With Tiny Shampoo Bottles Soon to Be Banned, N.Y. Hotels Weigh Options

John Fitzpatrick, a hotelier who owns two four-star hotels in Midtown Manhattan, has had to troubleshoot a number of issues during his career.

Guests wouldn’t stop stealing his hand towels, emblazoned with an “F” for Fitzpatrick Hotel Group, so he removed the lettering, and the pilfering stopped. During the height of the pandemic, Mr. Fitzpatrick took away the magazines he normally provided in his hotel rooms so guests wouldn’t worry about strangers having touched what they were reading.

Now, Mr. Fitzpatrick and his team are brainstorming ideas for how to deal with a new problem: replacing the small plastic toiletry bottles that will be banned in larger hotels throughout New York State beginning Jan. 1, 2025.

“In this day and age, we have to watch our carbon footprint, and we have to stop using plastics and all sorts of stuff as best we can,” Mr. Fitzpatrick said.

Next year, New York will join California as the only two states in the country to ban the little bottles that are ubiquitous in most hotel bathrooms. Washington State has passed a bill to phase out plastic toiletries by Jan. 1, 2027, and other states are weighing similar measures.

The New York ban will only apply to hotels with 50 or more rooms. Hotels will be fined $250 for initial violations and $500 for further infractions. The money raised will be funneled to the state’s Environmental Protection Fund.