Better quality bath towels or lesser quality bath sheets?

[Casscat]

There are many here who have coloured towels, but for me always white. I know they need replacing more often but I just like white towels! At the very least there are no issues with fading or colour matching.

[PW in Polemi]

Go for white or a definite colour to match/tone with your bathroom/bedroom colour scheme - do not try ivory or cream or pale creamy yellow - voice of experience here, the pale coloured ones lose a bit of colour, and end up looking like grubby white ones!

[greenbarn]

We supply towels in a wide range of colours with a note saying "Dear Guest. Please choose the towel that is the closest colour to whatever make-up/fake tan/hair dye/sunblock you have larded yourself with and not bothered to clean off properly."

Okay, not really. We supply white. You can bleach white.

[G.H]

Thanks for all the help. I'm going to order the John Lewis ones and if they don't seem good enough I can always return them.

After reading on here that sometimes people don't like all white towels cos they don't know which are who's, I was thinking of different colours for each room. White in the more modern room and silver gray in the vintagey room. Have striped bedding which should wash fine with the gray towels and white with the white...though the washing is someone else's problem!

[RichardHenshall]

...sometimes people don't like all white towels cos they don't know which are who's ...

So that's what the make-up/fake tan/hair dye marks on (otherwise) matching all-white towels are for - to identify whose towel it is.

[Casscat]

After reading on here that sometimes people don't like all white towels cos they don't know which are who's, I was thinking of different colours for each room.

Do people move towels between bathrooms? Not in my experience, and if they do then they deserve to not know whose towel they might be using! If you are going to have various people using one bathroom then they will just have to develop their own system as to who hangs their towels where. Having different coloured towels in each bathroom isn't going to help.

[Bunny]

After reading on here that sometimes people don't like all white towels cos they don't know which are who's, I was thinking of different colours for each room.

With this in mind I have purchased towels from various different suppliers and make sure that I supply a selection of slightly different white towels. The differences are subtle, but enough for guests to be able to distinguish between them. I think it is called the weft of the fabric or I mean the woven stripe along the short ends of towels.

[Boomhulay]

My place sleeps up to 10, so I have to have a lot of towels!
I bought black bath sheets, grey hand towels and black flannels from Tesco (finest) and have been washing and drying them for 5 years now. They're very good quality for the price, especially when they have them on offer and the only time I have to replace them is if I have people who've used hair bleach, or face wash which has a sort of bleach in it. Whatever that stuff is they use, it leaves orange blotches, so I just use those myself.
I've had quite a few guests remark on the quality of them.
I also supply towelling bathrobes which I get from ikea, black, or white and again, after 5 years of washing they still feel soft and lovely.
I also bought a couple of bathrobes from tesco about 3 years ago which I spotted on a top shelf with no price. They are very thick, white 'hotel' ones and I was delighted to find they were less than £25 each, but I've never seen them in there since!

If you think you'll get any guests from North America, make sure you supply flannels (they call them wash cloths) because they expect them.

[rosebud]

I started with bath towels then changed to bath sheets ...

I personally prefer a bath sheet and most - but not all - of my towels are white..

[ClareW]

Carrying on with this- am about to order 600gsm white towels from A & J towelling (thanks to Casscat!) and will sew different coloured ribbon hooks on the corners so that guests can differentiate whose is whose. Will one bath sheet, one hand towel and one face flannel be enough per guest or should they also each have a bath towel as well as a bath sheet? Also, do you supply only one of each per guest for a weeks stay? Thank you!

[Casscat]

I provide guests with one bath sheet, one bath towel, one hand towel and two pool towels per week plus one bath mat per bathroom. I don't provide flannels. Does everyone else? Because I don't personally use a flannel it didn't occur to me that anyone else would!

[zebedee]

I am in the UK and supply one bath sheet and one hand towel per bed (I leave all beds made up and towels even if the occupancy is for less than maximum, as I think to do otherwise would affect the overall impression of the cottage).

Also, make sure there is at least one other towel in the kitchen.

After that, the guests can wash the towels in the washing machine if they wish.
I suspect some people would use every towel that you leave out for them if you left more, but that would substantially increase your costs at changeovers.

You will find owners outside of the U.K. With pools etc may do something very different.

If you are near a beach, or pool though, you might want to leave specific beach or pool towels to prevent your from "walking".

[Tivoli]

I provide stripey towelling pool towels, coloured towelling beach towels, white waffle shower towels plus one white hand-towel between two people. During our first year our expensive German unbleached cotton white waffle shower towels were utterly destroyed by what I can only describe as 'Agent Orange' and had to be bleached. My nephew kindly sent away for some larger white waffle towels from Croatia I think. They were dirt cheap and that much is obvious. They are big and they are thin and you can wear them. They dry really quickly. Most people are very happy with them but I do allow guests to help themselves to the smaller thicker ones if they so wish. I usually find that each couple helps themselves to one extra towel. Of course this is Greece, it is hot and for the most part people just want to drip dry.

[sunshinewino]

Hi, I have just been looking at the John Lewis towel bales mentioned earlier. They are now on offer at £10.50.
Before I order any, they are 475gpsm, are they going to be thick enough, or all thin and horrid.
All comments gratefully received!

[Lets Go To Puglia]

I started with bath towels then changed to bath sheets ...

I personally prefer a bath sheet and most - but not all - of my towels are white..

+1 for the bath sheets, but not for the white towels, although I might switch after reading all of the above