The Weirdest Items Guests Have Left In Their Hotel Rooms

A stray earring, a forgotten toothbrush, a single sock still tucked away in the drawer: We've all accidentally left something behind in a hotel room at least once in our travel history. Because even with the countless hacks out there that promise to help you never leave your phone charger behind again, "traveler's brain" (whether you're jetting off or returning home) is very real ... and can easily make you forget to pack a thing or two before heading out the door.

And while most of these forgotten items are generally harmless and can be easily replaced, that's not always the case. According to the 2024 Hotel Room Innsights Report published by the team at Hotels.com, there's a long list of guests who have forgotten a little more than just their keys or passports after checking out.

That hairbrush you accidentally left behind during your last holiday? Well, it probably pales in comparison to some of the items they've reportedly found. From a set of construction pipes to a pricy Hermès Birkin bag, and even a left-behind pet lizard, the Hotels.com breakdown of the strangest things guests have forgotten after their stay is fascinating (and a little concerning, to say the least).

While most forgotten items in hotels barely warrant a second glance, some make hotel staff do a double-take — especially when it comes out that they're worth more than the room itself. According to the Hotels.com 2024 report, one of the most expensive items a hotel guest has ever left behind was a Hermès Birkin bag. Which, in case you're not familiar, can be worth upwards of $20,000 depending on the style and materials. A pretty expensive oversight, if you ask us.

However, believe it or not, that's not even the priciest mistake on the list. According to the same report, a guest somehow managed to leave behind a luxury watch worth a whopping $6 million in their room. Enough to book out the entire property for over a year, but apparently not valuable enough to triple-check the room.

Expensive watches and handbags aside, one of the stranger discoveries mentioned in the report includes mentions of a forgotten pet lizard and a baby chick — both of which were found safe and sound in a hotel room. And although the staff managed to return this odd pair to their rightful owner, other abandoned pets aren't always so lucky.

On Reddit, u/brandonisi recounted the time they found a kitten left in a room with no food or water. When they tried contacting the guest, it became clear that they were deliberately avoiding calls and had intentionally abandoned the animal. Thankfully, though, the story does have a happy ending: The Redditor adopted the kitten, giving it the home it rightly deserved.

And they're not alone in rescuing abandoned hotel pets either. Another Reddit user also mentioned taking home a fish that had been left behind after a conference hosted at the hotel they worked at — which led to a pretty awkward late-night train ride "while wearing a suit and carrying a fish bowl."

Although leaving behind an expensive accessory or forgetting a pet sound like pretty major offenses, Hotels.com's 2024 report also revealed a list of some genuinely puzzling items that don't really make sense to have in a hotel room to begin with — let alone get left behind for the hotel cleaning crew to find and pick up. Some of the more confusing finds? A set of construction pipes, a car tire, a blender, and a rice cooker.

Adding to the list of bulky and bizarre forgotten items, one hotel worker on Reddit mentioned finding a stripper pole in one of the rooms at a hotel they'd worked at, further chiming in to say what we're all probably thinking by now: "I mean, it's kind of big, maybe you'd notice it missing?"

Another story courtesy of Redditor u/hoteliercanada turned out to be a lot more profitable than most. During a routine room inspection, the user was reportedly showing a new employee how to properly check every part of the room. This process included looking through the bedside Bible for any items that previous guests might have tucked away for safety and forgotten inside.

To their surprise, the duo found an unexpected reward for their thoroughness: A total of 22 hundred-dollar bills scattered throughout different pages of the book. According to the comment, the staff reached quickly out to the last 20 guests who had stayed in that room to see if anyone was missing "something of value" and, when no one claimed the money after the standard 90-day waiting period, the $2,200 windfall was used to treat the entire hotel team to a well-deserved end-of-summer lunch.

From high-end accessories to novelty items from bachelorette parties, hotel workers across various hotel-themed subreddits have a fair share of stories about forgotten intimate items. According to one worker, sex toys are such a common find that they barely raise eyebrows anymore — with many of them still in their original packaging, suggesting they're probably an impulse purchase (it's a holiday, after all!) that a recently-checked-out guest ultimately decided not to take home after the vacation had ended.

Another hotel employee on Reddit also shared how a guest once requested to speak with management about "something they'd found in the room" — only to pull out a photo of a not-so-discreet sex toy that had been left behind by the previous occupant. And while pretty much all of these items get rightfully logged into the hotel's lost and found, the truth is that they rarely get claimed. Which, at least for these kinds of things, seems like a pretty obvious thing to happen.

Just when you think you've read and seen it all, a rogue hotel guest throws you a curveball. According to Redditor u/mstarrbrannigan, one of the weirdest things they ever came across during their shift was, shockingly, a box of cremated human remains that someone had accidentally (we hope) left behind in the room.

And, although the user didn't specify whether or not the ashes were ever claimed, another commenter did humorously suggest that some guests might use decoy cremation boxes as makeshift ashtrays so they can illegally smoke inside their room without getting caught and kicked out. A much less macabre explanation for the unusual find, sure, but still pretty bizarre.

Don't want to be on the next list of weird things left behind? There are a few solutions for that. For starters, in order to guarantee that you never forget any valuables in a hotel safe again, try putting one of your shoes in there alongside your other belongings. Since you can't exactly walk out of the hotel wearing just one shoe, you'll have no other choice than to open the safe before checking out — which means you'll spot anything else you might have stored in there before it's too late. Alternatively, if you still feel like this won't work on your forgetful brain, simply steer clear of the safe altogether and instead keep your valuables safely tucked inside your locked suitcase.

In addition to this, making one final sweep of the room before you leave is also essential — but make sure you don't just glance around. Check every drawer systematically, look under the bed, and triple-check the bathroom (and bathroom drawers) for any stray toiletries and jewelry. And while it might seem obvious, always check the back of the bathroom door for hanging beachwear and towels, as well as the hotel closet for jackets and shirts. According to hotel staff, these are two of the most common spots where items usually get left behind.

Finally, because mistakes can and will probably happen at some point, there's always the option to contact the property, as many hotels can mail the items you left behind directly to you. Most hotels have established protocols for forgotten items, just make sure to call as soon as you realize something's missing, and be prepared to describe your item in detail (yes, even those items).