Welcome to Your Room. Please Don't Steal Anything.

In 2003, Robert Cialdini ran an experiment in Arizona's Petrified Forest National Park where visitors were stealing approximately 14 tons of petrified wood per month. Rangers erected signs warning against theft. Cialdini's team tested whether the signs were working.

With no sign at all, 2.9% of marked pieces were stolen. With a sign emphasising how many visitors had stolen - theft jumped to 7.9%. Nearly four times higher. The sign designed to prevent theft more than doubled it compared to saying nothing.

Walk into almost any hotel room in the world and count the cards.

"Should you choose to take this item, a charge of €150 will be applied to your account." Next to the hairdryer. Next to the iron. Next to the amenity bottles. One card per item. A personalised price list on everything in the room that isn't bolted down.

The science - as Richard Shotton explains in The Choice Factory - says every one of those cards is telling your guests that taking things is normal. That everyone does it. That the hotel expects it.

Whether that's the message you intended is a different question entirely.

xoxo, Bored Hotelier 😉

Further reading: Richard Shotton, The Choice Factory (2018) - Bias 3: Negative Social Proof