Lost & Found Procedure

The term Lost and Found itself self explanatory. It refers to those articles by mistake left or lost by a guest in the hotel. All Lost & Found items from the guest rooms, Food and Beverage Outlets, Front-of-House and-Back-of-House areas are forwarded to the Housekeeping Department as soon as they are found. The whole procedure can be described from 2 different points of view. One is from Front Office and another is from housekeeping point of view.


Today, we will share Lost and found from the front office point of view; hopefully this Training Tutorial will make you understand how to ensure that items left behind in the hotel by guests are correctly packed, stored and available for claim upon guest request.

Items found in Public Areas & Food & Beverage Outlets:

• All Lost & Found items found in the hotel’s public areas and F&B Outlets must be handed to the duty Assistant Front Office Manager immediately.

• Then the Assistant Front Office Manager will identify and confirm the item found together with the finder.

• Then he will examine the item and try to get the contact information of the owner, e.g. mobile phone numbers, office telephone numbers, email address from business card, etc.

• A Lost & Found form have to be filled in by the finder and a copy will be given to the staff for reference.

• If a contact number is available, the Assistant Front Office Manager should call the guest immediately and to enquire with him if he / she has lost anything behind in the hotel. At the same time, the owner should be asked to confirm the contents of the items, if any, and then he / she should be asked how he / she would like to have the item returned.

• If the item is so much valuable then it should be stored safely. If the items are passport, driving license, identity cards, credit cards, ATM cards, cash, legal documents, air-tickets, cheques, watches, wallets, purse, gold or diamond jewelleries, rings, stones, laptops, etc then the Assistant Manager should keep that in his safety box located at the Front Office. All other items should be sent to the Housekeeping Office for safe-keeping.

• The Assistant Front Office Manager is required to fill in the Lost & Found Record Sheet for record purpose

• Front Office personnel should input the details in the “Opera” Assistant Manager log for management’s information.

• The Assistant Front Office Manager should check all Lost & Found items daily to ensure all items match the Lost & Found record.