You’re standing on the bath mat, dripping, holding a soggy towel, and the little clock in your head is ticking toward checkout. Do you drop it on the floor and look like you were raised in a barn? Or drape it over the tub so someone thinks kindly of you on the way out? I’ve frozen in exactly that spot more times than I’d like to admit.
Here’s the short version. For a genuine checkout, either is fine. Used hotel towels on the floor and used hotel towels in the tub tell housekeeping the same thing: these are done, please wash them. The nuance only matters mid-stay, and that’s where the little card in your bathroom comes in.
The Reuse Card Is the Real Instruction
That towel-on-the-floor rule you half-remember isn’t a checkout rule at all. It’s a conservation signal the hotel itself sets, and it only applies while you’re
