Hotel toilet-paper folding - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Hotel toilet-paper folding
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hotel toilet-paper folding is a common practice performed by hotels worldwide as a way of assuring guests that the bathroom has been cleaned,[1] and sometimes, with more elaborate foldings, to impress or delight guests with the management's creativity and attention to detail.
The common fold normally involves creating an inverted triangle \nabla or "\vee" shape out of the first sheet or square on a toilet paper roll. Commonly, the two corners of the final sheet are tucked behind the paper symmetrically, forming a point at the end of the roll. More elaborate folding results in shapes like fans, sailboats, and even flowers.
Toilet-paper folding (also known as "toilet paper origami") has attracted the attention of observers within the hotel industry and beyond it, involving both sober discussion of the practice as a marketing move as well as wry commentary with various degrees of seriousness. The practice has been considered an emblematic example of a meme copied across the world from a hotel to another until the point that most of them now do it.[2]
The practice is followed by hotels "the world over", according to Stephen Gill, a British photographer who published a book of pictures of folded hotel toilet paper from various nations.[3]
Dr. Susan Blackmore, who uses the example of hotel toilet-paper folding to illustrate the use of "memes", pointed out in the 2006 Darwin Day Lecture before the British Humanist Association that even a remote guesthouse she visited in rural Assam in India folded the first sheet on its rolls of toilet paper.[2]
Hotel toilet-paper folding is such an institution that in the horror movie 1408 it is used as one of the eerie happenings noticed by the main character ? after using the toilet paper, he finds it mysteriously has been freshly folded over.[4]
The practice is meant to assure customers that their hotel room has been cleaned, according to David Feldman, in his "Imponderables" syndicated newspaper column. Feldman reported that he had contacted "most of the largest chains of innkeepers in the country", asked why the toilet paper was folded, "and received the same answer from all". He quoted James P. McCauley, executive director of the International Association of Holiday Inns:[1]
Hotels want to give their guests the confidence that the bathroom has been cleaned since the last guest has used the room. To accomplish this, the maid will fold over the last piece of toilet paper to assure that no one has used the toilet paper since the room was cleaned. It is subtle but effective.
Gill believes the practice is meant to please or impress customers: "But the neatly made bed, the folded toilet paper ? all these things symbolise attention and love. Perhaps such finishing touches are also an attempt to suggest flawlessness or excellence, and so distract you from whatever failings the room may have. They create a moment of stillness."[3]
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Hotel toilet-paper folding is a common practice performed by hotels worldwide as a way of assuring guests that the bathroom has been cleaned,[1] and sometimes, with more elaborate foldings, to impress or delight guests with the management's creativity and attention to detail.
The common fold normally involves creating an inverted triangle \nabla or "\vee" shape out of the first sheet or square on a toilet paper roll. Commonly, the two corners of the final sheet are tucked behind the paper symmetrically, forming a point at the end of the roll. More elaborate folding results in shapes like fans, sailboats, and even flowers.
Toilet-paper folding (also known as "toilet paper origami") has attracted the attention of observers within the hotel industry and beyond it, involving both sober discussion of the practice as a marketing move as well as wry commentary with various degrees of seriousness. The practice has been considered an emblematic example of a meme copied across the world from a hotel to another until the point that most of them now do it.[2]
The practice is followed by hotels "the world over", according to Stephen Gill, a British photographer who published a book of pictures of folded hotel toilet paper from various nations.[3]
Dr. Susan Blackmore, who uses the example of hotel toilet-paper folding to illustrate the use of "memes", pointed out in the 2006 Darwin Day Lecture before the British Humanist Association that even a remote guesthouse she visited in rural Assam in India folded the first sheet on its rolls of toilet paper.[2]
Hotel toilet-paper folding is such an institution that in the horror movie 1408 it is used as one of the eerie happenings noticed by the main character ? after using the toilet paper, he finds it mysteriously has been freshly folded over.[4]
The practice is meant to assure customers that their hotel room has been cleaned, according to David Feldman, in his "Imponderables" syndicated newspaper column. Feldman reported that he had contacted "most of the largest chains of innkeepers in the country", asked why the toilet paper was folded, "and received the same answer from all". He quoted James P. McCauley, executive director of the International Association of Holiday Inns:[1]
Hotels want to give their guests the confidence that the bathroom has been cleaned since the last guest has used the room. To accomplish this, the maid will fold over the last piece of toilet paper to assure that no one has used the toilet paper since the room was cleaned. It is subtle but effective.
Gill believes the practice is meant to please or impress customers: "But the neatly made bed, the folded toilet paper ? all these things symbolise attention and love. Perhaps such finishing touches are also an attempt to suggest flawlessness or excellence, and so distract you from whatever failings the room may have. They create a moment of stillness."[3]
I'm so glad I'm no longer among the toilet paper folding illiterate.
here you go. Be sure to post photos of your creation.
