Why a lost and found policy matters
Lost property sounds like a small job, until a guest calls about a watch and nobody can say whether it was found. Without a policy, items end up in a drawer at reception, a box in the housekeeping store and a supervisor’s locker. Weeks later, nobody knows what was found, where, or who has it.
A policy protects three people. The guest, who gets their belongings back. Your staff, who can show that what they found was handed in. And the hotel, which can answer a complaint with a record instead of a shrug. It doesn’t need to be long. It needs to be the same for every item, every shift.
The policy, on one page
Print this, adapt it to your hotel and put it in the housekeeping store and behind the desk. Every new member of staff should read it in their first week.
- Anything a guest leaves behind is lost property, whatever its value. Staff never keep, use or throw away an item on their own.
- Hand it in the same shift, to the desk or the housekeeping supervisor, not at the end of the week.
- Every item gets a tag number and a line in the log: what it is, where and when it was found, and who found it.
- Valuables go to the safe at once: money, jewellery, phones, laptops, cards, passports and ID documents.
- Each item has a keep-until date, 90 days from the day it was found unless local rules say otherwise.
- Only the guest, or someone they authorise in writing, can collect an item, and the log records who collected it.
- Items not collected by their keep-until date are given to charity or destroyed by two members of staff, and the log says which.
- Nobody tells a caller what was found in a room until the caller has described the item and proved they stayed there.
What to do when something is found
Most lost property turns up in rooms, during cleaning after a guest leaves. The rest is found in the restaurant, the lobby, the pool or the car park. The steps are the same wherever it is.
Leave the room as it is, if it is valuable
For money, jewellery or a passport, call the supervisor before moving it, so two people see where it was. For everything else, pick it up and carry on.
Tag it
Put a tag or a sealed bag on the item with its number. Use the next number in the log, never a number made up on the spot.
Record it
Write the tag number, what it is, the room or place, the date and time, and who found it. Describe it as a stranger would: “black phone charger, 2 m cable”, not “charger”.
Store it
Everyday items go to one locked lost property store. Valuables go to the safe. Write down where each item is kept.
Match it to a guest
If it was found in a room, look up who stayed there last. Note the guest’s name and booking on the log line, so the item is found when they call.
Set the keep-until date
Write the date the item can be cleared, 90 days on for most items, and check the log every month for items past it.
A lost and found log template
Whether you keep the log in software, a spreadsheet or a bound book at the desk, it needs the same columns. Never tear out a page or delete a line; correct a mistake with a new line and a note.
| Tag | Found | Where | Found by | Item | Stored | Guest | Keep until | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0147 | 3 Mar, 11:20 | Room 204, bedside drawer | Housekeeper, A. Khan | Gold ring, small blue stone | Safe, envelope 0147 | Guest in room 204, 1–3 Mar | 1 Jun | Collected by the guest, 5 Mar, ID checked |
| 0148 | 3 Mar, 14:05 | Restaurant, table 6 | Waiter, J. Diaz | Grey scarf, wool | Lost property store, shelf B | Not known | 1 Jun | Given to charity, 2 Jun, two staff signed |
The Outcome column closes each line: collected (by whom, when, and how they proved who they were), sent by courier (with the tracking number), given to charity or destroyed (with the two names). A line with no outcome is an item that should still be on a shelf.
Valuables, money, documents and medicines
Some items need more care than a jumper on a shelf. Agree the rules for these before they turn up, not when a supervisor is holding a wallet full of cash.
| Kind of item | Where to store it | How long to keep it | Extra care |
|---|---|---|---|
| Money | The safe, in a sealed envelope | 90 days, or as local rules say | Counted by two people, the amount written on the envelope and in the log |
| Jewellery and watches | The safe | 90 days, or as local rules say | Described by two people; never tried on or valued |
| Phones, laptops, tablets | The safe | 90 days | Never switched on or unlocked; destroyed securely, not given away, if not collected |
| Passports, ID cards, bank cards | The safe | Until handed back or passed to the authorities | Contact the guest the same day |
| Medicines | A locked cupboard, kept cool if needed | Until collected, or a short time | Contact the guest the same day; dispose of safely, never in the bin |
| Clothes, chargers, books, toys | The lost property store | 90 days | Bagged and tagged; clothes washed only if you plan to return them |
| Food, opened toiletries | Not kept | Thrown away the same day | Still logged, with “thrown away” as the outcome |
Contacting the guest
Should you contact a guest when you find something, or wait for them to ask? For valuables, documents and medicines, contact them: a guest who has lost a passport needs to know today. For everyday items, many hotels wait for the guest to call, because a message about a lost item can reach someone it shouldn’t.
- Speak only to the guest who stayed. Use the phone number or email on the booking, not a number someone else gives you.
- Don’t describe the item first. Ask the guest what they lost and let them describe it. It stops anyone from claiming something that isn’t theirs.
- Be careful with what you say. “We found an item in your room” is enough. A guest may not want others to know who they stayed with, or where.
- Agree how it comes back. Collected in person, by someone they authorise, or by courier at the guest’s cost.
Handing an item back
Handing back is where most lost property mistakes happen: the wrong person collects a phone, or a courier parcel goes missing with no record. Use the same checks every time.
Before an item leaves the hotel
- The person collecting has described the item before seeing it.
- Their ID matches the guest on the booking, or they have the guest’s written authority and their own ID.
- The log line shows who collected it, the date, and the member of staff who handed it over.
- Money and valuables are counted or checked again in front of the person collecting them.
- For a courier, the guest has agreed to pay, the parcel is packed in front of a second member of staff, and the tracking number is in the log.
The keep-until date, and clearing the store
A lost property store with no clearing date fills up until nobody can find anything in it. Set a keep-until date on every item when it is logged, often 90 days on, and clear the store once a month.
- Two people, every time. One reads the log, the other checks each item. Both sign the outcome.
- Give, don’t keep. Unclaimed clothes and books go to a charity. Staff don’t take items home, even ones nobody wants: it is the rule that keeps everyone above suspicion.
- Destroy devices safely. Phones and laptops may hold a guest’s private data. Have them destroyed securely rather than reset and passed on.
- Keep the log. The items go; the record stays, so a guest who calls in six months can still be told what happened.
Making the policy stick
A policy only works if it is easier to follow than to skip. Keep tags and bags on every housekeeping trolley and at the desk. Give one person, usually the housekeeping supervisor, the job of checking the log each week. When a guest gets an item back because the team logged it properly, tell the team. It is the best reminder that the log matters.
Lost property is one of many small daily jobs that a hotel system can keep on the record, alongside room status, requests and repairs. Our guide to what a hotel PMS does explains the rest.
