Toiletries for free?

There's a 95 percent chance Senior Editor Christine Sarkis is thinking about travel right now. Follow her on Instagram @postcartography and Twitter @ChristineSarkis.

Christine Sarkis is an SATW-award-winning journalist and executive editor at SmarterTravel. Her stories have also appeared on USA Today, Conde Nast Traveler, Huffington Post, and Business Insider. Her advice has been featured in dozens of print and online publications including The New York Times, Conde Nast Traveler, and People magazine. She has also shared travel tips on television and radio shows including Good Morning America, Marketplace, and Here & Now. Her work has been published in the anthologies Spain from a Backpack and The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008. She is currently working on a travel memoir.

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I just finished up an article (there’s a cool chart too) that details which hotels are currently offering toiletries that are banned under the new airplane carry-on restrictions. I focused on major U.S. hotel chains, since my guess is that it’s people flying on short trips within the U.S. who are most adamant about not checking baggage.

Having done the research, I can say that depending on how product-oriented you are (I, for instance, wouldn’t qualify, since my toiletries usually take up about a third of my packing space) and what hotel you’re planning on staying at, it is possible to forgo your toiletries bag and pick up the essential items for free at your hotel when you arrive. This will work best for those whose skin-care regimes revolve around cold water and toothpaste. Unless you’re headed to an Omni Hotel, in which case you might want to leave your own kit at home just to have an excuse to use some of the Aveda, Clinique, Kiehl’s, and Sephora products provided.

Some of the hotels I spoke with indicated they weren’t sure how long they’d be offering certain extras. However, for now, traveling light is an actual possibility.

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