Hotel Amenities in Europe

Posted by Evelyn Kanter Sep 18, 2006

I'm just back from an awesome hiking trip to Italy's Dolomites and Germany's Bavarian Alps. Small towns and large panoramas.

Hotels in Europe -- even three and four-star hotels -- simply are not as generous as in the USA and Canada with amenities.

I loved the heated towel rack in one hotel -- it guaranteed that my hiking socks, washed in the sink, would be dry the next morning. Lucky I brought a tiny bar of soap from home -- this hotel had only bath gel, in large refillable containers attached to the shower stall and inside the sink.

In four hotels in eight nights, I never found a washcloth. Towels, yes, even a fluffy robe in one hotel, but never a washcloth. Again, I knew enough to have packed my own. If your preference is a bath sponge, pack it in your toiletry kit.

Ditto shampoo conditioner. I don't like the combo shampoo/conditioner many hotels now use, and I especially don't like squeezing it out of a single-serving plastic packet.

Two of my hotels had hair dryers attached, one had them available from the front desk, and a fourth had none at all for guests.

None of the four hotels had a clock in the room. TV, of course, clock no. I have learned over the years not to depend on wake-up calls, so I never leave home without my little battery-operated alarm clock.

What are your must-haves?