Why are some hotel towels so small?

This always frustrates me. I'm not a really big guy -- waist size 33 to be exact. I stayed at a Hilton in Denver and I could hardly get the towels to wrap around my waist. Why is that? Do you think the GM of the hotel has ever showered in one of his own rooms?

I have purchased some pretty cheap towels in college from stores such as Target and none of them were as short as these hideous towels that the Hilton gave me. Furthermore, most of the Hilton towels were so washed out that they were almost abrasive -- even after repeated washings, my Target towels in college never got as stiff and uncomfortable as these Hilton towels. When I say I got towels cheap at Target, I mean that they were only a dollar or two. So it makes me wonder how much Hilton pays for these over-glorified bath mats (I honestly thought the maid had stocked my entire room with bathmats and called to get new towels only to find myself with more of exactly the same towels).

Contrast this with the Loews hotel in San Diego. Loews gives me several towel sizes to choose from, but even the smallest ones go comfortably around my waist (my wife loves the extra huge bath towels that go around your waist almost twice and drape all the way to the floor). Some of you might say that the Loews is more expensive than the Hilton, but that is not always the case; it simply depends on the time of the year.

Maybe next time I'll stay at the Loews in Denver. I know for sure that there won't be a next time at the Hilton (at least not in Denver) -- all over the size of a bath towel.

The little things do make a very, very big difference . . . . and, yes, your customers do notice.