Hilton HHonors - Success in Getting Property Left Behine Returned

I stayed at the Hilton Mesa this past weekend. I am sure I left my phone's battery charger in the room. When I returned home the night I checked out (Tuesday), I called the hotel. They told me they would leave a message for the people in "lost and found." Did I get a return call? No.

Today I called during business hours. The operator told me that lost and found is a function of Housekeeping. I was put on permanent hold. I called back and asked for Housekeeping. I left a message for the Director of Housekeeping. Did I get a return call? No.

Any suggestions on what my next step should be? If they didn't find the charger, I can buy a new one, but if they found it and I can get it back, why bother? Also, what are the chances of getting it back if they did find it? Any thoughts?

I have ALWAYS had to go to the Manager of the Hotel when I have left something behind - my exp has been exactly the same as yours - "houeskeeping" will call me and never does., When I've gone to the Hotel Manager, once I got my property back and once i didn;t.

I had success in getting a brand new HWV t-shirt that had been absentmindedly left in our room returned to me by the Hilton Waikaloa Village. I believe we wrote and called to follow up. They did return the call and promptly. I always loved the property and this just reinforced it as one of my very favorites.

I forgot something, went back 60 minutes later, nothing there... I believe they throw most of it away.. it was 2 books on my nightstand... (this was at the Palmer House hilton in Chicago)... good luck

Atleast with some hotels, they hold on to everything left behid for a certain time.

Mom left something at the Heathrow Crowne Plaza. We called and they were happy to send it back, and we paid them for the postage, a polite thing to do. They also had a (near empty) shampoo bottle and a couple of things that we had left behind, so, all was there.

Then again, it was England and I think they are a little more honest than we are. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

I left my phone charger at the Woodland Hills Hilton, called the front desk, they checked immediately, found it, I picked it up, since I am local. Was grateful.

I think it depends on the hotel, also the integrity of the staff. Yes, some do steal.

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Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

I left a very, very nice pair of dress shoes in my room at the Hampton Inn that I frequent. I called housekeeping an hour after I left to ask them to keep an eye out for the shoes. After 3 phone calls with no resolution, I finally spoke with the manager (should have done that in the first place). However, they never "found" the shoes. My guess is that housekeeping found them and kept them. Strange to think that someone is actually "walking a mile" in my shoes...

I called the hotel manager this a.m. and guess what? Within two hours the Manager of Housekeeping called me back. Must have been a coincidence. He said they haven't been able to get into the room. Hmmm.

By the way WorldTraveler, how's Mom? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

[This message has been edited by ILuvParis (edited 03-15-2002).]

I've always had good luck with this. Noramlly, I call reception and talk to whoever is wroking the Front Desk. This makes somebody aware of the situation other than housekeeping. Invariably, I get directed to housekeeping where I try to track down the specific person who cleaned my room. Barring that, I ask the Director of Housekeeping to look into it.

So far, I have had my most valuable items returned. My best expereince with a lost item was at the Radisson Inn in LaCrosse, WI! I had left my pager in the room and flew home to PHX. Reception transferred me to housekeeping, where the person who cleaned my room was waiting. She ran upstairs to the room, called me, had me page the pager, and she found it and mailed it off that day! (It seems my 18month old son, rolled it under the bed.)

Re: the lost phone battery. Check the local Hertz counters; they're supposed to toss stuff after 30 days. I picked up a replacement charger for my Nokia this way (they gave me the stuff they were due to toss one day).

My one experience was very positive. When I stayed at the Tokyo Hilton in December, in my packing haste I pulled my noise cancelling headphones out of my carryon and set them down, forgetting to put them back. I sent a fax to which I got a prompt reply from the head of housekeeping. He sent them back immediately and refused to charge the expense to my credit card. I was very impressed (it was a very good stay all around.)

I remember I left some clothes behind in the closet while staying at the YVR Hilton which i used to stay at almost everyweek. I didn't even know that I left it behind until I was back next week and my clothes were nicely folded in a bag waiting for me in the room.

Hey all.

I like this board! I love Hilton. What's not to like!? http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

Mom is good, thanks. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

"called me, had me page the pager, and she found it and mailed it off that day! (It seems my 18month old son, rolled it under the bed.) "

Sorry, but this is cute. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif Kids will be kids, LOL

Empress, how is the YVR Hilton? Marriott(next door) wouldn't upgrade me, I walked over to the Hilton, explained I am Gold, said she would have upgraded me in a heartbeat, Marriott fought me the whole way. Guess where I want to stay next time? Are the rooms large like the Marriott? thanks. Good to see you again and I so enjoyed your trip report, thank you.


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Michael
AA PLT,1 MLN Miles+
HH GLD, SCI GLD, MM SIL
LE PRESIDENT ETERNEL DE CAMAIR-CAMEROUN AIRLINES :)

@ Hilton Irvine (SNA) Airport I left a pair of gold earrings. I realized it as soon as we left the hotel but figured it was two late. Several days, after returning home, we received an HHonors telephone call asking about the stay. I mentioned the earrings. A few days later, the hotel manager contacted me and adv she had secured the earrings and I could pick 'em up when in the area again (I had visit planned)
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We called Hampton Inn Indpls Airport about four days after a stay to see if a shaving kit had been left. Was advised negative (found out later we had left @ home), but they did mention that they had found a sweater & jeans in the room. We advised 'em to donate those clothes since they were left intentionally as I'm in the habit of shedding clothing during a trip to lighten my suitcase.

Never have had a lost item in a hotel (that I can remember) until three weeks ago.

Lost my prescription sunglasses at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Finally figured out that is where I had left them three weeks later. Called hotel lost and found. Irene from L&F returned my call in less than an hour saying she could not find them.

Got a call another 30 minutes later saying she had gone to room and looked under the bed , where she found them.

She then mailed them out and I received them today!! Awesome service.

The wife and I left behind all of the stuff we had bought at the Louvre in our room at the Paris Hilton. We realized it at the airport, but didn't have time to go back. We mailed them a letter once we got home detailing all our information and providing an AMEX number for postage. It took about a month in transit, but we got it all back safe and sound. Great service from the Paris Hilton.

I left my cell phone charger at the Homewood in SEA and never got a call back after several messages to 'housekeeping.' I'll ask about it next time I'm there in a couple weeks, but have no real hope...

My battery charger has not been found. Hard to understand what good it would do anyone else, as one probably couldn't recognize what kind of phone it is for.

Askias, I have also found the staff of the Paris Hilton to be great. I left my keys there once and between my friend who was staying later and the doorman, they were able to locate the cab I was in on the way to the airport and call the cabdriver on her cell phone (to let me know).

My mom left some shorts hanging in the closet at HHV. She realized this as she was unpacking at HWV that night. A call to our concierge at HWV was all it took. They contacted HHV for us and housekeeping sent them priority mail, arriving the next day. Admittedly, we were continuing guests at another Hilton property, but we were very pleased with the response, ease and outcome. It couldn't have been done better. There wasn't even a charge for postage.

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by kokonutz:
I left my cell phone charger at the Homewood in SEA and never got a call back after several messages to 'housekeeping.' I'll ask about it next time I'm there in a couple weeks, but have no real hope...</font>

&gt;&gt;&gt; No, call the manager or guest services, not housekeeping. With all due respect, and serious, half the time they don't speak English. I speak to them in Spanish(my Spanish is terrible) here and they speak all kinds of languages over in Europe, and maybe except the UK, hopefully http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif, they very seldom speak English. Guest services will be much faster.
The maids at the Zurich Hilton, after lot's of questions and curiosity(I love languages), spoke Croatian. Not much I could do there, but I tried. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/smile.gif

The only time I really NEED to use French in a hotel in France is with the maids, as the staff speak fluent English, but still, the practice is good.

I've noticed that the probability of getting a return call from housekeeping is about the same as winning the lottery. I've left items on numerous occasions. If it's at a Hampton, I don't even bother calling anymore. The only expensive (not really) items that my wife/daughter have left behind where feather pillows and in both instances, the hotel offered to mail them. They even went so far as to ask that I not send them money to reimburse them for shipping after I had offered to do so.