As a travel journalist, I’m checking into a new hotel nearly every month, and even after my most careful room sweeps, I’m still apt to forget something: my mouthguard tucked into a robe pocket, my toothbrush sitting beside the sink, or my earphones tangled somewhere between the sheets. And I’m far from alone. Hotel staff say they routinely come across all kinds of forgotten belongings while cleaning rooms after guests check out.
HuffPost spoke with hotel staff about the items travelers leave behind most often, plus the surprisingly easy-to-miss places they tend to turn up. Consider this your pre-checkout checklist so you don’t have a mid-flight panic when you suddenly remember your wallet is still sitting on the hotel nightstand.
1. Phone chargers
“The undisputed champion of hotel lost & found is the phone charger,” said Keith Chouinard, director of sales and marketing for the Wayfinder in Newport, Rhode Island. “It quietly does its job from behind a nightstand or tucked under a desk, faithfully powering devices until checkout day, when it becomes the newest resident of the Wayfinder Newport lost & found collection.”
It’s easy to see why. Black and white charging cords practically disappear against hotel furniture, bedding and walls, especially when they’re plugged in somewhere slightly out of sight.
Chouinard recommended doing one final “last lap” before leaving your room, paying extra attention to the space behind nightstands and desks, where chargers can dangle alongside cords that actually belong there, like lamp and television plugs.
2. Clothes and swimsuits
“Clothing often gets left inside drawers, tangled in the bed linens or fallen behind a piece of furniture,” shared Peter Yeung, managing director of Walker Hotels in New York. “Guests also tend to overlook the back of drawers, underneath the bed and less visible areas of the closet.”
Another surprisingly easy spot to forget? The balcony or patio. Guests often hang bathing suits or other clothing outside to dry, only to leave them behind when it’s time to check out. “If the room has a balcony or outdoor space, check there as well; bathing suits and other clothing are often left outside to dry and forgotten,” Yeung said.
Before you zip your suitcase for good, pull back the sheets to make sure you haven’t left any unmentionables tangled in the bedding, check behind the bathroom door for pajamas or robes, and take one last look under the bed for stray shoes, recommended David Kanters, general manager at the Generator Hotel in New York.
3. Personal toiletries
Some of the easiest items to forget are also the ones guests use right before walking out the door: toothbrushes, hairbrushes, razors, makeup, skincare products and other bathroom essentials. Because they’re often still sitting beside the sink or tucked into the shower until the last minute, they can easily escape even a careful final room sweep.
“Toiletries, especially toothbrushes and other items left around the bathroom, also frequently make their way into lost and found,” said Yeung.
Thankfully, toiletries are probably some of the cheaper items on this list to leave behind, so if you do forget one, you don’t have to sweat it too much. A quick double-check under the vanity and in the shower is always smart, but if your favorite cleanser or toothbrush still gets left behind, consider it an excuse to pick up a fresh one.
Klaus Vedfelt via Getty Images
Phone chargers and toiletries are some of the top items guests leave behind in hotel rooms.
4. Vibrators or sex toys
What you get up to in the privacy of your hotel room is for you ― just make sure you do a sweep so you don’t leave anything beloved behind.
“Personal toys are occasionally become mixed in with the sheets and aren’t discovered until the linens reach the hotel’s laundry room, so it’s always worth pulling back the covers and giving the bed one final look,” shared Eric Bieber, general manager of the Urban Cowboy Resort & Lodge in Big Indian, New York.
Keep it that way by giving the bed, nightstands and any other areas involved a quick once-over before you check out.
5. Jewelry
From wedding rings forgotten on the nightstand to earrings and necklaces left in the hotel safe, jewelry may be among the most panic-inducing to discover is missing after checkout.
It’s also especially easy to misplace. Rings, earrings and delicate necklaces can disappear into robe pockets, bedding, drawers and other small spaces without you noticing.
“We have a luxury spa, and it’s not uncommon for guests to leave their rings or other daily jewelry in the pocket of their spa robe instead of in their locker,” shared Teach Mayer, general manager of Dawn Ranch in Guerneville, California.
Before you leave, check the obvious spots like the nightstand and safe, but don’t forget robe and jacket pockets, bathroom counters, and anywhere you may have taken jewelry off to shower, sleep, swim, or head to the spa.
6. Wallets, cash and passports
“On one occasion, a celebrity guest left behind approximately $6,000 in cash, along with his wallet, passport and car keys,” shared Yeung. “When we contacted him, he was surprisingly calm and said he would send someone to retrieve everything. Because the items were so valuable and sensitive, we wanted to be certain they were being released to the correct person, so the guest established ‘rabbit’ as a code word. Sure enough, someone arrived, gave the code word, and was able to safely collect the belongings.”
You don’t have to be traveling with thousands of dollars in cash to know the stomach-dropping feeling of realizing your wallet, passport or other valuables are still back at the hotel. One common culprit is the in-room safe: guests tuck important belongings inside for safekeeping, then completely forget about them when checkout rolls around. Before you leave, open the safe one final time —even if you’re convinced you emptied it the night before.
7. Dentures
Some forgotten items make perfect sense. Others leave hotel staff wondering how a guest made it all the way out the door without noticing.
“Every now and then housekeeping discovers a set of dentures on the bathroom counter, and you can’t help but wonder exactly when the guest realized something important was missing,” shared Chouinard.
Dentures may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of hotel lost and found, but they’re another good reason to give the bathroom counter one final glance before checkout.
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