Interesting read. Few things stir hearts as do hotel room amenities. This must be due to the fact that so many of us use hotel rooms, over time we become sort of experts.

Ive spent most of my life working in hundred room or bigger hotels and have dealt with your excellent list.

One quick one is the bible. They are everywhere, not just the US. The Gideons started a very succesful campaign at placing the good book in the drawer in the bed table. Usually at no cost to the hotel. In fact some hotels will even wink and smile if you liberate one from the room.

Phones in johns is a holdover from the past when operators couldn't come up with more and better, competitive amenities. One can only hope these go away soon.

Scales are one of those poorly thought out amenities that should be eliminated. Most dont work after a while, also are prime spots for fungus. You don't really believe the cleaning staff get on their knees and apply disinfectant to the surfaces of these things?

Bathroom with no doors probably started from a combination of concern for the wellbeing of guests. Re: Say there are two in the room and one falls on the floor with a heart attack, the friend can't get to the stricken guy. Think it through. If in fact you find a hotel room with window walls between the sleeping area and the crapper this is simply a huge mistake on the part of the operator. The other reason for eliminating doors is the real reason: profit driven decisions. Less cost for owners.

Minibars deserves a separate story. Suffice to say what drove operators to eliminate goodies in the fridges: theft. Especially in these times when the culture is less concerned about 'stealing' from the fridge. At checkout charging for consumed items can turn into a brawl unless its a fully automated system which provides its own set of headaches. Then, once n operator has eliminated the goodies they're left with the fridge. They will often slowly phase out the fridges as they fall apart from misuse and age. Free water bottles is a nice touch. A fridge often will justify an added amount to the room rate. Depending on where you are, in the tropics or freezing north country may determine the need for fridges. As for noise they now have almost silent fridges.

Thanks for the observations. There are so many more in room items that would flabbergast you. One such is the garment bag peg on the guestroom wall. Once very useful but as garment bags phase out people wonder what the hell they're for. Another are alarm clocks and coffee makers. Both are notorius for malfunctioning. You dont really think they clean out the percolators water every time the room is cleaned... Todays hands down best solution: Keurig. Electric shoe polisher. Problem are guests who abuse these machines, Ive seen where guests jamb muddy shoes under them. Hotels that refuse to provide wash cloths. A common European practice.

One final: traveller beware of using Hand towels for your face in many European hotels, same hotels where they offer the bidet...

Over and out