History Main / StealingFromTheHotel

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the fifth season episode "The Boy Who Knew Too Much", we get this hilarious piece of conversation:
-->'''Principal Skinner:''' You're stealing a table?
-->'''Homer:''' I'm not stealing it. Hotels expect you to take a few things. It's a souvenir!
-->'''Principal Skinner:''' Ah. Is that my necktie you're wearing?
-->'''Homer:''' Souvenir.

[[AC:RealLife]]
* There's a Website/NotAlwaysRight story where the [[http://notalwaysright.com/thievers-cant-be-choosers/1399 guy ''complains'' about the towels he stole to hotel management]] (by phone, a while after he'd stayed there).
* A joke: a man back from a trip is talking about his hotel: "Oh, it was incredible! The towels were so soft and fluffy, they barely fit into the suitcase!".
* Creator/DaveBarry tells this story:
-->''I was staying at a luxury Hyatt hotel. There was a little plastic sign in the bathroom that said: "Our towels are 100 percent cotton. Should you wish to purchase a set, they are available in the gift store. Should you prefer the set in your bathroom, a $75 charge will automatically be added to your bill." This was Hyatt's polite way of saying, "If you steal our towels, we'll charge you 75 bucks." So I stole the sign. Really. I kept it in my guest bathroom for a couple of years, to amuse guests.''
* Dylan Moran mentions this trope in one of his acts. He says "hotel rooms are the most corrupting places in the world. Where else do you start stealing everything that's not fixed down within minutes of arriving?"
* British comedian PeterKaye used to dread being out on the road with his comic partner, Paddy [=McGuinness=]. Put in a hotel room together, Kaye relates that Paddy suffered from hotel room fever - he stole ''everything'', regardless of whether he needed it or not. He would even gain access to empty adjoining rooms to steal things from them, too. Paddy would arrive with one suitcase and leave with four, which had Peter cringing with embarrassment. Both men have since become TV stars, Peter as a comic actor and Paddy as a dating show presenter.

* ''{{Casino}}'': Mr. Ishikawa, a Japanese billionaire who gets free hotel suite stays anyway, nevertheless fills up his suitcases with the hotel's towels and soap when he checks out.

* ''Film/Casino'': Mr. Ishikawa, a Japanese billionaire who gets free hotel suite stays anyway, nevertheless fills up his suitcases with the hotel's towels and soap when he checks out.

* There's an episode of ''Series/TheGoldenGirls'' where Sophia does this. There's even one thing she tries to take, but it's secured to its table, so it doesn't work. It was some kind of container that looked like a closed clamshell.

* In an early ''[[Series/TheMonkees Monkees]]'' episode, the band is running about in a hotel and Peter stops all of a sudden to steal a towel with the picture suddenly freezing with the written text, "Everyone does it!".

A character steals the complementary items from their hotel room, such as towels, robes, and unused toiletries. Another commonly stolen item is glass ashtrays. This is usually played for comedy, showing that the character is petty, rude, cheap or without class. It often results when a character is staying at a much nicer room than they can usually afford.

* Abbie Hoffman in ''StealThisBook'' gives a practical how-to guide for the aspiring yippie on how to steal as much as possible from a hotel room, including the TV.

* Abbie Hoffman in ''StealThisBook'' gives a practical how-to guide for the aspiring yippie on to steal as much as possible from a hotel room, including the TV.

* In a ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' Magazine "Lighter Side of" feature by Dave Berg, a husband and wife are traveling abroad, when the wife is suddenly alarmed that one of their suitcases was stolen. She rants about how those foreigners are all crooks. When her husband asks what was in that particular bag, she replies "The ash trays and the towels and the silverware" that they took from the hotel.

* There's a Website/NotAlwaysRight story where the [[http://notalwaysright.com/thievers-cant-be-choosers/1399 guy *complains* about the towels he stole to hotel management]] (by phone, a while after he'd stayed there).

* Dylan Moran mentions this trope in one of his acts. He says "hotel rooms are the msot corrupting places in the world. Where else do you start stealing everything that's not fixed down within minutes of arriving?"

* This is a RunningGag in the film ''IfItsTuesdayThisMustBeBelgium'' where one character starts the tour with an empty suitcase that he proceeds to fill with items he pilfers from hotels (and other places).

* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XScErnmvwgc This]] moment from ''FamilyFortunes'' (starting at 0:52):

* British comedian PeterKaye used to dread being out on the road with his comic partner, Paddy [=McGuinness=]. Put in a hotel room together, Kaye relates that Paddy suffered from hotel room fever - he stole ''everything'', regardless of whether he needed it or not. He would even gain access to empty adjoining rooms to steal things from them, too. Paddy would arrive with one suitcase and leave with four, which had Peter cringing with embarrassment. Both men have since become TV stars, Peter as a comic actor and Paddy as a dating show presenter.

* Axel Foley in ''BeverlyHillsCop'' ''loves'' his hotel's bathrobes.
* In ''The Cocoanuts'', TheMarxBrothers' first released film, Chico and Harpo check in with an empty suitcase. "That's all right, we fill it before we leave."
* In ''KillList'', the hitmen peruse the toiletries in their hotel room and decide to pack them all up to take home, showing that their lives are pretty unglamorous.

* Inverted in JohnVarley’s ''Red Thunder'', the narrators family runs a run-down motel: “I (gave) Jubal (...) a set of our best big towels, not the little scratchy ones nobody bothered to steal.”

* ''{{Friends}}'':

* There's an episode of ''TheGoldenGirls'' where Sophia does this. There's even one thing she tries to take, but it's secured to its table, so it doesn't work. It was some kind of container that looked like a closed clamshell.
* In the ''RizzoliAndIsles'' episode "Gone Daddy Gone", Angela returns from a trip to Atlantic City with a hotel robe, the contents of the minibar and a hairdryer.
* ''RedDwarf'': In the episode "Justice", Lister reveals that he used to steal the ''furniture'' from hotel rooms.
* In an episode of ''WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' Teresa and Jerry go away for their anniversary weekend. When they check on the kids at home they see that they're causing havoc and Teresa tells Jerry to "grab the towels, I'll get the bath soap" as they're hurrying out of the hotel.

* On an episode of ''TheJackBennyProgram'', Rochester and a friend are cleaning in Jack's house when the friend asks Rochester what Benny's name was before he changed it. Rochester says he's forgotten. The friend looks down at the towel he's holding and says, "It wasn't Conrad Hilton, was it?"

* One ''LooneyTunes'' travelogue short showed a man who collected hotel silverware and towels. He is shown having several of them in his hands and when the camera pulled back, it's revealed he's in a jail cell.

* In an episode of ''{{Daria}}'' where the Morgendorffer family have been forced to live in a hotel following a Jake-induced kitchen fire, a lowly bellhop falls heavily for the airheaded Quinn. Quinn is therefore showered in complimentary food, drink, and an upgrade to the Presidential Suite, which the bellhop claims he has okayed with his uncle, who runs the hotel. Being an airhead and taking it as her due for being cute and pretty and popular, Quinn does not question this until her family are run into the police station for fraud. It turns out the besotted bellhop has been scamming the hotel computer system to pay for Quinn's luxuries, leading to her exclaiming:

* Bender steals from Calculon's hotel room in a episode of ''{{Futurama}}'' entitled 'Bender should not be allowed on TV'

* DaveBarry tells this story:

* British comedian PeterKaye used to dread being out on the road with his comic partner, Paddy McGuinness. Put in a hotel room together, Kaye relates that Paddy suffered from hotel room fever - he stole ''everything'', regardless of whether he needed it or not. He would even gain access to empty adjoining rooms to steal things from them, too. Paddy would arrive with one suitcase and leave with four, which had Peter cringing with embarrassment. Both men have since become TV stars, Peter as a comic actor and Paddy as a dating show presenter.

* In the fourth season of ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'', Marky Bark takes Lindsay out to a restaurant that only accepts trade. He offers a handful of hotel soap bars but is told by the waitress that they're no longer accepted.

* Your character can do this in ''TheElderScrolls'' games. Prior to Skyrim, no repercussions result; in Skyrim, the innkeeper can send a few hired goons after you if you do so.

* There's a NotAlwaysRight story where the [[http://notalwaysright.com/thievers-cant-be-choosers/1399 guy ''complains'' about the towels he stole to hotel management]] (by phone, a while after he'd stayed there).

Incidentally, while hotels obviously don't care for expensive items like towels and robes getting stolen, taking small things like small individually wrapped soap bars and personal shampoo bottles is usually acceptable. They are cheap, have to be thrown out when opened anyway and serve as good advertising for the hotel.

Perhaps related or in contrast to when a character drops by another character's home/workplace and takes a small item or items (usually while the owner is right in front of them)?

Incidentally, while hotels obviously don't care for expensive items like towels and robes getting stolen, taking small things like small individually wrapped soap bars and personal shampoo bottles is usually acceptable. They are cheap, have to be thrown out when opened and serve as good advertising for the hotel.

* There's a NotAlwaysRight story where the guy ''complains'' about the towels he stole to hotel management (by phone, a while after he'd stayed there). Here's a link: http://notalwaysright.com/thievers-cant-be-choosers/1399

** Ross always tries to get his money's worth out of hotels by staying in the room to the very last minute before checkout, taking the batteries from the remotes, and taking the Bibles. It was a RunningGag for his character.