dispenser.com. the dispenser are garanteed for life, if a part breaks they replace it. very nice system/ we have the plain dispenser with liquid soap for the sink and we refill these from a gallon jug. we buy them on sale (filled) and then when they are empty add the soap from the gallon jug. we used to have nice ceramic dispensers on the sinks but they got brokwn so now it's the plastic ones with the fish inside them. the method soap bottles are nice if you can get them on sale. we refill those too. we got our last greenwich bay order last year so haven't called them so not sure why you can't reach them.

We use NutriBiotic and Nature's Gate products as they fit our "green" philosophy and both come in scentless options which more and more guests are appreciating it seems.

Our first purchase was standard size bottles in order to test them on both ourselves and guests. We wanted to gauge how receptive guests were to having refillable, bigger bottles of stuff in the showers and on the vanity counters.

Once satisfied, we then bought one set of standard size bottles of each for our 4 rooms and now buy the 1 gallon size refills. If a bottle gets dropped and damaged, we replace it.

This is real important. Between guests when cleaning the bathroom, a seperate rag with anti-bacterial cleaner is used to wipe the bottles and even after a few years, they look like brand new. I unscrew the caps when refilling and soak them to get rid of any built up gunk and they too look like brand new.

There is a reason plastic is so pernicious in our landfills, the stuff is tough and lasts a really long time.

I'm sure a few germaphobes won't touch or use our stuff, but they are the types to bring their own anyway.  In fact, our experience is that most people bring their own, so instead of them leaving with a few tiny bottles of stuff with our name on it as a memento of their stay that will end up in a landfill somewhere else, we put more of our resources into the quality of our food ingredients, our day trip planning resources, and keeping the house in tip top physical shape. 

The stuff we offer isn't cheap and it isn't personalized for us, but we're more interested in the quality, earth friendliness, animal testing aspect and cutting down on waste both in packaging and product itself.

We may be missing out on some secondary income streams, but we are totally committed to offering our guests a very non-commercialized experience and a respite from the overbranded, overtly consumptive life they experience in their day to day world.

We downplay nearly every commercial or financial matter between us and our guests. Their deposit and tariff payment is handled very subtly and discreetly without pressure or any mercenary impulses coming from us in the slightest. Our primary target guest type appreciates this approach more than words can describe.

There are no mugs, t-shirts, coffee, tea, cookbooks, etc. for sale here. Even though we display the artwork of friends, neighbors and myself in our B&B, there isn't a price tag on anything nor is there any effort to push anything on anybody. We've had many guests take the brochure for the coffee we serve and start buying it themselves, but it isn't overtly pushed.

We've had guests really love the art of a neighbor or myself and go visit their studio and commission a piece for themselves, but thats about it. We won't even accept a kickback from the mostly struggling artists we associate with in return for the commission referral.

We also have refillable decanters for hand soap.

Sorry for going on and on, I must be mentally prepping for the incoming guest tonight who writes for an eco-tourism magazine and is doing a piece on our place.

Thanks for taking the time to post tips and weblinks

NOt personalized, but American Hotel Register has good prices on these amenities.

Greenwich Bay is in business as far as I know.  I order all my supplies from them.  I only order by phone and have not tried the other options.  Maybe they were just out for the day.  Give them a call on Monday and see if they are there. 

We have a combination of both labeled (Fuller Soaps) bars and bulk shampoos & bubble baths. Each room is provided 2 bars of glycerine labeled soap (bath tub & sink) and the rest are eco friendly glass decanters. Our guests really love the Fuller Soaps and often take the used portion with them when they leave. The lotions & bubble bath we provide are bulk and we add our own fragrances, bottle it in plastic dispensers, private label it (Fullers will sell you your label in rolls) and then all items are also sold in our gift area. It generates some nice extra revenue.

Not sure of their prices but you could try Sysco,

http://www.guestsupply.com/default.aspx

Try www.innstyle.com. Also Crabree & Evelyn has a nice product line for B&B's. You can probably find the information on their website.

Sorry I am not much help here. I use dispensers for Shampoo, Conditioner, bath and Shower Gel, etc...

Too xpensixe for me to get the bars shipped to AK and actually I don't have any waste either. But I would love to be able to offer some type of nice soaps. So, if anyone could direct me too to some good suppliers, it would be appreciated.