A recent story about a hotel housekeeper in Miami who found in $6,000 in cash in a guestroom got me to thinking about items guests leave behind. As travelers, we’ve all experienced that sensation upon arriving at the airport that our luggage feels pleasantly lighter – only to realize we left half our belongings in the closet of our hotel room.
Curious, I decided to pay a visit to OPUS hotel’s housekeeping department to see what was kicking around Lost and Found. There I found boxes and boxes of guest belongings. Most of it looked like junk abandoned by guests, but hotels undertake too many frantic dumpster dives to make assumptions about what guests may or may not deem as valuable.
While I was perusing the log book, a group of housekeeping staff filed in after their shift, and one of them deposited an item on the desk before me.
“A bra?” I asked, staring. It was one big bra.
“Happens all the time,” said Alejandro, one of the housemen.
“Usually it’s men’s underwear,” said Mila, making a face.
I asked what other things guests leave behind. They listed off everything from the trivial – toiletries, toothbrushes, CDs, adapters – to the treasured – jewelry, laptops, iPods, passports, USB sticks, clothing and prescriptions. One guest left behind an $800 bottle of Crystal champagne. It might have made for a fun staff party had he not picked it up – two years later.
“Socks,” said Alejandro. “Lots of socks.” Next time you can’t find a sock, don’t blame the washing machine. You probably left it in your hotel room.
“Cell phone chargers!” Marifel exclaimed, leading me to a box teeming with every imaginable type of charger.
“Everything but money,” Maria said, with a sigh.
Sex toys are another popular leave-behind, probably because they’re hidden out of sight, in a drawer or under the bed. “Do guests ever call looking for them?” I asked.
“Oh no, never. They’re too embarrassed.”
We don’t call them either. Leaving a message with their secretary might be a bit awkward.
If items left behind in hotel rooms are an indication of what travelers are up to on the road, partners and spouses have good reason to be nervous. Recorded in the log book I found a whip, pornographic material, a nurse’s uniform, a wig, a stethoscope and narcotics. Then again, I also found business books, language tapes and a Bible.
Years ago, when I worked on the front desk of a hotel, a guest left behind a blow-up doll. The doll hung around the back office for weeks and became like an employee, sitting in on meetings spread-eagle in her chair, her red lips shaped into a permanent look of surprise. One day she just disappeared. I think she grew tired of all the jokes.
A few years ago at Opus, I found a bag of marijuana stashed on a ledge in the stairwell. I alerted the operations manager, Nicholas, and while passing a spliff back and – er, I mean after flushing it – we speculated on which staff member it belonged to. Recently, it occurred to me it might have belonged to a guest, after I read an interview with rocker Ryan Adams. Speaking about the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood, he said, “I used to hide my pot in the ventilator shaft for every time I returned, with a few Xanax for coming down from the boozing. It was always there, as they never dusted the place. Not so anymore.” Hotels are always happy to hold on to extra baggage for frequent guests, but our hospitality ends with illegal activities.
Speaking of which, a friend of mine used to manage a swank hotel in Los Angeles, and one day a female guest came to the front desk to ask for access to another guest’s in-room safe. When she was informed that only the registered guest could be granted access, she gave a sinister retort: “Oh, he won’t ever be back!” The next day, management opened the safe and found $200,000 in cash stuffed inside. They notified the police, who confiscated it – to the disappointment of the housekeeper, no doubt. Typically, hotels hold on to an item for three to six months and then dispose of it, donate it to charity, or allow employees to keep it.
What should you do if you leave something behind in a hotel? Call Lost and Found immediately, and pray that it hasn’t been sold on the black market – a new revenue stream for hotels during the recession (kidding). If they can’t find it, be patient and persistent; sometimes items are temporarily misplaced, but eventually they should show up. The hotel will arrange to mail it back to you.
As for that housekeeper in Miami, she turned the money in, and people were so taken by her honesty and dire personal circumstances that she received donations amounting to far more than the money she found. Let her story be a friendly reminder: If you’re going to leave anything behind in a hotel room, a modest tip for the room attendant will be most gratefully received.
Have you lost or found something unusual in a hotel room? Tell us here.
Wow, Dan, I had no idea how dull my hotel stays have been (comparatively). Don’t get me wrong – I’ve left my fair share of items in hotel rooms (I don’t just leave a suit, I leave my very finest HALF of a suit, the only bathing suit that has ever truly fit me and my most embarrassing? A 500 page LEED reference book.)
Your post reminded me of some advice given to me years ago. If you are traveling and you forget any sort of charger, there is no need to panic or pay $50 to have one FedX’ed before that big presentation (not that I have EVER done that). You can just ask housekeeping help you – they will have an impressive collection for you to choose from.
And now that my eyes have been opened (oh, my…), I know to be careful when digging through those chargers. There is just no telling what other devices may be hidden in there…
I left behind an expensive pair of Silhouette rimless bifocals – ok, now you know I am old enough for bifocals. Ouch – they cost me a fortune and were “never found”.
Diana left half of a suit, but I had a guest who recently left his whole suit behind. It only cost me $10 to send it back to him – no charge – it’s worth the good will to be kind in hope they will come back sometime, eh?
We have a box of cell phone chargers too. A few years ago people wanted them back, but not any more. Now my friends come to me when the need to replace their lost chargers. I should start a side business.
In Vail, Colorado I found a Denver Broncos team member’s Super Bowl ring under the bed, while retrieving a coin I had dropped which rolled underneath. Gave it to the hotel GM (who knew the ring’s owner). True story!
Diana, Sarah & GG: Wow, a suit, a pair of bifocals and a Super Bowl ring. Sounds like the makings of a good murder mystery novel … Thanks for sharing. DEC
I used to work at the front desk of a vacation rental company in Key West. A group of siblings renting a unit from us had come to town to scatter their mother’s ashes in the Gulf. Well, Key West being the town it is, they had a great time partying and checked out after three nights. Not only had they not gotten around to scattering their mother’s ashes, they actually forgot her in the rental unit–we had to ship her back to them. I never did find out where she ended up.
Okay, you win Bethb. Classic. Thanks for sharing.
Your blow-up “colleague” at the front desk reminded me of when I worked at the Swissotel Boston: we had the Swissair flight crews stay with us each night, and there was one pilot that was a nightmare. Imagine the worst guest you ever had, multiply that by 10, and that was this guy. He had this big “I fly JUMBO JETS” ego, and we all had the “so what…. every plane has a pilot” attitude, so everytime he arrived, there was a problem.
One morning, housekeeping reported (with great amusement) that Mr. Jumbo Jet Pilot had left behind his, um, personal items in the room, and since he would be back in a few days (and no one on the evening shift in housekeeping wanted to deal with him) they would leave it at the front desk.
Down from his room came “Helga”, a lovely blow-up doll with long blonde hair and bright red lipstick. Wow.
When he returned a few days later, the guy checking him in said in a low voice that he had his “lost personal item” from his last stay, and asked if we should bring it to his room in a few minutes? The pilot started howling that he didn’t want to be disturbed and wanted whatever it was right then. When the associate tried to say that he really didn’t, the pilot was about to explode and yelled to just give it to him. Um, OK.
So the associate went in back, all of the Swissair crew was still at the desk waiting for keys, and they probably thought the pilot was getting his socks or something, when out came Helga in all her beauty.
That was the last time the pilot gave any crap to anyone at that hotel.
Of course, if it were a regular guest, we might have passed a note…… but since we worked for the same parent company and the guy was a nightmare, he had it coming! To this day, I wonder how he could have left his “co-pilot” behind?
Margot, You made my day with this story. Love it. Maybe if we had named our blow-up doll she wouldn’t have run off on us.
Great blog.
The only thing I lost that I regret was a new beach towel I had just bought when I was on holiday in Italy. The pillow was too soft and I had put it under the pillow to sleep better. Now I never unpack much when I stay at hotels that is I don’t put anything in draws or cupboards for fear of forgetting it at checkout time.
A blow up doll… I don’t think I would have wanted to touch that with a ten foot pole!
I’m not even surprised by the amount of adaptors and chargers that are found anymore. I do accessibility audits on hotels and find so many I’m actually kind of surprised when a nightstand is shifted and there isn’t a stray charger plugged in behind it.
That box of long forgotten chargers do come in handy when other guests forget theirs, or have left theirs at another hotel though!
Great blog.
Thanks for sharing….
The Blow-up doll is hilarious. I am sure everyone has all these crazy thoughts, but it must have been a stag party joke!!
Amazing blog! Do you have any tips and hints for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many options out there that I’m completely overwhelmed .. Any recommendations? Many thanks!
I have this persistent feeling that one day during my weekly housekeeping inspections I’m going to find a dead body in a room. Maybe that’s just too many episodes of Law & Order.
We’ve often found weed in rooms here.
I still remember the housekeeper that found a money clip in the lobby with $1,000 in cash in it. Turned it in. I won’t say that a housekeeper has never stolen a lost & found item instead of turning it in. But after that incident, I usually give the housekeepers the benefit of the doubt.
I often don’t bother to bring a cell phone charger when I’m traveling anymore. I’ve found a lot of places have a bucket of them behind the Front Desk or at the Concierge Desk and they’ll let you borrow one if you just ask.