Hotel Amenity Trays After the Miniature Bottle Ban: Designing for Bulk Dispensers
Major hotel groups and some lawmakers have moved away from miniature toiletries. Bulk pump bottles are taller and heavier, so the bathroom amenity tray needs a new size, new wells and a material that copes with water.
Miniature bottles are leaving hotel bathrooms
In July 2019, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) announced that almost 843,000 rooms across more than 5,600 hotels would switch from miniature toiletries to bulk-size amenities, with the change completed in 2021. The group expected to remove around 200 million miniatures a year.
A few months later California passed AB 1162, barring hotels from placing small single-use plastic toiletry bottles in guest rooms: from January 2023 for large hotels and from January 2024 for hotels with 50 rooms or fewer. Many international chains now apply the same bathroom standard in every country they operate in, so guests expect it wherever they stay.
Pump bottles change what the tray has to do
A miniature is usually under 10 cm tall and sits happily on a shallow tray. A pump bottle is often nearly twice that, narrow at the base for its height, and heavy when full. When a guest presses the pump with wet hands, the bottle tips and slides. A flat tray is no longer enough.
Our answer is to sink wells into the tray floor: deep enough that the bottle base stays put under a press, and spaced so a hand can reach each pump without knocking the next bottle. See our amenity tray with pump bottle wells. The wells are cut to your actual bottles, so send us a sample to measure.
Materials for the wet zone
An amenity tray sits next to the basin and gets splashed every day. Hide leather does not like that: most leathers are damaged by direct contact with water. For bathrooms we use upholstery-grade PU, or a tray with a continuous inner surface and no seams where water can soak in, such as our seamless waterproof amenity tray.
A small detail that matters: non-slip rubber feet. Stone vanity tops are often wet, and a tray without grip will skate across them when a guest pulls a bottle out.
What to measure before ordering
Measure three things: the free counter space between basin and wall, the height from the counter to any shelf or mirror above, and the base diameter of every bottle you plan to stand on it. For narrow counters, look at our slim behind-basin amenity tray, only 12 cm deep.
Do not forget what is still in sachets: shower caps, cotton pads, dental kits. A good tray gives them a flat compartment of their own so they do not pile up against the bottles.
Putting the hotel's mark on it
Once bottles become generic pump dispensers that look the same in many hotels, the tray is one of the few places in the bathroom that still carries the brand. A logo on the rim or a corner can be debossed or foil-stamped; our guide to logos on leather trays explains the difference. Browse every option under amenity trays.
References
InterContinental Hotels Group (30 July 2019). End of the road for bathroom miniatures as IHG opts for bulk-size amenities to reduce plastic waste.
California State Assembly, Assemblymember Ash Kalra (10 October 2019). Governor Signs First-in-Nation Legislation Eliminating Single-use Plastic Toiletries from California Hotels.
Canadian Conservation Institute. Caring for leather, skin and fur.