Souvenirs, you say? Hotels might call them stolen goods

I was taking notes for this story on a notepad from the Ritz-Carlton Millenia hotel in Singapore when the ink in my pen from the Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, Australia, went dry. I grabbed a pencil from the Hotel Buci Latin in Paris to complete the note and then picked up a cup of coffee from a pressed-paper coaster from the Hotel Hana Maui in Hawaii.

Little reminders of these memorable trips help make my days in front of a computer a little more bearable.

But are the items I use to ply the trade legitimately obtained souvenirs? To find the line between hotel souvenirs and flat-out stealing, I consulted experts in the hotel industry, hotel operators and some of my well-traveled friends and family.

Pilfering from hotels is widespread, according to an April survey from online travel agency Orbitz. Of respondents who have stayed at a hotel from among a nationwide sample of 2,745 adults, 61% nab toiletries, 18% admitted they had taken towels, 14% swiped ashtrays and 2% stole bathrobes and bathmats.

Experts estimate that losses from hotel theft total $100 million a year. Towels win as the most swiped items, said Tia Gordon, spokeswoman for the American Hotel & Lodging Assn.

Among my well-traveled friends, however, towels were not high on the list. "I'm afraid I've never been that interested in other people's towels," said Ian Eastment of London.

Another friend isn't either but had a unique excuse for taking one. She needed "to wrap up a wet Chihuahua," said Claudia Hoffman of Ventura. "But I informed the hotel clerk and asked to pay for it. They comped the towel."

Odd things taken by respondents to my informal survey included a phone book and a wooden luggage stand. But they drew the line well below the level of taking pictures, bathrobes or other high-ticket items. It was, however, open season on amenities. "I regard any toiletries as fair game, though I've often wondered what to do with 200 individual sachets of shampoo," Eastment said.

Along those lines, one respondent said, "Shampoo, soap, conditioner etc. -- you should see the accumulation that resides in the guest bathroom." That was uttered by Linda Gilden, of Fillmore, a seasoned traveler and also my mother.

I treasure some hotel items above even some of the souvenirs I have purchased.

An ashtray I picked up from the Plaza Hotel in New York on my first trip to that city has a special place in my collection and my heart. I have always assumed that such items serve as marketing for the hotel.