Here’s the thing if you’re travelling with every single toiletry from your en suite salle de bain you are, to put it as gently as possible, checking into the wrong hotel.

The inimitable Pondi swears by The Four Seasons’s service”, which he repeats for all to hear but on digging deeper we glean that The Four Seasons Florence has great amenities too.

The Four Seasons Florence sources its products from Farmaceutica di Santa Maria which is the oldest – think 800 years – continuously existing pharmacy in the world. Started by Dominican friars, the perfumes currently used are extracted from Iris, Rose and Gardenia and, according to our discerning traveller, “the consistency of the hand and face moisturisers are sublime… the scents subtle and they soak well into the skin without that after oil feel and lasts all day”.

The Five-Star Hotel Principe di Savoia, Milan, Italy, is where I personally love to rest my weary head, especially during Fashion Week. The bathroom amenities by Acqua di Parma, from the century-old Italian perfume with its Colonia fragrance and luxe yellow package, is to die for. What’s lovely, of course, about staying at this property is that the housekeepers don’t skimp on the amenities. This is unlike Pondi’s Kempinski Ciragan Palace on the Bosphorous in Istanbul, which boasts bathroom amenities fused from both Asian and European beauty care traditions and has alas, according to our global fabulocracy, “fallen off in recent years and is no longer worth the hefty price of the room despite the magnificent water views”. He was forced on his last trip to Istanbul to ‘clutch those pearls’ and use the public bathroom but he was able ‘procure’ some of the amenities for his personal use. “Even in Kingston the aromas take [me] back to Istanbul”.

Karen Kranenburg who has, we reckon shopped at every airport in the world rates Como Shambhala in UbudClouds Mountain Gorilla Lodge, Bwindi Uganda and the amazing foot bath after a gorilla trek as awesome. Shanghai Tang toiletries can be found in the well-appointed bathrooms.

Here’s a list of a few more properties in our travel black book for the best amenities.

Soap concierge Viceroy Riviera Maya – Mexico

Over-the-top amenities include a soap concierge. The service is unique to the property and guests can explore a range of Mayan soaps that promise to cleanse, invigorate, moisturise and exfoliate. Scents are both classic from peach to lemon and exotic (from chocolate to cinnamon). Request a new soap for your room every day or stick to your favourite.

At the Bvlgari it’s all about the line of eau parfumee au the vert, made with essential plant oils and silk proteins and fragranced with Italian bergamot and pepper.

Salvatore Ferragamo’s Tuscan Soul Collection for its first foray into beauty and grooming partnered with an equally celebrated hotel brand: the Waldorf Astoria. The ultra-luxe amenities include everything from shampoo and conditioner to body lotion and bath soaps.

Asprey of London’s Purple Water

New York’s Chatwal hotel, which exudes 1930s glamour, commissioned the bespoke British product line to lend a distinctively sophisticated scent as a finishing touch.

Guests are offered a range of toiletries with spicy citrus notes, as well as an Asprey-scented towelette at turndown.

Molton Brown – stay at the Emirates Towers in Dubai, One & Only Ocean Club in the Bahamas or Hotel Cipriani in Venice – there’s also the Pierre in NYC, the Mandarin Oriental, in San Francisco and at the Meadowood, in Napa Valley, where the lime-mandarin and ginger scented shampoo and conditioner sets are paired with an energizing sea-moss body wash, coco-de-mer body lotion and a Molton Brown shower cap

Hermes

Alvear Palace, Buenos Aires, Argentina

The name that is synonymous with some of the world’s most fashionable French handbags and accessories has been popping up in equally stylish hotels the globe over. The Alvear Palace in Argentina was the first in that country to stock the citrus-and mint-scented Eau d’Orange Verte.

Thierry Mugler Villa by Barton G (Miami)

When dreaming up his first hotel product line, fashion designer and perfumer Thierry Mugler wanted to create something fresh, modern, sensual and a bit audacious. His ergonomically shaped line of hair and body products are available in five-star hotels in Brussels, Cyprus, Spain, the US, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy and the UK.

Some properties also offer Mugler-branded hand cream, bath salts, scented wipes and a refillable-cologne travel spray.

Malin + Goetz

After stocking Greek brand Korres in bathrooms for years, Morgans Hotel Group properties, including the Delano in Miami, St Martin’s Lane, in London and the Clift in San Francisco, recently switched to carrying products created by this New York based apothecary, whose hotel products include peppermint shampoo, cilantro conditioner and rum soap.

Gilchrist & Soames

Last year, the Orient Express properties in North America turned to London-based Gilchrist & Soames to deliver botanically based, eco-friendly products that come in recyclable packaging. The London Collection, available at all of its US properties, is made with antioxidant botanicals, including red tea, soy, ginkgo biloba, grape seed and milk thistle.

No sign yet of crème de la mer but we’ll keep you posted. We’ll be the ones calling housekeeping all day for refills.