The FINANCIAL — Chargers, Cosmetics, jewellery, mobile phones and cameras, watches, clothes, sunglasses, documents, cards and books are the items that are left behind most commonly by guests at Tbilisi’s hotels.
The FINANCIAL — Chargers, Cosmetics, jewellery, mobile phones and cameras, watches, clothes, sunglasses, documents, cards and books are the items that are left behind most commonly by guests at Tbilisi’s hotels. Forgetful hotel guests leave all kinds of items in their rooms, sometimes rather surprising ones as well, such as a scorpion in a jar, a prosthetic leg and a bag full of stones, housekeeping managers said.
Out of every 100 guests, about 15 tend to leave something behind, according to the hotels in Tbilisi. Each item which is found at a hotel by one of its staff member, is properly described, packed up, tagged and kept in storage for a period of three months. Almost all hotels have a department of Lost and Found Items. Items left behind at hotels in Georgia that have not been claimed within three months are given to the finder, according to the rules.
“It happens very often that guests leave items behind in the hotels after their departure,” said Maia Makhatadze, Housekeeping Manager at Holiday Inn Tbilisi. “Statistics show that chargers are the most frequently-forgotten item by guests. Cosmetics take second place amongst the lost items at Holiday Inn. Then comes jewellery in third place and mobile phones and cameras in fourth. Fifth place is taken by various items such as watches, warm and cooler clothing (depending on the season), sunglasses, documents, cards etc,” she added.
“There are some guests who come back for their forgotten items immediately. But there are also those who call us from the airport and ask us to look after their items until they come back for them. Sometimes it happens that a guest only realises that they have left an item in our hotel after arriving back in their home country. If the item is very valuable then the guest always calls us,” Makhatadze added.
“Sometimes items are not only left in the rooms, but in public places as well like the fitness centre and meeting rooms where we generally find up to 150-200 items a year. Sometimes guests leave behind very cheap items, but ones that are still dear to their owners. In such cases they often pay more than the item itself costs to send it to them via DHL.”
“Out of the strangest items ever left I would single out a prosthetic leg!” Makhatadze said.
“All hotels, including Holiday Inn, have a department for Lost and Found Items. This department where the left items are kept, is strictly and accurately controlled. However, there is also a separate protocol for items that are never kept in the hotel, such as alcohol and drugs,” Makhatadze said.
“Shirts, perfume, belts, costume jewellery and other small things are the items most often left in Tbilisi Marriott Hotel,” said Tamuna Gorgadze, Housekeeping Manager. “30 percent of guests come back for their lost items. Once we found a bag full of stones. The owner returned for it and collected them.”
Lingerie is often left at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel. Lali Khorkheli, Executive Housekeeper at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel, says that “during a month, out of 70 lost items, only 10 are returned to their owners as most do not return for their lost items.”
70-100 items are left at Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel on average per month. All of them are kept in the cleaning department.
“16-45 rooms are occupied by our guests every month where we often find left items such as clothes, shoes and other things,” said Madona Megrelishvili, Executive Housekeeper at Sheraton Metechi Palace Hotel. “Guests may forget to take away money, clothing, electrical items or jewellery.
An item which costs more than USD 50 is kept in the safe of the CFO,” she added.
A scorpion in a jar was once left at Hotel Ambasadori, according to Housekeeping Manager Nino Jibladze.
“In most cases people leave clothes, cosmetics, chargers, sometimes jewellery and money at Georgia Palace Hotel,” said Manager of the Cleaning Department Indira Meskhidze.
Mobile or PC chargers, books and clothes are the most frequently-forgotten items, according to George Poniatowski, Reservations Manager at Hotel Kopala.
According to Britain’s third-largest hotel chain Travelodge, the most common items left behind in UK hotels are teddy bears, gadget chargers and more than 20,000 books, including more than 7,000 copies of Fifty Shades of Grey. More than 76,000 teddy bears were reunited with their owners in 2012.
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