Hotel Travel Tip: Leaving Belongings Behind in a Hotel

If it wasn't for this article by Frommers, I wouldn't have known that as a traveler - sometimes it's only up to me to check if I've left something valuable at a hotel.

"While some guests leave with hotel bedding, plenty of others forget to pack up valuable belongings. Hotel housekeepers find everything from bags of cash to electronics and jewelry left behind in hotel rooms and the hotel safes. These items are tagged, logged, and kept locked up for between 30 and 90 days, depending on the hotel and the item's value.

At a Westin property near Chicago, more valuable items are released to the staff member who reported them (typically housekeepers) if the items remain unclaimed for 90 days, according to Ed Bell, the Westin's director of housekeeping. Otherwise, those items are donated to charity.

Why can't the front desk easily reunite lost items with a guest? The Westin property has a strict privacy policy, which means employees cannot call guests who leave items behind, Bell says. Even if a frequent guest forgets something in the room, employees are restricted from contacting that guest, though items are returned upon check-in during the next stay.

"If it's not in the garbage can, it's not garbage," Bell says. "We even save socks and underwear; we don't take any chances."

Photo credit: tourism.vic.gov.au