Finally, a Simple Solution to Lost Items at Hotels

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was on the train home from a long New York to Seattle flight this past May when disaster struck. I was ready to relax with my favorite podcast when I flipped open my AirPods Pro case and discovered an empty hole where one of my AirPods used to be. Despite all my efforts at systematically packing my hotel room and looking in, around, and under every piece of furniture to make sure I was leaving nothing behind, I’d still done so. And I was sure the right pod was gone forever.

Yes, I knew I could replace a single pod for $89, but the trip had been expensive enough already, and it was the principle of the thing. Although I was sure it was gone, residing in the bag of a housekeeper’s vacuum on its way to the dumpster, I screwed up my courage, called the Jersey City Hyatt Regency, and got an answer I didn’t expect.

“Yes, we found it,” a hotel clerk said as she laughed, puzzled anyone could leave a single Airpod behind. Then she told me I could go to a website to fill out a form and get it shipped back to me.

The name of the company that helped me get a given-up-for-lost Pod back in three weeks is Ileftmystuff! and it’s been quietly helping many hotels reunite forgetful travelers with their possessions for almost 10 years. And the only reason most guests have heard of it at all is that, well, they left their stuff behind at a hotel that uses the service.

The Toronto-based company got its start when the wife of a logistics consultant left a new shoe behind in a Four Points Marriott and couldn’t get it back because management at the property had stopped sending guests the stuff they left behind. They weren’t being dishonest, they were avoiding the hassles of getting stiffed for shipping costs and the risks of items being lost or damaged in transit, founder Paul Mercer says. Once he called and offered to e-mail a shipping label and pay for a courier to pick it up, the folks at the Four Points were happy to help.

“I hung up the phone and thought, ‘Wait a second. I can’t be the only person that’s ever left something behind at a hotel,” Mercer said. He registered the business name ‘Ileftmystuff!’ 20 minutes later. After calling numerous hotels and learning about the challenges they faced doing returns, he set up a web-based management system to improve the way hotels handle lost and found. The service works because it streamlines the process and helps hotels and guests alike save time and money.

Just ask Renee Eubanks, a guest services/lost and found coordinator at The Wilderness Club at Big Cedar resort in Ridgedale, Missouri. Before The Wilderness Club began using the system, it could take her several hours to find a guest’s lost possession, package it up, get the guest’s credit card information to pay shipping costs, then drive it into town to a small shipping store that often closes for lunch, leaving her cooling her heels when she could be doing other work. At the same time, guests often had to make several calls to find out if their valuables had been recovered and arrange for shipping their own.

Now, all a forgetful guest has to do is contact the hotel, go to Iforgotmystuff.com, enter the hotel’s five-digit code and fill out a form describing the item. If there’s a match, Ileftmystuff! sends a message to the guest detailing shipping costs, including next day and ground. If the guest still wants the item, the company sends a courier to pick it up and ship it. All the hotel has to do is load the item into a box.

Although the service isn’t available in all hotels, the likelihood of staying somewhere that uses the service is growing. Ileftmystuff! is currently in 8,000 hotels across the US and Canada and has returned almost half a million items since 2012. And the items have run the gamut from the expected like cellphones and power cords to a lot of things you might not expect, including false teeth, hearing aids, and prescription medication.

“We’ve had everything under the sun,” company founder Paul Mercer said as he ticked off a list that included teddy bears, tents, camping stoves, “drugs, money, firearms, and toaster ovens.”

There have also been a few ticklish situations, Mercer said. “I’ll never forget we had one irate professor—I don’t remember where they were from or what university they were from—but they were irate because they had left some toys in the room and they wanted those toys, and they were very expensive,” Mercer said in a phone interview when talk suddenly turned towards sex toys. “I don’t even know how you have the confidence to contact us to admit to having those types of things.”

Making the process easier doesn’t mean that it’s a good fit for everything, though. If a guest leaves behind a charging cable for a cell phone or something small and inexpensive, it might be cheaper to get a new one at home than pay to ship a forgotten one. If you have a more difficult-to-replace cord for an old laptop like YouTuber Kim Townsel did when she left her power adapter at a conference in Tampa back in 2016, it might be worth it.

“Thank you, Hyatt Tampa Bay. Thank you Ileftmystuff. This is awesome. I’m going to tell the world about Ileftmystuff,” she said in a Youtube video showing her unboxing and gratefully kissing her wayward adapter.

There are other considerations as well. It’s illegal to ship some medications, and weapons are a definite no-no. Food is also questionable, but that doesn’t mean some guests haven’t tried it.

When one guest left forgot cheese worth $125 and wanted it forwarded, it shipped out on a Friday and sat in a warehouse without climate control over the weekend. “Needless to say, the guest was not overly pleased when the cheese arrived,” Mercer recalled.

The process isn’t always perfect, as was indicated by a survey filled out by a man who had a pair of ladies’ underwear shipped back to him. “He was very thankful for the service and the speed and the support that he received, but the underwear did not belong to him, nor was it his wife’s, nor does he have a girlfriend,” Mercer said. The way the man’s response was worded indicated that he was highly amused and not sleeping on the living room sofa.

Still, he says, “the majority of guests are absolutely blown away. They get a chuckle out of the name, and they think it’s a great solution to help solve a problem that they’ve had.” As for me, I was just thrilled to get my single AirPod back. After all, the $33 shipping fee sure beats replacing it for nearly $90. I just wish Ileftmystuff had been around when I left my pants behind in that one hostel I stayed at in New Zealand.