Dirty clothes missing from hotel room, what to do?
 

I was in Barcelona for a conference last week. I was keeping my dirty socks, underwear and some shirts in a laundry bag under a chair in my hotel room. On my 6th day in the hotel, I noticed the bag missing. I contacted reception and they said the maid took it to the laundry. I wasn't happy about this, since I didn't want to be on the hook for the carzy laundry fees. I tried to explain this, but they kept saying, of course she took it, it was a laundry bag. I responded that I never filled out the laundry form or requested this service, AND somehow the maid did not take the bag the first 5 days I was there.

I had to check out two days later and the clothing still hadn't been returned from the laundry. The next day I got an email stating the laundry never had the clothes and the maid claims not to have taken anything from the room.

I am not sure what to do. I think the value of what was in the bag (not entirely certain what was there) was probably around $75-$100. I am guessing I will never get anything for it. I am mainly upset that they gave me the run around while I was there, and only dug deeper (or shared with my the truth) once I was gone. Is it worth sending them another email/letter? Should I just forget about it?

OK, are you willing to help THE REST OF us out here by telling us the name of the hotel or are we to live in fear the next time we are making reservations in Barcelona hotels?

Why did you put the bag under a chair? Floor of the closet might have been better..but back to WHICH hotel treats guests like this so we can avoid it.

YOu can never tell what hotel maids are going to do, I've learned from experience. I had a hotel maid remove a piece of underwear I had hanging from a hook in the bathroom, perhaps along with a towel that was there (I suppose it was accidental when taking things to be cleaned). Now that wasn't worth that much, but I didn't like it because this hotel had signs in the bathroom clearly stating that they were a "green" hotel and ecological, and so would not provide clean towels unless I threw them on the floor. And then they removed towels from hooks and bars, anyway, of course.

I have learned that less than 50 pct of hotel maids ever follow those "green" rules about when to provide clean towels, I have no idea why. They can't be that stupid. I complained to one hotel once just for ecological reasons and they said something like they had trouble controlling the maids, they were foreign, blah blah I don't care what language they speak, they have a supervisor who can speak that language, too, or someone around in that dept certainly can (this was California and they spoke Spanish). This isn't that difficult an instruction.

Anyway, I complained to the hotel in France about the underwear and they actually found it and when I pointed out the sign on the counter that they weren't supposed to remove those towels unless they were on the floor, the manager just shrugged.

So I know a laundry bag on the floor would be too dangerous a spot given you can't predict hotel maids. I presume this was a laundry bag that the hotel provided? Then I really wouldn't do it.

I'd definitely be mad about a whole bag of clothes worth $100. But I suspect the clothes are not going to be found, to be honest. I'm sure you didn't have travel insurance for a short business trip, I wouldn't. At least it doesn't sound like anything irreplacable or special, so if I were you, sure, I'd write one more, you have nothing to lose, that won't take long.

Then, I'd try to forget about it, as I said, at least it was just socks and shirts. It wouldn't be worth trying to make a claim with your homeowner's insurance (and should be lower than a deductible). Check your credit card policies, you never know, and see if they have some travel insurance on them which might cover that (the one you used for the hotel).

That really sucks - does your employer have travel insurance you could claim this back on?

You are right. I am not agonizing over this, just more annoyed. I am mostly mad that they made me feel like an idiot for wondering why it went to the laundry, and then I find out it never did. It isn't anything irreplacable. In the future, I will certainly just leave my dirty clothes in a pile on the floor, and wish for the best.

We were staying at a Cityhotel - Aparthotel Marianoi Cubi. It was well located for what we were doing, being very close to the Gracia train stop. The staff was very friendly, until the end of course. But, I wouldn't have stayed there again anyway. The walls/floors were very thin and you could hear everything in the surrounding rooms. The first two nights we were in a room over the breakfast room/kitchen. Luckily, we got moved to a higher room for the second part of the stay, but it still was noisy. We got a lot of use out of the background noise app on our phones.

I agree with Dukey... name and shame!

Well I think you made 2 mistakes:

Why leave dirty clothing in a laundry bag in the open (put it inside your bag - or at a minimum inside the closet.

Then - why leave the hotel without this being sorted out. I would have told them the am before you left that you wanted either your clothing back (they know where the laundry is - and clothes don;t take multiple days to wash) or compensation on the spot. Once you leave the hotel - and the country - you have no leverage.

I bring my own bag for dirty clothes. I would never leave the clothes in a pile on the floor. I think that would be inviting even more problems.

A few years ago a friend gave me a very cute fabric bag with a drawtring and I had to ask her what is was for.

She said it is for your undies when you travel - the ones you have worn put in here.

I bring it every time I travel now as I dont want them in my suitcase with the clean stuff - too much info!! huh!?

Anyway, DOnt ever leave ANYTHING out at a hotel that you dont want touched or taken.
I would email or call the hotel manager and ask for some compensation.

Probably more Pusllab than conspiracy.
Dozy maid sees laundry bag.
Takes it to laundry without name or room number.
Laundry staff ?????
It is probably still down there somewhere.
Put it down to experience and in future put your dirty washing in your own bag, and hide it in your case or in the wardrobe

English friend of mine put her pajamas under her pillow at the Marriott Newport Beach. Weird practice, IMO.

Predictably, the maid didn't see them and bundled them up with the sheets and off they went to the commercial laundry.

I thought they went to pajama heaven but someone (a saint) dug through the dirty bedding and towels and found them. At that point, if they were mine, they would have gone to the clothes laundry. Can't remember what my friend did.

I can confirm, jimjams under pillows is an English practice. When I make the beds in my B&B, there is often a surprise, in spite of the numerous hooks in the bathrooms.

This Spanish maid probably thought she was doing a good job.

<i>jimjams under pillows is an English practice</i>

French or German, too; at least that is what I was taught.

In the US too -- my Yankee mother also had us put our pjs under the pillow.

My family history is all German and we used to do that as kids, also, I am sure my mother had us do that. As an adult it is weird, I agree, but I think it was for convenience and neatness in our household when my mom had four little kids not that far apart in age (and 3 of us in one bedroom). This way, our jammies were right there when we went to bed, and weren't draped all over the room as kids would do. DOn't know why an adult would do that.

I really dont' get a cloth laundry bag being packed and brought along on a trip for your dirty underwear. IN other posts, everyone is trying to pack lightly and now people are packing their own cloth laundry bags? I just stuff a couple extra plastic bags in one of my suitcase outer pockets and use them (the kind you get with store purchases), they take up about no room. Also, they can come in handy for things that might be slightly damp if you need to move in and plastic would certainly be more likely to keep smells away from the other clothing. I put my dirty clothing in the bag and then put it in an outer suitcase pocket, anyway, most of the time.

My husband and I are not ready to give up our waterbed. When our cold nights come my pj's go right under my pillow next to the nice warm bed!! I wouldn't do this at a hotel but when staying with family or friends, if I'm the one putting the bed to rights in the morning my pj's go under my pillow ;;)

eastave, I've often used the plastic laundry bag for dirty clothes but usually put them in my suitcase or at the bottome of the closet with my shoes. I agree with nytraveler, you probably have little chance of compensation for the missing clothes. Hope you didn't lose a favorite shirt! Deborah

Thanks for your responses. I have learned something through this experience. It is a little weird though since I do travel quite a bit and have never run into this problem. But, I do usually just use some other plastic bag. It isn't so much that the bag got taken to the laundry, as it got taken and then lost.

When I left Barcelona I believed them when they told me my clothes were at the laundry and just hadn't come back. They took my address and said they would mail them to me. I had a flight to catch and couldn't hang around arguing about it. It wasn't until the next day that they sent me the email saying the maid claimed to have not touched them and the laundry claimed to not have received anything.

I finally got a response today. They feel bad and will offer me some free parking or room upgrade next time I visit. I told them they could give the free parking to my friends who live across the street and already park their car there. We will see if that happens.

Thought you might like to hear from someone who has worked at various hotels over the years. Any bag left on the floor is often thought to be garbage and is tossed out with the garbage. Never leave a plastic bag (shopping bag with store name on it is different) on the floor. In some countries this means the guest wants it thrown out. Try to keep everything on a chair or on top of the bed if possible or if on the floor place it on top of or in your suitcase. I have yet ever to meet any housekeeper who steals dirty clothes.This rule also applys to food in a simple plastic bag on the floor. Never leave any bag next to the garbage can either, that will definately be considered garbage.

Baxterpoo -- thanks for that perspective. In the US, where rooms are generally larger and have a dresser, I put dirty clothes in one of the drawers, but I'll remember this for future stays in smaller European hotel rooms with small wardrobes.

My DH and I travel with carry on only--regardless of length of trip. We usually stay in apartments so we have a washer and, of course, it's private (no maid service until we leave).

But when we stay in hotels, we start out putting our dirty clothes in a little Samsonite bag that zips into a flat little pouch to pack, but opens to stash things. When we're ready to go home, all the dirty laundry goes into his suitcase and all the leftover clean clothes, souvenirs, etc. go into mine and the little pack gets zipped back up and packed away.

Admittedly, we occasionally toss clothes in the trash before coming home, in order to make room for purchases.