How To Deal With Lost And Found Properties In A Hotel?

How to deal with lost and found properties in a hotel? As someone studying the procedure of hotel operations, it is essential to know exactly about the above topic. Lost and found properties are also known as left-behind properties.

What are lost and found properties in a hotel?

If any item is found in a hotel that does not belong to the hotel and the staff, it is called lost and found.

To explain further, Guests can visit the hotel daily for various reasons, and check-out is common practice. But the guests who come to the hotel this way, while in the hotel or when they have checked out, may forget or purposefully leave some of their items. If the hotel staff finds such things, they can be called lost and found.

This article talks about what you should do if you find lost and found items as an employee in the hotel.

How to deal with lost and found properties in a hotel?

Here, in simple terms, you can say that the goods found there should be contacted by the guest and given to them.

Or you can remove the items from the hotel if you find them worthless. But it is against the procedure of a hotel. Every hotel has a lost and found procedure for such items. Everyone should respect it and act on it.

As mentioned above, when you handle lost and found in the hotel if you find a guest’s item, you have no reason to evaluate or think about its value. It can be more and more valuable to the guest because the value cannot be determined physically. It can also be received emotionally. For example, imagine that you find a beautiful paint pan when you clean a departure room as a room attendant.

Example

Imagine you are about to throw it away because it has no ink and cannot be used to write on. You are making a big mistake if you throw away the pens you found because they have no ink. Because it still belongs to the guest.

On the other hand, even if it does not have ink, it can be a memory the guest received from one of their most loved ones. If you throw away something like that, it will not be easy to find it again. In many cases, most guests return to the hotel after things have been forgotten. If you have thrown away the things you found, you cannot give anything to the guests who come to find them. Therefore, the hotel is in a difficult situation. The guest also gets very upset.

Therefore, if you find things that don’t belong to the hotel and you and can belong to the guest, they should be handed over to the housekeeping desk.

If any employee in the hotel finds any item as mentioned above, it should be handed over to the housekeeping desk attendant. You cannot see a housekeeping desk attendant in small hotels.

Who will be the response to dealing with lost and found properties in a hotel?

In such cases, those items can be handed over to linen room attendants. Also, some hotels do not provide housekeeping desk attendant services at night. In such a case, you can hand over those items to the duty manager, night manager, or night receptionist. They should give them to the housekeeping department as soon as possible.

What is the lost and found register?

The lost and found register is used to record information about left behind properties when they are given to the housekeeping department. The lost and found register is handled by the housekeeping desk attendant or someone responsible for left-behind properties.

Any person handing over a lost and found item to the housekeeping desk attendant must provide a clear description that should be mentioned in the lost and found register about these items.

Example

For example, the date, time, place where the item was found, what the item is and the condition of the item, color, name, and signature of the person who found it, and name and signature of the person who received it should be in the lost and found register.

After taking the basic information, the housekeeping desk attendant should give a receipt with a serial number to the person who found the item, under the attention of the assistant housekeeper.

Next, The housekeeping desk attendant should have packed it well and placed it safely in a lost and found cupboard.

After that, find the guest who lost the above item and tell them about it. If you find a lost and found item in a guest check-out room, it is not that difficult to contact the guest and inform them, Because all the reservation details can be taken from reception or the reservation department.

But suppose a staff member finds a lost and found item in the swimming pool, hotel private beach area, garden, gym, and other places and hands it over to the housekeeping desk, it is not easy to identify the guest because many guests use such common areas.

If it is possible to identify the guest, the housekeeping desk attendant should contact the guest and make a convenient time and date to pick up their item. The guest’s identity must be correct before handing over the Item. The housekeeping desk attendant or responsible person must correctly identify the guest.

Before handing over the item to a specific guest, they must ask questions about the lost and found item for verification.

After correct identification, the desk attendant must take important information about the guest, such as guest name, contact details, passport number or ID number, etc. Before handing over the item, they must take the guest’s signature in the lost and found register.

What can be done to the left behind properties if the guest cannot be identified?

If the guest cannot be identified, the lost and found items will be kept at the hotel for a certain period. Timings and procedures vary from hotel to hotel. Generally, most hotels keep things of good value and condition for 3 to 6 months.

Examples

• Books, Documents
• T-Shirts, Caps, Hats, Frongs, traversers, and other clothes and shows.
• Shampoo bottles, conditioner bottles
• Watches, handphones, laptops, cameras, and tablets.

But if there are goods with higher monetary value, they will be kept longer.

For example, gems, diamonds, and gold jewelry. Such things are kept for a period of two years to five years or a period decided by the hotel.

Keep those items in particular safety lockers in the hotel till contact and identify the guest above mention specific period.

What hotel do if the guest does not take their forgotten items within the period?

If the guest does not take their forgotten items within the period mentioned above, most hotels will give them to the person who found them.

The desk attendant has several tasks before handing over the lost and found item to the person who encountered it. First, the desk attendant should inform the assistant housekeeper about the relevant item and ensure that it suits the person met. After that, the desk attendant should check the receipt serial no and that the item is matched.

Should take the signature, employee no, and name before handing over the item to the item found person. A gate pass is also provided with the item to take the item out of the hotel. It is done under the supervision of an assistant housekeeper.

If the guest doesn’t want those items what could be the procedure?

In some cases of contacting the guests, if they state that they do not need the forgotten items, in those cases, they will be given to the person who found the items without keeping them longer. For example, many guests are reluctant to return shampoo bottles and T-shirts.

Apart from this, Food and Drink Most hotels don’t keep long.

What are the points to consider when dealing with lost and found properties in a hotel?

• If you dealing with lost and found properties in a hotel, Any item belonging to a guest that does not belong to you or the hotel must be returned to that guest. Therefore, do not be greedy for those goods. Keep in mind that they are not yours.
• Handing all the lost and found items to the housekeeping department would be best. Do not use these items for your purposes until the handover. For example, perfume, mobile phones, laptops etc.
• Enter a very accurate and complete description of the lost and found item you found in the lost and found register. For example, if a mobile phone does not work well while you hand it over to the housekeeping desk, clearly mention it. 
• When the guest receives the product, sometimes the guest can say it worked well before. If so, it will be a problem for you.
• Always obtain a gate pass when taking lost and found items from the hotel. Consider whether the relevant authorities have correctly applied the date and signature.
• If any guest is ready to hand over any of their items to you at check-out, get a written document from them stating your name, the condition of the item, the reason for giving it to you, and their signature. Then, get the product and the written document (Letter) delivered to the relevant authorities immediately. That makes it easy to take that item to you.
• If you find something like a guest’s bag or purse as a lost and found item, avoid opening it only yourself.

You can handle lost and found goods well by following the above points. However, if you want to know more about the above information, Please comment below or contact us.

References

Admin. (2020, July 28). Lost & found procedure in hotel. Hotel Management Studies. https://hotelstudies.in/lost-found-procedure-in-hotel/

Fairbrother, A. (2023, July 2). Hotel Lost & found: How travelers can recover lost items. Hotel Engine. https://www.hotelengine.com/blog/business-travel-guide/recover-lost-items/

HotelTalk. (2022, September 14). Lost & Found Procedures. HotelTalk – for Hoteliers | Guests | Hotel Management Students. https://hoteltalk.app/lost-found-procedures/

Joshi, S. (2022, September 22). The essential guide to lost and found procedure in hotels. eZee Absolute. https://www.ezeeabsolute.com/blog/lost-and-found-procedure-in-hotels/

Vadmin, M., & Vadmin, M. (2023, May 17). LOST AND . . .FOUND? HELPING HOTEL STAFF. Room Checking. https://www.roomchecking.com/lost-and-found-helping-hotel-staff/