I left a Zune in a seatback pocket one time. I was in a car halfway from SEA to downtown Seattle when my phone rang: it was a United Global Services agent in the North terminal who had my Zune. I wasn't (and have never been) GS - but somebody found the Zune and they took the time to look up who had been in that seat before and call me.

Yeah, I was apparently the one guy who owned a Zune for a few years...

I left a bottle of shaving cream and a disposable razor in my room at the St. Regis Shanghai one time. Got an email from the property the next day offering to ship them to me. I declined...but thought it was a nice touch for them to ask.

As for phone chargers and electrical adapters, I suspect most large hotels have a whole box of them. I left mine behind at a Marriott one time and asked the clerk at the next Marriott where I could buy a replacement. She opened a cabinet, pulled out a large box of plugs and chargers that had obviously been left behind over time, and said "take whatever you want."

I left my motorcycle helmet (brand new, not yet on my head apart form trying it on at the shop) in the overhead bin. I remembered just before boarding my connecting flight - I asked the agent at the gate, who really seemed to not care (these things are worth $1000, darn it!), and it seems that the United site is more to try and make you feel better, with a "don't call us, we'll call you" type message from the email.

Very annoying, but I hope that helmet saves the new owners' life, after Karma nails them with a crash...

Having said that, had it happened in Tokyo, I swear, they would have dispatched a lear jet to follow me to the next airport, so the agent who found it could personally hand it back...

In Tokyo, it either stays where you left it, or if someone knows how to find you, they will hunt you down for the most trivial of items. Amazing...

Z...

Because as much as I would love the case to be, many guests come to the hotel for reasons that are far from honest and sometimes pretty disappointing. Say a man travels to our hotel and has an affair. His wife doesn't know that he was at the hotel at the time. We call, she finds out. It is a horrible situation to be in, and happens far too often even with loyal guests who stay with both their mistresses and wife, sometimes at the same time. If you miss something enough, you will call us I hope!

I love Japan. I know there's no tipping but I once had a restaurant bill (for a group) that was 5 yen short of a nice round (large) number, so I paid the round number with folding money and started to walk away. They chased me out the door to return my 5 yen!

I love Switzerland, too. I was once left 50 SFr behind at the pharmacy at ZRH (jetlagged, paid for a small item with 100 SFr note, picked up the smaller bills and coins but missed the 50. ) Got it back on my return trip through ZRH after they confirmed that they'd ended up 50 SFr over on that day. ^^^

I dropped my passport in GLA and was paged about it before even realized it was missing.

I lost my driver's license at MCO and it was waiting for me at lost and found.

Amen. My goal is under $10 for travelling sunglasses. I've left a couple in rental cars and they were so cheap it wasn't worth my time to even call. Broker others, but that didn't matter either.

I left a nook e book reader and a small pouch with my ipod shuffle and headphones in the seat back pocket of a southwest flight. I didn't even realize I was missing them until a week later when I was getting ready for my next trip. When I finally remembered where I had left them, I emailed the lost and found email address on their website and described what I left on the plane, included the date and flight number. I got an email back saying they have something that matches my description and if I can provide a UPS account number they will ship it to me. Very efficient and painless!

Agree on using only cheap sunglasses.

Not travel, but a good recovery story:

Costco, bought several items, among them a $200 GPS device in a small box. Wheeled everything out to my car and somehow loaded everything in EXCEPT the GPS, which remained in the cart that I then returned to the cart corral.

Several hours later realizing I didn't have it, I returned to the store. One of their cart retrievers had found the item outside, logged it at the front desk, and returned it to inventory. All I had to do was plead my case and show them my receipt that matched the approximate time they found it in the cart.

GPS retrieved and handed over to me! I was actually a little surprised.

Two weeks ago had a flight on Shandong Airlines and left my passport in the seat pocket. Reached the hotel and was asked to present my passport - and only realized then. Hotel called the Airport and they confirmed that the passport was with the airport at lost and found.

I had a flight the next day leaving the country. Boy was I a happy man...!

I have a habit of forgetting coats in various places, such as on aircraft and in car parks. It's usually...cold when I'm wearing them, so how did I forget?

In any event, I hope their discoverers put them to good use.