Bathroom Consumables: What to Leave and How Much

Missing consumables are the most common and easily avoidable annoyance in a holiday let. A guest who finds an empty toilet roll on their first night will not message you about it: they will mention it in their review. On the other hand, overstocking costs you money every month for no benefit. This guide gives you the quantities that are widely agreed upon, the best format to use, and the regulatory changes you need to know.

What to Restock, and How Often

Toilet Paper and the Four-Roll Rule

This is the consumable that causes the most negative reviews, for the lowest cost. The rule that never fails: one roll per person per three nights, with an absolute minimum of four visible rolls, whatever the length of stay.

Two important clarifications:

• Visible, not hidden. A roll tucked away in a cupboard the guest will never open does not count. Place the spare rolls in plain sight, on the cistern or in a dedicated basket.
• Never leave a started roll. It is seen as a leftover from the previous guest, even if it is 90% new. Keep them for your own use and always put out full rolls.

Apply the same logic to kitchen roll in the kitchen and tissues, where an open box with more than a third left is still acceptable.

Dispensers or Individual Bottles: The Regulations Have Decided

The debate between hotel miniatures and refillable dispensers is over in Europe. Packaging regulations, which specifically target single-use containers in accommodation, are pushing everyone towards refillables, and the major platforms already favour this approach. The current legal position in France can be found on Service-Public.fr and on the ADEME pages about waste reduction.

In practice, refillable dispensers are now the right choice, for three combined reasons:

• The cost per litre is incomparable to that of mini bottles.
• Perceptions have changed: guests now see this as a sign of a well-kept property, not penny-pinching.
• Cleaning time is halved, as topping up is much quicker than replacing five bottles.

Three requirements to make this work: wall-mounted dispensers in the shower, otherwise they fall and break; clear labels, as shower gel and shampoo are indistinguishable once poured; and fill to three-quarters, never to the brim, so the pump primes properly.

However, always leave one individually wrapped soap per bathroom: it reassures guests about hygiene and serves as a backup if a pump jams.

Dental Kits and Little Extras

A dental kit, with a toothbrush and mini toothpaste in packaging, is not necessary in every property. It makes sense in a city flat for short stays, where guests arrive late and travel light, but much less so in a holiday home where people bring suitcases.

Three other low-cost, high-impact touches:

Calculating Without a Spreadsheet

The right calculation is per guest, per night, not per stay. A four-person property hosting a couple for two nights does not use the same as a family for a week.

The method that works without counting: put out the quantity for the maximum capacity of the property, not for the current booking. You are no longer dependent on the (often inaccurate) declared number of guests, and the cleaner does not need to do any maths. Any surplus will be used by the next guests.

Two stock safeguards:

• A buffer stock in the property, in a locked cupboard if needed, so a cleaner is never caught out without toilet paper.
• A low-stock alert rather than a full inventory: when there is less than enough for two stays, it is time to reorder.

The full logic for sizing your stocks is detailed in Dosing Consumables: The Method That Prevents Running Out.

What Never to Leave

Three things should never be reused between guests, no matter how clean they look: a sponge, a started toilet roll, and an opened sample bottle. They all send the same message: a property where leftovers from previous guests are recycled.