Heavens

I was in a motel last week with daughter. Last Wed. we checked out. She infoms me when we get home that she left her $80 fairly new Nikes in the room. Well, with Christmas and all I didn't remember to call until yesterday. So, I talked to a man in housekeeping and he tells me nothing was turned in for that room on any of the two days we were there. HUH? We KNOW that we don't have them and that she didn't pack them.

I suggested that he talk with the person who cleaned the room, b/c I KNOW that we left the shoes in the room. He took my name and number and said he would look into it further. Is there anything else we can do? I have never not gotten back something left in the room. Should I talk with the manager of the hotel or something. This just really bugs me that some maid got a new pair of shoes and I am stuck with buying another pair.

Just wondering if you all had better ways to handle this. The hotel is not a chain, but a mom and pop, with about 300 rooms. We got the room off of Priceline so more than likely will be staying there again. Thanks in advance.

Dick

It's probably too late to retrieve the Nikes.

Next time, don't call housekeeping....call the manager ...first.

I have friends that were able to recover expensive jewelry left in a hotel. They called the manager...who immediately sealed the room and went up personally.

jor

Heavens, you said you leave things in the room often and always got it back. I have never left anything in the room because I double check every time. You didn't get lucky this time and there is nothing you can do about it. Sorry to be harsh but perhaps you learned your lesson.

"Some maid" May have gotten a pair of shoes this time, but did you bother to personally thank the maids that turned in all your other belongings from your past careless checkouts?

nytraveler

If you didn;t bother to call until a couple of days later you really have no idea what happened to the Nikes. They could have been take by the maid - on the legitimate assumption that they were abandonned - or by a subsequent guest.

My suggestion: make sure you take with you whatever you came with. Leaving stuff behind and expecting it to be returned is very unrealistic.

Jayne1973

It sounds to me like all you can do is make sure the manager has all your contact information and make a couple of followup calls in the coming month. If you do lose the shoes, you might take some comfort that if a maid took them, she or her family probably really needed them, and just consider it an anonymous Christmas gift to charity. If another guest took them, hmmm... karma will surely catch up with them!

Cassandra

In general, I have to consider things left in the room just gone. I managed to have a coat retrieved and sent to me just once by a very upscale and gracious independent hotel. But things like small electronics and quality shoes are almost always a lost cause. Ditto things left on a plane if you have left the arrival area.

We now have a ritual of one person standing in the hall with the bags while the other goes over the room one final time as if on a treasure hunt -- pulling beds apart, looking under beds, on and in and under bedtables, in drawers and closets and closet shelves, on hooks in the bathroom, even on window sills. More often than not, there's something left behind.

BTilke

Cassandra's right, anything left in the hotel room will probably just disappear for good. On my recent trip to Chicago, staying at one of the city's more expensive hotels, my Italian colleague checked out and then remembered about one hour later that she'd accidentally left a very expensive pashmina in the room. She immediately contacted both housekeeping and the front desk manager, but was told nothing had been found in the room. She was furious, but what could she do?

GoTravel

Sounds like daughter learned a tough lesson.

I've left stuff in hotel rooms before and have never seen it again and I've had stuff returned. From the sound of things, you probably aren't going to see the shoes again.

tpatricco

Unfortunately, sounds like an expensive lesson learned for both you and daughter.

I always do one final check of the room before leaving for the last time. My husband has a tendancy to be absent-minded with his belongings.

Checking ensures no losses.

vivi

My husband left some new expensive shoes in Marriott while on a business trip. The hotel immediately sent them to us. We sent the front desk staff a box of edible goodies from hawaii as a Thank You.

Dan

From having worked in a hotel for several years, I can tell you that many people THINK they left things in the room but really didn't. I've had people SWEAR they left expensive jewelry, etc. only to find it elsewhere at a later date. I'm sure Heaven's daughter did leave her shoes. Hotel probably threw them away!

Heavens

Well, over the years, we have left our pillows, twice. And I once left a top that I love, that was about 15 years ago, and did get it back. The pillows are a problem.

Yes, my daughter did not see the shoes. Hello, right there near her bag instead of the middle of the floor where she left them. I also did a check, but didn't go far enough. Oh well, gotta check the checker, I guess.

I think I will call the manager and just let him know that we did leave them, they have not yet been found and if they should turn up, how to get a hold of me. Guess that is the best we can do. Thanks for your comments.

And yes, we always thank the hotel when something has been returned to us. We make an effort to be polite to all that we encounter on our travels. And we teach that to our children. I find that going out of the way to be kind to everyone pays off ten fold.

Chele60

I really doubt you'll get the shoes back. My thought has always been that if I was careless enough to leave something behind, I deserved to lose it.

What can you do? Tell your daughter to take cheaper shoes when traveling so that when she "forgets" to pack them, it's no big financial loss to replace them. I'll bet the first time she has to travel with budget shoes she won't be forgetting to double-check that she has all of her belongings again.

FainaAgain

You left the top? Maybe the one I found once in my hotel room upon check-in? No, it was about 5 year ago, not 15. But let me tell you: I thought the maid did not do a good job on cleaning my room after that last guest before me, and tossed it! Oh, well, I wasn't even sure how many guests ago that top was forgotten. I didn't even bother to take it to the front desk, what would they do? Call each guest who stayed in that room? And it was not my size

rb_travelerxATyahoo

I'm in agreement with Dan and FainaAgain in that very likely the shoes went in the trash.

You wouldn't believe the things that people DO leave in rooms to be discarded, and very likely the maid just looked at them as (smelly) junk rather than a slightly "worn" $80 jackpot; or if they weren't found (even good housekeepers miss things now and then) it's anybody's guess where they went.

Now where's that thread about shoes hanging over power lines???

LoveItaly

LOL, maybe that IS the secret to all those shoes. Tired and irritated hotel workers throw them by the roadside or over power lines on their way home from work!!! At least it would be an explination.

Patrick

Then there was the time I purposely left an almost new pair of good hiking boots. They proved too small for me, and rather than take space bringing them home, I put them next to the wastebasket, hoping a maid or someone would use them. Guess what. They were at my house waiting for me, when I got home a couple of weeks later.

Heavens

Patrick, that is a classic travel tale. They follow you home even when you don't want them anymore. Go figure. Thanks for the chuckle...

FainaAgain

I think this is the one with shoes on highway

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threadselect.jsp?fid=1

if not do a search for "random roadside shoe sighting"

Kal

I left my dignity in a hotel room one time.

I'm STILL trying to get that back! :-"