The Lost Property Standard
Five steps from the moment an item is found to the day it goes home. When the guest calls, the item should be in your hand in under five minutes.
- Who
- Every member of staff, logged by the housekeeping office
- When
- Any item found in a room or a public area, at any hour
- You need
- Lost property bags and tags, the lost property log, a locked store
- Measured by
- Logged within 30 minutes of being found
- Any item found in under five minutes
- Known guest contacted within 24 hours
5 steps
01
Hand it in
Touch the item as little as you can, put it in a lost property bag and take it to the housekeeping office within 30 minutes. Cash, jewellery, passports and phones go straight to the supervisor.
Say this
“Found: black phone, room 803, under the bed, 11:15. Ana.”
Common mistake Keeping it on the trolley until the end of the shift. The guest calls at noon and nobody knows it was found.
02
Log it
Log the item with a number, the date and time, where it was found, who found it and a plain description. Tag the bag with the same number. Valuables are counted and signed for by two people.
Say this
“LP 1042 / 14 Oct 11:15 / Rm 803 / black phone, cracked case / Ana, Marco.”
Common mistake Writing just “phone”. There are six phones in the store, and nobody can match the guest’s description to one.
03
Store it
Store items on shelves by month and number, and valuables in the locked safe, with a signature for every opening. Food, drink and opened toiletries are logged and thrown away the same day.
Say this
“LP 1042 to safe, October shelf. Signed 11:40.”
Common mistake A drawer of unlabelled items. Finding the right one takes twenty minutes while the guest waits on hold.
04
Contact
If the last guest in the room is known, guest relations writes to their own email within 24 hours. Describe the item in general terms and let the guest give the details that prove it is theirs.
Say this
“Mr Okafor, we found a watch in your room after you left. Could you describe it so we can return it?”
Common mistake Phoning the home number about an item found in the room. Someone else may answer; write to the guest’s own email.
05
Return
Send an item only after the guest confirms the address and agrees the courier, or hand it over against ID and a signature. Keep unclaimed items for three months, and valuables as long as local law says.
Say this
“LP 1042 returned 17 Oct by courier, tracking 88412, signed for by the guest.”
Common mistake Posting it before the guest confirms the address. The parcel goes to an office they left last year.
Found Item, Next Move
Six kinds of found item and what happens to each in the first half-hour. Agree the keeping times with the general manager and local law first.
Brief one row each morning for six days, with a real tagged bag. On day seven the supervisor leaves a test item in an inspected room and times how long it takes to reach the log.
The Standards Library.
No. 56 · Housekeeping
The Arrival Inspection Standard
Five steps for the supervisor’s inspection that releases a vacant room for an arrival. A room marked ready too early costs the guest their first ten minutes.
No. 47 · Housekeeping
The Door Standard
Five steps for entering a guest room without surprising anyone inside. Most privacy complaints begin at a door that was knocked on correctly, once.