It wasn't that many years ago, hoteliers would never even consider replacing wrapped bar soap and bottled amenities with dispensers. I think that time has passed, and many GMs and owners—and more importantly, guests—are ready to accept dispensers as the smart way to distribute hotel bathroom amenities.
As a recent post in Hotel Chatter reveals, hotels in all markets and segments are switching to dispensers. Dispensers makes sense on many levels: they're cheaper, they're certainly greener and, as a recent study shows, consumer sales of liquid soap have outpaced bar soap sales for a number of years. Most people use liquid bath products in their home so why wouldn't they accept dispensers in their guestrooms?
I recently toured the prototype guestroom for Hilton's new mid-scale extended-stay Home 2 brand. (The full-scale, completely furnished room is in a Hampton Inn in suburban Memphis near the brand's headquarters.) In the bathroom of the new brand, which will debut later this year, are dispensers for bath soap and shampoo/conditioners.
Smart owners and operators will jump on the dispenser bandwagon. There's no reason any more not to do so.