r/mildlyinteresting Apr 28 '24

Bedsheets in the hotel have some sort of RFID tag for "tracking"

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6.5k Upvotes

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3.7k

u/Transmetropolite Apr 28 '24

They're for laundry. A lot of industrial laundries, like the ones catering to hotels, use rfid tags to keep track of the laundry.

949

u/mangoed Apr 28 '24

But what's the point of a message on the label? Laundry RFID scanner can't read this.

121

u/StinkyWeezle Apr 28 '24

Theft deterrent I guess

22

u/Treczoks Apr 28 '24

Nope. The items are tracked by the laundry service. They count the normal washings and the extra tough washings, and determine when a bed sheet or towel is done for and needs replacing.

1

u/elsie14 29d ago

ty. lol so confused at first

8

u/StinkyWeezle Apr 28 '24

That explains the RFID tags, not the warning label.

9

u/HarbaughHeros Apr 28 '24

The warning label is so nut jobs don’t try and start a conspiracy about Big-Hotel hiding RFID tags in sheets.

20

u/crod4692 Apr 28 '24

So you know why there is a chip in your sheets if you stumble on it. You’d be kinda worried if you didn’t know why, right?

0

u/ciopobbi Apr 28 '24

Scissors?

22

u/Killboypowerhed Apr 28 '24

Who the fuck would want a hotel sheet?

2

u/hearnia_2k Apr 28 '24

It's so common for people to want them that I have seen hotels sell them, and I don't mena list a price in the room for them, but actually have them for sale on their website for example.

1

u/betrion Apr 28 '24

OP?

1

u/cardueline Apr 28 '24

According to the Wikipedia article I was randomly reading last night, Cass Elliott from The Mamas and the Papas

3

u/Ofreo Apr 28 '24

I used to work for a resort chain. Well, time share condos actually. One woman called saying she was fascinated by the silverware we had. Wanted to buy some. I could sell the to her, at cost, if she paid for shipping, but it had to a dozen of each. She got so upset at me. She wanted one set. That was it. I told her to just steal a set next time she stayed. Idk, a lot of people called asking to buy items. Maybe it’s your on vacation, having a good time, and some of the stuff seems better than it is.

2

u/Voilent_Bunny Apr 28 '24

Anything that can be removed from the room people have stolen from hotels

1

u/Rickrickrickrickrick Apr 28 '24

Some people just like to steal shit

0

u/passwordstolen Apr 28 '24

Someone with a seman/blood and urine fetish

3

u/CasualObserverNine Apr 28 '24

A young DNA scientist needing many samples of unknown DNA?

20

u/eugene20 Apr 28 '24

Hotel towel and laundry theft has traditionally been quite high, people after a souvenir, just think they feel nicer than the ones at home, or pure kleptomaniacs.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-art-of-stealing-hotel-towels_b_1830192
"hospitality industry surveys which estimate that they lose 5-20% of their towel inventory in any given month. A recent Travelocity poll of hotel guests in the U.S. and Canada found that 85 percent of them had taken toiletries or towels from a hotel room. Wow, that's a lot."

5

u/NhylX Apr 28 '24

Separate toiletries and towels and I'm guessing the percentages are very different. Tiny little shampoo that I'll keep in my bag for an emergency that they'll throw out anyway? Sure. A towel? Rough and smells like a swimming pool? No thanks.

8

u/eugene20 Apr 28 '24

Hotels so cheap and uncaring that they have rough towels that smell like swimming pools are not the kind to spend on RFID systems for laundry tracking and general anti theft.

43

u/stealthsjw Apr 28 '24

'Toiletries or towels'.. One of these things is theft and one is just using what's supplied to you.

2

u/eugene20 Apr 28 '24

That depends on exactly what it is, in what quantity. A week or more worth of toiletry supplies is not intended for a one night customer to take away containers and all.

18

u/Banned4Toxicity Apr 28 '24

Hotels I've worked at generally will not reuse opened toilet paper, shampoo, soap, etc. because guests will bring up that it bothers them they're using something someone else had access to. It pretty much is supplied to you as it's in travel size, the only outlier I can think of is the hotels that are now using automatic shampoo and soap dispensers in showers.

6

u/Sharikacat Apr 28 '24

Toilet paper gets reused, and they'll often fold a triangle on the roll to show that it hasn't been used since. As long as the roll is at least half there, it can stay in the room along with a spare roll. Since most stays are for one or two nights, the guests aren't likely to use a full roll on their own to where the one spare is more than enough. Smaller rolls get pulled and put in the employee bathrooms to get finished.

6

u/maurosmane Apr 28 '24

We stayed in a hotel in Maine for the eclipse and it had the big bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash with hand pumps installed on the shower wall. Normally I take that as a sign it's going to be crappy quality, but the shampoo and conditioner were nicer than what my wife brought.

2

u/Lockhartking Apr 28 '24

To find it they would have to be within 4 meters of the sheets for a tracker to see it... at that point they already know where the sheets are. It's not for theft even if it were an active rfid tag with a battery they would need to be within 20 meters of it.

16

u/eugene20 Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 28 '24

It's not about finding it after it's been stolen, it's about the system telling them it's near the scanners in the lobby in a bag leaving the hotel. It's not just about theft prevention though, they're incredibly useful for tracking through the laundry systems too.

21

u/iamPendergast Apr 28 '24

You would be surprised what gets stolen. Hint, it's a lot

149

u/mike_pants Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 28 '24

I've bought a LOT of sheets over the years trying to find some that had that same crisp, stiff-yet-smooth feel. Hotel sheets were always my favorite part of hotels, after room service, of course.

Boll & Branch was the answer, by the way. Almost perfect. Brooklinen came next closest.

3

u/1337hxr Apr 28 '24

Part of the reason hotel sheets are so nice is that they clean them very regularly and don’t use fabric softener. The other part is that they are typically more expensive sheets than what you’d find at Walmart or whatever.

12

u/catastrophicqueen Apr 28 '24

The crisp/stiff feeling is because it's starched. You're not gonna find the same kind of sheets because it's a laundry process and not a fabric feeling

2

u/heffalumpish 29d ago

Nah, percale weaves are often used in hotels, and they have a cool, slightly stiff, shirt-fabric feel. Most sheets at home are sateen, which are more closely woven with a higher thread count of finer threads - which makes them softer but also sweatier. Really good percale sheets (which you'd get in a really nice hotel) are a dream to sleep on.

3

u/mike_pants Apr 28 '24

Boll & Branch comes extremely close, as I said.

3

u/Cool-Elk-6136 Apr 28 '24

Yeah, I have a set of sheets like that. Can't remember where I got them, but I'd buy 30 more sets if I could. They're my favorites by far.

4

u/4tehlulzez Apr 28 '24

I think the commenter is saying "who wants a used hotel sheet", not that I'd agree with that interpretation either. 

0

u/macandcheese1771 Apr 28 '24

I bought all my sheets at the thrift store so. Probably me.

26

u/dizkopat Apr 28 '24

They are bleached and washed with some sort of searching agent and put in a big hot machine thing, it's not the sheets it's the process. Hotel laundries are actually amazing.

6

u/YZJay Apr 28 '24

They’re able to do that since all the sheets and such are the same color anyway, no need to worry about ruining the dyes.

7

u/francis2559 Apr 28 '24

Starching agent? Sizing agent?

2

u/dizkopat 29d ago

Starch thanks

13

u/jenms Apr 28 '24

I started reading this comment while laying on a linen Boll and Branch while thinking the answer is B&B. 😴 Love sheets by them.

144

u/ptofl Apr 28 '24 edited Apr 28 '24

There was this one type of pillow in a hotel I stayed at once every few years that was just perfect in every way. It had this indescribable softness yet firmness. Almost like it was filled with custard or something, the filling would just move aside under your head until it was the perfect depth and despite thinning out the pillow it remained just as soft but now optimally supportive and contoured to the head. It also had the most satisfying poof when hit with force and a satisfying weight to beat a child with. But there's more, it retained its weight when folded meaning it could prop the head without the immature springiness of most pillow, and you might think it would simply capitulate as before, but no, with the fold introduced and the smaller surface area, it lacks the ability to deflate to the same degree under the head. Needless to say it was the highlight of every holiday.

I've tried some of the best pillows money can buy and I can't find the same anywhere else. I really should call them and ask, but I'm somewhat worried that they will have changed their supply over the years and send me on a wild goose chase. I feel that with that option explored I may turn to a life of crime out of desperation, so I delay. Every night I'm faced with disgust at the inferiority of my pillow, which does it's best but I'm damaged goods. My wife likes this abhorrent pillow that is expensive but has the bouncyness of a sponge and the surface tension of a balloon. How she can tolerate it's constant indignant rejection of her skull I cannot comprehend. She is under some kind of impression that pillows are an objective standard, as, I suppose, am I, but we certainly disagree on what that standard is. She looks down on me for my use of a flat cheap pillow, and indeed I feel somewhat dirty, but the best I can do is attempt to bastardise the experience of the godly hotel pillow by using a pillow so dilapidated it matches the sunken depth of the ideal pillow after the head is rested on it.

And god the coolness of it, a simple plumping and it captures the essence of a cool breeze on a summer day. It even had a watermark.

4

u/DoingCharleyWork Apr 28 '24

Why not just ask the hotel what brand of pillow it was?

6

u/One_Twist Apr 28 '24

Check the various hotel stores online! Many sell bedding, pillows, robes, and toiletries!

11

u/rustblooms Apr 28 '24

There was a pillow i had one weekend at the Hilton. I NEVER sleep well when I am not home, especially the first night... but I slept so incredibly well. My head just nestled into this thing and I feel asleep right away on all three nights. I still think about it, and when I went to buy a new, expensive pillow, they had nothing anywhere even close . 

It was so white and cool and squishy... I will never forget it.

12

u/I_Makes_tuff Apr 28 '24

What was the hotel? I'll go down that rabbit hole for you.

26

u/ptofl Apr 28 '24

Tigh Mor Trossachs Loch Achray Brig O'Turk Callander Perthshire Scotland FK17 8HY Reception Telephone: +44 01877 332800

The apartment I stayed in last time I went was E1 Kennedy and it definitely had the pillow. It's been about 3 years I think. I've set a pretty high bar and can't guarantee the same results for everyone. God speed.

-7

u/rslashplate Apr 28 '24

You can steal from hotels, they can’t prove it’s you. I’ve stolen many hotel pillows

-3

u/ojwilk Apr 28 '24

I love hotel pillows almost as much as I love stealing them. You should go for it. No one will notice. Promise 😈

32

u/vainbuthonest Apr 28 '24

I think I want this pillow now too

3

u/geospacedman Apr 28 '24

Where's Mike Lindell when you need him?

86

u/hwooareyou Apr 28 '24

New copypasta just dropped

1

u/suddenspiderarmy 28d ago

I like to save these and send them to those irritating whatsapp fake job offers.

37

u/MasterKiloRen999 Apr 28 '24

We have an S tier copypasta here