I was on a business trip to the US recently. In my hotel there was a typical sign saying: save the planet by reusing your towels; hang your towel if you are happy to reuse it.
Day 1, I hang my towel rather messily and I get a new one.
Day 2, I hang the towel quite neatly and again I get a new one.
Day 3, I hang the towel neatly and put the sign on top of it but I still get a new one.
Any tips on encouraging a hotel to actually follow its own stated policy?
Why not doing the obvious? Tell the reception, they are where they are and they are paid exactly to listen to your needs and try to reasonably satisfy them. Easier then ever, just tell'em when you check-in; I do so all times, and never had any problem nor anybody charged me additional money or yelled at me for asking it.
Take the towel with you when they leave the hotel room (just not on the day you check out).
The simplest solution is to ignore the problem altogether: hang the towel and let the cleaners decide what to do. If they swap your towel despite you following their own rules, then it's their issue rather than yours.
I'm sure there are more complex solutions out there such as talking to the management, but why bother in the first place? Do your part of the 'saving' and let the others do theirs.
