This blog post was updated on October 11, 2018.
Most of us have been there. We check out of our hotel and hit the road. Just as the property is no long in the rear view mirror, we remember that we forgot that swimsuit on the back of the bathroom door or the clothes hanging in the closet. If you tend to forget items when you travel from hotel to hostel to bed and breakfast, you are not alone. The traveler is frequently dealing with little sleep, jam packed schedules and early check out times. Leaving behind possessions at a hotel is naturally going to happen under these circumstances. However, you don’t need to lose your favorite pair of walking shoes or T-shirt to the hotel lost and found. Here are a few tips to help you never leave items behind at your hotel.
Don’t place items out of view: While it might be tempting to put away all of your clothes and belongings in drawers and closets at a hotel, if you are only staying for a few days, try to just live out of your suitcase. If you place items out of sight, they will be out of your mind when you check out. You stand a better chance of leaving your hotel with all of your belongings if they are in plain sight and not hidden in drawers and closets.
Always check the bathroom door: Most hotels place hooks on the back of bathroom doors. Sure, these are convenient for hanging towels and swimsuits. At the same time, these spaces are easy targets for the forgetful traveler. Before you check out, you should be sure to check the bathroom door. Most often this door is up against a wall, making it easy to forget that you had your whole toiletry kit hanging from the door hook.
Scan all outlets: Many cell phone chargers, camera chargers and tablet chargers tend to get left behind at hotel rooms, hostels and bed and breakfasts. When most of us leave hotels, we quickly scan the room to see if anything in plain sight has been left behind. However, most travelers forget to check the outlets in the room to see if any of their charging devices are still plugged in to the outlets. This can be a costly mistake, as electronics don’t come cheap. If you are traveling in foreign lands, it also might be more difficult to find those charging devices. In order to avoid this headache, do a scan of all outlets in the room to see if you have left anything charging.
Pack with packing cubes: You might be the type of traveler that just throws their clothes in a suitcase. Once you get to your hotel, you probably dig around to find what you want, tossing items here and there. Your chances of tossing something and forgetting where you put it increases. One of the main reasons that travelers leave items behind is that they lack organization. If you pack with packing cubes, you are essential bringing little drawers to slide back into your suitcase. Items stay in a set space rather than just lose around the room. You stand a better chance of never forgetting something with packing cubes, as they are bigger and easy to see if you leave them behind.
Don’t wait to call your hotel if you do leave something behind: The traveler hitting the road might inevitably leave something behind. If you do forget something at your hotel, you shouldn’t delay in calling the property to ask them if housekeeping picked up your items. In most cases, they have your belongings and will mail them to you if you wish. If you wait too long to call, your chances of getting back those items quickly dwindles.
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