Oh, I Got It From The Hotel On Vacation

You just got back from your yearly vacation. You spent the nights in a five star motel which featured wonderful room service and close proximity to all the finest sights, restaurants and sights. The bed was comfortable and you didn't get a nosebleed from being on the top floor. You had a fantastic vacation and you came home with a bag stuffed full of goodies. Let's see, there were, of course, the requisite shampoos, conditioners and lotions. There were the tiny bars of soap and box of the softest tissues you've ever used. There were the candies in the ashtrays and the tiny collection of pain relievers, Pepto Bismol and travel toothbrush and toothpaste. And, oh, yes, the tiny packets of crackers. The perfume samples from that four star restaurant the bathroom attendant gave you are in there as well. Considering that you haven't had time to go to the market you've put to use some of your samples from the hotel and went right to work.

On a normal day in your right mind you would not dream of spending eight dollars for a bottle of shampoo, no matter what supermodel was advertising it. Nor would you spend that kind of money on hand and body lotions when your usual brand, less expensive, would do just fine. You have employed the brand of toothpaste from the hotel for years. You've applied the brand of pain reliever from the hotel for years as well. You wonder if you've employed these brands for years because you saw them in a hotel and liked them. And then you think that you've utilized these brands no matter the cost because they work for you. Suddenly eight dollars for a bottle of shampoo that netted you some lovely compliments doesn't seem so bad.

We take home hotel samples because we can. They are free to the consumer because they are samples and wonderful means of advertising. Because we like the good in the hotel, we'll like it at home as well and buy it. Like food samples in the supermarket, if we like the product, we'll buy it. The Avon lady, Amway and Baskin Robbins give us samples of their wares and from those samples we decide what we will buy from now on.

Size matters. Samples make you want more.