I Forgot...

[A Neat Place]

What is your policy around forgotten items? At first I notified people of what they had forgotten and offered to send the item back (usually a charger, or some item of clothing). Anymore, unless it's something more valuable, I have stopped letting folks know they forgot the item, because invariably they would say "Thank you, I will pay you back for shipping!" and ... Nobody. Ever. Did.
Costs add up, and I feel annoyed because that's MY time to run to the post office (not close by!) and postage and packaging. My time is strained as-is.
I have a "don't forget to check your room for XYZ" list which seems to have helped, but what is standard for these forgotten things?

 

[Generic]

We never tell them, they have to ask. If they were here on a tryst and we give it away... no. If it's important to them, they will call. And we charge shipping & handling on their card or via a CC invoice before we ship.

 

[GoodScout]

1) We never call. Don't want to suddenly find one party at home had no idea the other party stayed with us.
2) Lost and Found items are bagged and marked with the date of checkout and room name.
3) Guests who call within 90 days can have the item shipped back to them at their cost. I charge their credit card the postage and $5 for shipping/handling/materials.
4) After 90 days, staff are allowed to take anything they want (they rarely want any of it) and the rest is either donated or thrown out.
5) The exception is chargers. We keep those to hand out to future guests when needed.

 

[Highlands John]

Exactly the same here, if they ask we'll ship and then charge to their card, otherwise we'll keep for 2 weeks then it either goes in the bin or the charity shop bag

 

[JimBoone]

What is your policy around forgotten items?

I suppose it varies with the timing of my finding the item, my own time at the moment and the value of the item.
If possible I do try to call, most folks are using cell phones and often it is possible to catch the guest still in our area and they will swing back by to pick up the item, unclaimed items can be stored for a time.
I'm sure there are differences as our forum pals here are all over the world, but here we have a shop in town that does packing and shipping with a number of the companies in that business, if a guest wants an item shipped I tell them I will drop the item at the pack & ship shop on my next trip to town, cost of shipping is then between the guest and the pack & ship shop. I'd suggest seeing if there is such a shop/vendor in your town, our area being a resort/vacation area I think it is a profitable sideline for the pack & ship shop.

 

[TheBeachHouse]

We call. Most times they are still in town and just drop by.

 

[Lee2014]

What is your policy around forgotten items?

I suppose it varies with the timing of my finding the item, my own time at the moment and the value of the item.
If possible I do try to call, most folks are using cell phones and often it is possible to catch the guest still in our area and they will swing back by to pick up the item, unclaimed items can be stored for a time.
I'm sure there are differences as our forum pals here are all over the world, but here we have a shop in town that does packing and shipping with a number of the companies in that business, if a guest wants an item shipped I tell them I will drop the item at the pack & ship shop on my next trip to town, cost of shipping is then between the guest and the pack & ship shop. I'd suggest seeing if there is such a shop/vendor in your town, our area being a resort/vacation area I think it is a profitable sideline for the pack & ship shop..

What is your policy around forgotten items?

I suppose it varies with the timing of my finding the item, my own time at the moment and the value of the item.
If possible I do try to call, most folks are using cell phones and often it is possible to catch the guest still in our area and they will swing back by to pick up the item, unclaimed items can be stored for a time.
I'm sure there are differences as our forum pals here are all over the world, but here we have a shop in town that does packing and shipping with a number of the companies in that business, if a guest wants an item shipped I tell them I will drop the item at the pack & ship shop on my next trip to town, cost of shipping is then between the guest and the pack & ship shop. I'd suggest seeing if there is such a shop/vendor in your town, our area being a resort/vacation area I think it is a profitable sideline for the pack & ship shop.

Same here. We contact the guest. If they want it, we bring it to a ship place and they contact the guest and its all between them. All the ship place ask for are the item(s), name, and number. They provide the box and packing stuff, etc. and charge the guest for it. They are very nice and everyone is a winner. We are in a tourist trap so they are doing it for all the hotels, B&Bs, and inns.

 

[JimBoone]

What is your policy around forgotten items?

I suppose it varies with the timing of my finding the item, my own time at the moment and the value of the item.
If possible I do try to call, most folks are using cell phones and often it is possible to catch the guest still in our area and they will swing back by to pick up the item, unclaimed items can be stored for a time.
I'm sure there are differences as our forum pals here are all over the world, but here we have a shop in town that does packing and shipping with a number of the companies in that business, if a guest wants an item shipped I tell them I will drop the item at the pack & ship shop on my next trip to town, cost of shipping is then between the guest and the pack & ship shop. I'd suggest seeing if there is such a shop/vendor in your town, our area being a resort/vacation area I think it is a profitable sideline for the pack & ship shop..

What is your policy around forgotten items?

I suppose it varies with the timing of my finding the item, my own time at the moment and the value of the item.
If possible I do try to call, most folks are using cell phones and often it is possible to catch the guest still in our area and they will swing back by to pick up the item, unclaimed items can be stored for a time.
I'm sure there are differences as our forum pals here are all over the world, but here we have a shop in town that does packing and shipping with a number of the companies in that business, if a guest wants an item shipped I tell them I will drop the item at the pack & ship shop on my next trip to town, cost of shipping is then between the guest and the pack & ship shop. I'd suggest seeing if there is such a shop/vendor in your town, our area being a resort/vacation area I think it is a profitable sideline for the pack & ship shop.

Same here. We contact the guest. If they want it, we bring it to a ship place and they contact the guest and its all between them. All the ship place ask for are the item(s), name, and number. They provide the box and packing stuff, etc. and charge the guest for it. They are very nice and everyone is a winner. We are in a tourist trap so they are doing it for all the hotels, B&Bs, and inns.
.

This system works really well and eliminates the conflict between the property and the guest that forgot their $4 pillow and thinks it is the duty of the property to spend $40 to pack and return it to them, takes the property out of the picture and the guest can calmly decide if it is worth having the item returned

 

[A Neat Place]

What is your policy around forgotten items?

I suppose it varies with the timing of my finding the item, my own time at the moment and the value of the item.
If possible I do try to call, most folks are using cell phones and often it is possible to catch the guest still in our area and they will swing back by to pick up the item, unclaimed items can be stored for a time.
I'm sure there are differences as our forum pals here are all over the world, but here we have a shop in town that does packing and shipping with a number of the companies in that business, if a guest wants an item shipped I tell them I will drop the item at the pack & ship shop on my next trip to town, cost of shipping is then between the guest and the pack & ship shop. I'd suggest seeing if there is such a shop/vendor in your town, our area being a resort/vacation area I think it is a profitable sideline for the pack & ship shop..

I wish we had something like that here. No such luck. Small town, outside a city... and I don't go into the city enough.

 

[Tom]

We only call if it is clearly their phone (they were texting us) and it's only an hour so they may be around. If they call, they can pay, but it will have to wait for a trip to town.
Otherwise, the privacy issue is important. You wouldn't think so, guests seem so ordinary, but after a few very uncomfortable conversations, we just let it drop. One was a bottle of (strong) prescription pain killers with lady's name on it, husband answered phone and was unaware of the prescription. One was a very fancy black brassiere, wasn't wife's size. Never again.

 

[JimBoone]

We only call if it is clearly their phone (they were texting us) and it's only an hour so they may be around. If they call, they can pay, but it will have to wait for a trip to town.
Otherwise, the privacy issue is important. You wouldn't think so, guests seem so ordinary, but after a few very uncomfortable conversations, we just let it drop. One was a bottle of (strong) prescription pain killers with lady's name on it, husband answered phone and was unaware of the prescription. One was a very fancy black brassiere, wasn't wife's size. Never again..

I try to avoid that issue by beginning a conversation with a disclaimer like, Good Morning, I'm not sure I'm reading this phone number correctly, but did you stay with us at XXX last night? If a question then that allows me to apologise for dialing the wrong number