What’s in the hotel’s lost and found?
Summer has come to an end, and in many places, tourists are packing their bags and leaving hotels in droves. But unfortunately, many of them will forget to pack some very important belongings. Sure, forgetting small items here and there is common, but during my time in hotels, I’ve seen and heard of some really strange things being left behind.
1. Drugs. You’d think people would be really keen to hang on to something they had to obtain illegally and at great cost. But no, guests leave their stash behind much more often than you’d think. I’ve seen it all — from baggies of weed under the pillow, to lines of cocaine on the dresser, to large numbers of pills in the closet safe. What do hotel staff do when they find this type of contraband? Well, sometimes we call the cops, but quite honestly, there’s almost no way to prove that the drugs belonged to the last guest in the room. More often, we just wipe up that “baby powder” that spilled on the table or trash that “oregano” that someone must have brought to season up the room-service fare.
2. Guns. I don’t carry a weapon, but I imagine a gun might be fairly easy to forget. After all, most people lock them in the safe or hide them really well so that the housekeeper won’t stumble upon them. But sometimes the guns are left behind in plain sight. My husband once entered a hotel room to find that the guest, who had had checked out, had left behind a handgun - along with a balaclava and several pieces of all-black clothing. Needless to say, the police were summoned immediately!
3. Unmentionables. OK, so finding underwear may not be all that unusual. It’s where we find it that is sometimes peculiar. On top of the TV armoire, behind paintings, in the pillowcase, in the mini-bar fridge or flushed down the toilet - the possibilities are endless. What have you people been doing? I must have missed that day of sex ed class.
4. Alcohol. You know it’s a great day when you enter a vacant room and you find a note that says “Dear hotel staff, please enjoy our leftovers” sitting next to what appears to be a fully stocked bar. Sure, if we find unopened bottles of wine or liquor, we’ll send them to lost and found. But guests often leave behind half-empty bottles of booze or the last couple of cans in a case, and no one calls to claim those. Housekeepers everywhere thank all of you who just couldn’t be bothered to pack that unfinished bottle of Maker’s Mark because it might have spilled in your suitcase. You made their weekends a little brighter.
5. Animals. You know the county fair is in town when goldfish in plastic bags turn up in hotel rooms. And it’s not uncommon to find those tiny turtles or hermit crabs left behind at beach resorts. What are we supposed to do with these critters, folks? Look, we know that most likely Mom told Junior she “accidentally” forgot his special new friend and is really glad to be rid of the smelly thing, but there’s always the chance that someone might want to come back and claim a lost pet. Rest assured that most of these animals get adopted and taken to loving homes. But that’s only because no housekeeper wants to be responsible for fouling up the hotel plumbing by flushing a fish down the toilet.
6. Lice. This is by far the worst thing I’ve ever found left in a room. There was once this sweet little old couple who spent two nights at my hotel. They were very kind to the staff and everyone loved them. But when the housekeeper entered their room after checkout, I swear you could hear her screams from the lobby to the 25th floor. The room was teeming with lice, and they swarmed on her immediately. She had to be taken to the emergency room, and we had to evacuate and close down the entire floor. Pest control guys turned up in white hazmat suits, and they spent days in the room — and the elevators and the lobby — before they got the infestation under control.
7. Cell phone chargers. Cell phone chargers aren’t weird. It’s the sheer number of them we find that’s crazy. Large hotels and resorts often have boxes and boxes and boxes of chargers stashed in the lost and found. You’d think chargers were disposable! Hotel employees know that one of the unwritten benefits of their job is having free phone chargers for them, their friends and family as long as they’re in the hotel business. So if you ever forget your charger when traveling, don’t go buy a new one. The front desk will most likely be able to give you one from lost and found.
Make sure you don’t leave behind anything important or unusual in your hotel room. Before you leave the room, do a very thorough check. Look under the bed and in all drawers. Check the dark corners of the closet and the hook on the back of the bathroom door. And don’t forget the items you put in the safe! Getting assistance with your bags is also a good idea, because a good bellman knows a room’s nooks and crannies and will check them well.
If you do leave items, what should you do?
* If you are leaving something behind intentionally, leave a note stating so in the room. That way the housekeeper won’t waste time wondering if you meant to leave it or not, then more time taking it to lost and found and logging it in.
* If you forget something, call the hotel as soon as you can. If you call quickly, before anyone has cleaned the room, the housekeeper can be on the lookout for it. As time goes by, items get moved farther and farther back in the lost and found closet, and they may get harder to find.
* When reporting a lost item, speak to a housekeeping supervisor or a security manager - you’ll get more attention from them than from the front desk. If you’re sure you left a very expensive item behind but you’re told it wasn’t found, you can call the police in the hotel’s jurisdiction to start an investigation.
* If your item is found, don’t expect the hotel to mail it home to you for free. While some properties might do this for a regular customer if it’s a small item, the bottom line is this: You forgot it, and it’s your responsibility to get it home, so don’t be surprised or indignant if you’re asked to provide a credit card number for shipping costs.
My best advice is this: Keep the liquor flowing, but keep your skivvies to yourself, please!
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