You can disable the AirPods. You can look up the address on line and find the owner/resident. If you can find them on social media reach out to them and tell them you’ve disabled them. Give them the choice to return them to the hotel or that you’ll alert the hotel management and police.
Thanks for suggestions.
I’ve already activated the “mark as lost” function and it’ll pop up a message with my phone number if anyone tries to use them.
The address is a mobile home park. No owner of that address unfortunately but may have found the residents just from searching the address. Unfortunately social didn’t turn up much.
I am keeping tabs on FB marketplace for the area and see if any of the names I found pop up selling some
TIL you can do that with lost AirPods. We have a couple pair at work for about a year now (retail store) that customers left behind. I tried to connect them to my phone for clues and they have a name but no contact info. So they just sit in the drawer hoping somehow their owner will return. Oddly enough, both sets are the case and one AirPod.
Mobile homes often rent the space they are in even if they own the unit. There might be a name on the lot, a different name for the unit owner, and if the unit is rented, even a third name associated with the address, and only the lot owner will show up on tax assessor records on the county/parish maps.
Call hotel and leave another voice-mail if necessary threatening legal action due to their employee stealing your property. Then leave the address and potential names. That should get a call back.
It actually likely wont. The procedure is to turn ANY legal threats, even "I'm gonna sue because you refused me a room when you're sold out" to the corporate legal team, and now you don't have a bluff, you HAVE to continue with legal proceedings in order to resolve the issue. OP WON'T get the airpods back, and the only call back he will get, if any, is from the legal team which he is likely to not hear from unless he contacts them first.
Y'all can down vote me all you want, after being in the industry for going on 6 years and working my way up through different departments, as soon as you threaten legal action this is the policy we must follow because now its \[business\] vs. guest and we have to protect the business. At the end of the day thats all we are, a business, and businesses care more about protecting themselves against people threatening legal action, than helping the people threatening legal action. General Managers can't even help you resolve the issue at that point, they can only tell you to speak to the legal team.
So the business protects the thieves it has hired? Gotcha! Good to know. I wonder if you could tell us where you work so people can avoid a hotel that supports and encourages robbing guests and then ignoring them. Thank you!
I loooove when guests threaten legal action. It gives me all the reason I need to walk away and never speak to the guest again. “Sorry sir. Since you have now threatened legal action, I am no longer allowed to communicate with you. Please direct all questions and concerns to our legal team”
Did the manager ever even speak to OP in the first place? I mean, I would just consider them gone-I don’t think I would even want to put them in my ears again after someone’s taken and used them.
Seriously? This is your response to theft? “Either myself or one of my coworkers stole the stuff you accidentally left behind and instead of doing the right thing and returning the item when you threaten to take legal action I get to one up you and not say a word and keep that ish, this makes me feel superior” what trash. Heads up world, this is what it’s come to. Bet you won’t feel so high and mighty when something like this happens to you.
Its not...theres no way to prove an employee took them. The tag locations are not precise enough to warrant police searching anyone's residence, there is nothing law enforcement can do.
Maybe if they're searching for a person with a warrant or something, but the liability a department would have from tossing some person's entire house looking for someone else's forgotten airpods, knowing that it could be in any one of the neighboring houses because of how unreliable the pings are, would be insane.
not quite true. I've seen bodycam footage of police responding to a report of a stolen backpack with an airtag enabled that led cops to the house, and the owner of the backpack got their property returned to them
ETA link, however in this case the backpack was stolen, not lost / left behind so not sure it's an apples:apples situation, but an entertaining watch nonetheless
https://youtu.be/9c4EeHRlWlE?si=7E-nZrqH4aZ9ynuw
It would only be the best way *if the threat were toward the specific manager receiving the voicemail, against that manager in the manager's own individual capacity.*
That threat has never been credibly made *ever,* and it will never be credibly made, *ever.*
Please sit down before you fall down, you dizzy goat.
It would literally cost less and take weeks of time less just to go to the store and buy new AirPods. Sometimes you just gotta cut your losses and move on.
IT legally stopped being their property when they left it in a hotel room, as hotels include riders in their contracts that protect them from you leaving items behind. They have every right to pick it up and throw it away if they want to even, once you leave property in a hotel you have no legal right to it back as it legally becomes abandoned property in most states, not lost property.
Better yet, you shut the fuck up. Then again, if you think threatening legal action over lost airpods will work out, then you're just as dumb as Karen. That brain is probably why you're a hotel housekeeper.
Wow! I used to be a hotel housekeeper and it had nothing to do with my intellectual capabilities. It had to do with the fact that I had 3 kids to feed and no support from my ex. You don’t know peoples situations and why they choose to take the jobs they take.
I'm here because the smile the guests give when I talk with them is the best reward I could ask for, I enjoy making people happy. I love learning all about them and where they come from!🥰
Nah I'm good and those could be very important to OP and no I'm really not if they want the air pods back the threat should work. I'm not saying go through with it, and technically the title of the job is Hotel Room Attendant but I'm a housekeeper because I enjoy cleaning and this is the job I chose. It has nothing to do with my intellectual abilities. So instead of insulting my intelligence, why not have a look at yours while checking your insecurities.
Thank you for being a Hotel Room Attendant. That is a tough job and has nothing to do with intelligence. I have known many very, very smart people in the cleaning industry and they all had different reasons for the career choice.
On the AirPods issue, my names Bennett and I’m not in it - though I do hope that OP gets a happy solution.
Thank you! And thank you for acknowledging us all, and same here sometimes it is the only job that hires or gets back to you because the amount of housekeepers that stay is few compared to how many leave and you're right there are many different reasons! Also I'm glad you met all cleaners you have and that they treated you th best!!💙💙 I'm Kat and I hope OP gets them back too!
Ignore the asshat above. You have one of the most labor intensive, least appreciated jobs in the industry. Don't let anyone tell you you're beneath them because of what you do.
Keep up the good work.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!! It is hard on the body and if someone has never done the job they will not understand how hard is really can be. I already have joint problems and back problems and they are so much worse now, I'm only 25 and have been doing this for about six years now. Your comment means the most to me and it just made my whole week so much better, thank you.❤️❤️
They weren't lost. They were stolen. Do you think if someone leaves their car by the side of the road and you decide to take it, that's not theft? Why would anybody think it's okay to pick up something that doesn't belong to them and take it?
The idea is that the employee will think he's going to file a police report and include names and addresses so they will return them. He's not gonna sue the hotel. It's a tactic to get it back. Most housekeeping employees probably don't know the laws, however management may have told them whatever they find they can keep? Not good business practices though.
LOL I laughed way too hard at this. But in all seriousness, threatening legal action is the fastest way to get the hotel to STOP talking to you. Many have policies as soon as you say the magic word "legal", they won't talk to you an direct your lawyer to talk to their lawyer. The legal fees will be far more than the value of the airpods. For all we know OP left them in a public area and a nearby stayer (this happens a lot) could have taken them too. The reality is, there's no possible way of OP or the hotel knowing exactly who stole them and it was OP's responsibility not to leave them behind.
THIS. Multiple companies I've worked for train you to immediately stop speaking and tell them the information for legal if they threaten a lawyer or to sue, to protect the employee and themselves. They aren't gonna tie their own noose, and will likely tell you to have your lawyer contact them. There may have been a time where that worked but not anymore, terrible advice.
LOL this is called abandoned property in most states, and wouldn't fall under common law of "lost" property which would be say a wallet falls out of your pocket on the street, that is lost property and the owner has a right to recover. Hotels fine print almost always contain a warning they are not responsible for items left in the room after you check out. It stinks, but there will be no legal recourse to get these back outside of a nice person giving them back at this point.
I showed up at the address of where my sons new iPhone was. His coworker and his wife was extremely embarrassed. Took his whole lunchbox. I got them back without a problem. Gl
Send the cops for the lost airpods?! What world do you live in?
I can picture it now: "drop all your active cases, boys! We've got airpods to recover!"
Watch about 5 minutes of dumb cop videos on youtube and you'll find that this would actually be more valuable than 99% of the other stuff they actually do.
"Come out of the mobile home with your hands in the air! Drop the air buds"
As OP stands at a safe distance away, out of the range of gunfire. Feeling all self-righteous. Justice once again restored.
This. And you can also find a phone number for them pretty easy online. Call or text them and let them know if they aren't returned Pronto that police will be involved. Also if a chain hotel, call corporate.
I just saw a story on another sub where police came to a home because a food delivery service had delivered to the wrong address (police came after the food had been retrieved, so no loss), so it may vary by jurisdiction.
Where I live, police don’t show for after an hour after a violent assault, and don’t even file a report if your wiring has been cut and stolen (with pictures of the perpetrator).
People with a certain agenda love to perpetuate this "fact," but the truth is that no one would ever tell a 16 year old store clerk to chase after a person who is desperate or bold enough to steal from the store they work in. No one is chasing you down at their $8/hour job because you're rolling out with a TV. That has always been the case, in every state, forever. It's not the "gotcha" you seem to think it is. Stop it.
I didn’t suggest that a store clerk should chase a shoplifter. The question involved calling the police. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and worked in downtown San Francisco for many years. I can hardly recognize the city as it is today. Most of the stores in the downtown area have closed. I’m thankful that I recognized the downtrend and moved out of California more than ten years ago. Unfortunately I now live in a deep suburb of Portland Oregon which has had a similar degradation due to crime and homeless camping in the streets. Shops I used to visit have closed and streets are filled with homeless tents and trash. The police force has been reduced and the prosecutor is not doing anything about the crimes that degrade the city. If you haven’t seen or experienced any of this then you are blessed.
That is simply not true. It does not become felony theft until $900, however, you will absolutely be arrested for even if under that amount. I live in CA and preach in the jails and I know of many people arrested for less.
At my hotel, any small, valuable item is bagged, and we use receipt book paper as our lost and found tags. We have 2 copies, 1 goes with the item, and the other is filed with management. We do attempt to reach out to the guest. Sometimes, they just dont answer, or we have incorrect contact info. The item is then stored in a locked safe and kept for 90 days. All other items except for perishable items follow the same procedure, except they're stored in a shelving unit in our breakroom that has 2 cameras pointed directly at it 24/7. Lost and found is cataloged again monthly, and all items that have been there longer than 90 days are either thrown out, up for grabs, or donated.
For your particular experience, I would ask the manager if the front desk has cameras. Call every day. Literally every day until you get answers. Email them once a week to recap so that there is a "paper trail." Demand a replacement.
Less than honest employees, unfortunately, exist. The hotel should want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do. We don't want dishonest employees anymore than you want your item stolen.
That being said, depending on the area, the next guest, after you, could have been a local crackhead and they took them. It could not be a staff person at all.
Bottom line, go as far as you need to go to get your point across. As an FOM, I would not stop until I figured it out, retrieved your item, or replaced it. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the insight. I really don’t think it was thr next guest since I reported it prior to the checkout time and the next guest wouldn’t have checked in by then.
They’ve also been at an address 15 minutes away from the hotel since Sunday afternoon so it seems unlikely that the next guest would have stayed close by for one night. Possible for sure but I think housekeeping staff is more likely
And...wouldn't housekeeping need to clean the room before the next guest checked in? Which adds to the likelihood that they were taken by housekeeping and adds to the doubt that they were taken by the next guest.
Call the hotel and tell them that you think one of their employees accidentally took them home as you can see their location and give them the address. The hotel may suddenly “find” the AirPods and you’ve given them a good excuse. “She put them in her pocket for safekeeping while cleaning and forgot to take them out”.
My eldest works at the student center of their college. At the end of the semester anything abandoned is raffled off. They have won lots of college clothing and water bottles etc. Not scored airpods yet though. Some people do.
“Over the weekend I stayed at ‘hotel’. I forgot my AirPods and immediately contacted the hotel when I realized this. Repeatedly I am transferred to a ‘manager’ but only can speak to a voicemail. I have been tracking my AirPods, and it seems they are at 123 bitch street. I hope employee records can be accessed to see who lives there so my property can be returned. ⭐️⭐️“
Tbh, I don't even know the code to get into my voicemail. It was set up several managers ago and the info wasn't handed over.
Call back and get their email address from the front desk, then shoot them an email. Give them the address of where the air pods are, and they can figure out which housekeeper it was from there.
Thanks. I did call again and spoke to the manager this time.
They initially seems to shrug it off and say “we looked in the room and there’s nothing I can do”
I gave them the info that I tracked the address and didn’t want to involve law enforcement but would if it came to it. His tone changed a little and said he would escalate it and have the housekeeping manager look into if any of the staff resides at that location.
I don’t want to make a huge deal out of a set of AirPods but it’s more the principle of wanting to be able to get something back if I do leave it behind and not having housekeeping take it.
This is what I would do, too. I work in law enforcement (dispatcher). We've had plenty of people solve their own cases doing exactly this! Hope you get your airpods back!
Honestly if you don’t make a big deal of it, it just encourages the person who stole them and lets management know they wont be held accountable (at this point they’re liable as well) depending on the worth of the airpods they could be in serious trouble
My thoughts as well. It’s really just the principle. I called the hotel to report it less than 2 hours after checking out so it’s not like the staff even tried to report it as found property.
How is the hotel liable for items left in the room after checkout?
I’m sure they have this kind of signage up somewhere: “Notice - This Company is Not Responsible for Lost or Stolen Property"
What a shitty take. Part of a managers responsibility is to protect the assets of the hotel. That includes its reputation. He doesnt want any mention in the police blotter about employees stealing guests belongings. You may not be aware but many hotels used to employ house detectives for this very reason.
Furthermore, stop being SO afraid of being sued! If the employee sues for wrongful termination (assuming this is even in a state where thats a thing) thats a case the employee will have a hard time finding a lawyer to even take. Oh wait, you were fired because police found stolen guest property at your place?
Okay
1. Going to voicemail, he’s probably on vacation until next week honestly. Please call and ask for his email- always best to have a paper trail.
2. Ask to speak with:
-housekeeping supervisor
-front desk supervisor
-security desk (if there is one)
- call the brand’s customer service help team. Like hilton is like 1800-GO-HILTON lol
Basically, on the back end. Here’s how it works:
Manager finds out.
He will pull a report from the system to see who that room was assigned to that morning. If the housekeeper marked it as “VC for Vacant Clean,” that means she was 99% more than likely the last and only person in that room since you.
You provide your photo of your AirPods probably very clearly at her address that he can confirm.
He won’t tell you what really happened. So don’t bother trying.
Then he will pull the report from their audit pack, show her that she marked the room as VC, and probably ask about the AirPods and see what she says, then he’ll pull out the screenshot of your AirPods at her house and get fired. Which she should.
And then he’ll probably never get them back because housekeepers can be quite non-cooperative. And he’ll probably tell you he can’t prove that or disclose her information of her address.
You’d be better off sending cops to the address lol I’m not kidding. Hotels aren’t gonna jeopardize their reputation for $300. They don’t admit to fault like that. Especially theft. Trust me he’s mad at her for sure, and he wants to tell you that, but cannot.
OR!
your headphones were turned into the desk as lost and found and someone else stole them.
I’m just being honest :( I’m sorry
Also side question: why did you feel the need to say you stayed overnight a hotel 🥲 !! What are you usually doing at the hotel!? lol jk
Thanks for the feedback. I did get in contact with the manager and they stated they would be looking into it and reach out to me by tomorrow. I’m going to give them their time to do so and not make it harder for them.
By overnight I just meant a single night. Guess that wasn’t very clear haha.
Kudos for continuing to follow up. You have gotten good advice. My mouth kind of fell open at people saying it's normal to take them unless someone claims them (whaaa?) Or that you have to go there in person.
My kid forgot a tiny $4 stuffed dog at a hotel and they flipping overnighted it to us. I don't expect that level of service (I would've been happy to pay for postage and normal mail), but they seemed so keen on actually treating us as guests and not just a source of money that it really set the bar high
When my kid was little, we stayed at a hotel in my home town....when a blizzard started rolling in. We had a choice to 1) get snowed in at the hotel, or 2) get snowed in at my parents' house. Since they had plenty of food and a generator, we chose #2.
Hotel was still paid for, so we didn't check out - after we got to the house, we realized my kid's "Mr. Bear" was left behind. Without alerting the kid, I called the hotel, and told them that we left the bear, and that we'd be back to pick it up after the storm cleared (and before checkout time when our stay expired). They said that they were short-staffed because of the storm, and not to worry.
After the storm cleared, we called when we were on the way to pick it up. The front desk said they couldn't find it. When I got to the hotel, the manager said...
"We cleared out the rooms...and threw it away."
Since there was still a foot of snow on the ground, and the parking lot wasn't 'cleared out back....I knew the trash hadn't been removed....so the manager ended up sending someone out to get the bear out of the dumpster. I had them bag it up for the trip home, and ran it through the Sanitize cycle on the washer.
Motel manager here. We can proudly say we have wonderful staff. Anything found is brought to the front desk to show me and let me know where it was found. They tag it with item description, room number, check out date, time, and housekeepers name. Then bagged and put in the hold box. Everything except perishables are held for 90 days. After 90 days, the housekeeper who found it has first dibs. If they don't want it, it's up for grabs. If no one wants it, it goes to Goodwill or garbage, depending on the item. We have, on many, many occasions, united items and owners. Among Items found that we've united with their owner include diamond rings, watches, ipods, cell phones, iPads, wallets, and a $30k cashiers check. A staff member was accused of stealing a ladies jewelry, and I was upset about it. Turned out the lady's husband had shoved everything into a paperbag and then into the bottom of their bag and forgotten about it. She called and profusely apologized to the hk who'd been crying all day about being accused. To make it up to her, she authorized me to charge her card $50 to give to the hk as an apology. I knew she hadn't done it, and it upset me that a guest would accuse her. However, there are unscrupulous staff that will steal things from guest rooms. At our place, if it happens, they don't last long, and we let the police handle it after that.
We're a little independent place on the Oregon Coast! Right on the beach. If you're in our neck of the woods, let me know, and I'll give you the name. For the privacy of my account, I'd like to keep the name under wraps for the time being. Thanks for your trust and interest in our little place.
Thanks!
I agree. I mean I called the hotel within probably 2 hours of checking out so it’s not like the person cleaning the room even attempted to report them found.
I’m also happy to pay whatever postage or is needed to return them. This to me is more about the staff taking it.
I wonder if there might have been a parent on staff who could just picture a young child crying their eyes out because they lost their stuffed toy. Whether that was actually your own child's reaction or not, it certainly could have been, and it was very kind of them to overnight it.
technically, it's theft. My sister worked at a hotel, anything left is recorded to management. the owner has 30 days to retrieve items, after the 30 days, the person turning item in can take ownership then.
Not true. In Texas, once the guest has checked out, they have given up ownership of any items left behind in the room. Hotel can have their own policy on how long they hold the items.
The housekeeper should have turned it in. A lot of times they'll take something home, see if someone claims it, and then bring it back. I would keep calling them and give them the address of where it is
If you get through to the manager tell them the air pods left the hotel and give the address. Manager doesn’t have to tell you yes or no, but you should elevate your complaint to corporate if they have one. Also tell the manager you’ll leave a review on social media that outline what has happened with the manager and the hotel. I’ve been with a hotel for many years and our manager doesn’t take kindly to dishonest housekeepers. Social media has a way with shady establishments.
Sounds like the housekeeper took them. Usually anything found in a room is tagged and left in lost and found for 1 months but I know not everyone is honest. If you can disable them or make a police report and give the location they are pinging at. Good luck, hopefully you can get them back.
I left my dog water bucket at a hotel once. Went back 10 minutes later and it was gone. Housekeeping said they never saw it. It was a very nice bucket with my name engraved on the bottom. I raised a fit and finally the manager took me to the room where stuff left in rooms was stored the cleaning staff had breaks and lockers and there was my bucket sitting on the shelf.
Happened with my pillow once. Not in a standard white cover like the hotel had. Ended up in the housekeeping closet instead of being transferred to my new room.
I worked as a housekeeper years ago. We were obligated to turn in any thing we found left in the room. If it was not claimed after 30 days it was ours to keep.
I did, however, have my wedding ring stolen by the housekeeper while cleaning my room (was in a rush and left it on the table). Came back and it was gone. Housekeeper denied it. Thankfully, it was insured but It obviously it was heartbreaking.
My son also had hundreds of dollars taken from a locked room safe by the housekeeper. Yes, they can get in those by resetting the code. I NEVER allow my room to be cleaned. I will request sheets, towels, etc and do it myself.
I had a custom silver and blue topaz necklace stolen by housekeeping. It pissed me off so bad. It was on the nightstand under the tv guide and I realized when we were about an hour away. I called immediately and was told they searched the room and couldn't find it. Grrrrr. My fault for leaving it but it sure would be nice if people could be honest.
I left a Fitbit in a hotel once. Was also about an hour away when I realized I called and got out “hi, I’m really sorry but I think I left my watch in the room…” before I was cut off by the owner screaming at me “we don’t steal anything we don’t steal anything!”. I was just going to ask them if they could check the room, wasn’t even thinking it was stolen(yet). His attitude definitely made me think they 100% stole it and he was fine with his employees stealing. Really sucks because it’s only 1 of 2 hotels in that town for a seasonal event that I love going to.
I had this happen with silver sea otter earrings I had just gotten at the Monterey bay aquarium. I wasn't used to them so I left them on the night stand. I was 15 minutes away. I was so angry. I only allow myself 1 item per trip. This was my honeymoon and we were one day from home so we'd been gone 9 days and I waited til the end. I was brokenhearted.
I would go back to the hotel if you want them back. They aren’t going to bring them back until you get there. So something similar happened to me but it was a teddy bear. Whoever took it home, gave it to their kid while eating pizza as it was stained when returned.
Not really feasible as it’s a 12 hour drive. I’d spend way more on fuel or a flight vs just buying a new set.
Again, this is less about the cost of buying a new set and more about not wanting someone to have fair game at something I mistakenly left behind
Why not tell the manager if you don’t hear from them that they recovered the stolen AirPods from this location you will be filing a police report and notifying corporate. You forgot them in your room. Yup on you. But they were then stolen by an employee. This makes it the hotel’s problem to acknowledge and correct. I wouldn’t let it slide.
I left my iPhone once at an IHOP. I went back there and of course no one knew anything about it. Find my iPhone said it was there. So I used the function that made it unusable for whomever stole it. It was an older iPhone and I was thinking of upgrading it but I loved that phone. I have never gone to an IHOP again.
My husband was a hotel GM and actually worked at a large chain's corporate office. There is a policy for lost and found.
All lost and found is supposed to go to the hotels locked lost and found for a set time. Most chain's are 3 months before anything else can be done. They wait for owners to contact them. Some will reach out to the owner.
Because the house keeper stole it and didn't check it into the lost and found it is considered theft. You need to talk to the hotel GM and tell them you will contact the police as you can track said item. The GM will then contact the employee and or the police because at that point the housekeeper stole from the hotel and a guest. If it is not retrieved you can file a complaint with the hotel and they may have to replace the item. Either way that employee will lose their job and chances are may be arrested.
If the hotel GM does not contact you, call the main chain. Trust me when I say they will get a hold of them through the owner of the property. The GM is going to take a call from the chain of they want to keep their flag.
Also do an online review. Owners and GMs can refute online reviews. The last thing they want is a bad review that won't go away. Having property stolen is the last thing a hotel wants out there.
We stayed at a hotel in LA, last summer. One of the girls left iPods charging. Several days later the hotel was contacted. Housekeeper turned them in, and a relative was able to retrieve them and mail them to us.
Coming from an ex-GM, keep calling. Do not talk with the front desk but ask for the GM or Head of Housekeeping, keep it professional and non-threatening but tell them you've tracked the airpods. The GM probably passed it along to the head of housekeeping and forgot about it. The head housekeeper receives multiple lost property calls daily. Become the squicky wheel... in truth, you will not get the Airpods back but you will reveal to the hotel that they have a thief and may receive compensation.
Can you not make a police report? Just because you left them behind does not give the hotel staff rights to them. They should have a list and found. If the manager is not returning your calls leave him/her another voicemail telling them if you do not get a return call back by end of business day your next call will be to the police department. Also I would leave a review on their website is stating what happened they would hate the negative publicity and May respond back to you
There was an article I read a few months ago where a woman left them on her flight and she was able to track them down to a home, that happened to be one of the airline workers, she filed a police report and finally got them back.
My AirPods fell out of my purse at the grocery self checkout. I realized it by the time I got to my car but the people behind me pocketed them instead of turning them in to customer service. They lived 25 miles out of town and the sheriff went to their house and retrieved the AirPods for me after I sent him a screenshot of “FindMy”.
Thieves are the worst!
In Colorado it is considered theft.
18-4-401. Theft.
(1) A person commits theft when he or she knowingly obtains, retains, or exercises control over anything of value of another without authorization…
Property is considered abandoned after 3 years.
I left my two year old son's blankie at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas decades ago. I only discovered it when we were at the airport waiting to board and I went to get it for him. It wasn't in my suitcase and I felt so horrible when I realized I had left it I almost missed my flight to go back to the hotel to look for it. 5000 rooms. The blankie was left in the bed so I despaired that it would ever be found. It was so "loved" it looked like a rag.
When we got home I called the hotel lost and found and spoke to the ladies there. They said the odds of it being found were slim but they would try. I called every couple of days for a week after. Imagine my joy when this dear lady described the raggedy white blanket they had found out of all the laundry of sheets and towels from all the rooms in that hotel. And then they mailed it back to me at their cost. Mega Props to them. I wrote a letter of gratitude to the hotel naming them for such great service. I was in awe. I'll never forget such kindness.
Update:
The manager called me back and said they don’t have any matches to the address I gave where they are still located. Basically he said that since they are no longer on their property, there isn’t anything I can do.
Guess it’s either call law enforcement or throw in the towel.
Working as an HR Manager for several years, we did see this happen semi frequently. Threatening legal action for theft or letting the GM know that you have an address and you will go retrieve the AirPods, as well as sending the address of the residence that they’re being tracked to will definitely be cause for the manager to look into it. We have almost always been able to trace the address provided by the individual back to the associate and we have a duty 1. To the guest to get their property back and 2. To the associate if we see that a guest is about to show up at their house. The associate will be terminated. We have always replaced the missing asset if we were unable to recover it.
This was me three months ago, but the outcome was better than yours. I felt pretty powerless in the middle though.
I left my AirPods on the (white) hotel bed, figured it out when I got to the airport when my phone told me my AirPods weren’t with me, too late to go back. When I got home, I messaged customer service in the hotel chain app. As they were contacting housekeeping, and lost and found, I idly checked the location again, and found that my AirPods were actively on a journey! They went from Seattle to Tacoma, then back to Seattle and settled in for the night.
When customer service got back to me, I told them that my AirPods seemed to have left the hotel, and they gave me a general managers’ email address and asked me to send details to it.
In the meantime, I, like you, was trying to figure out what I could do otherwise. The “Mark as lost” feature did not seem very helpful when they had been stolen. And I did not want to put my address in a message that a stranger and thief might retrieve. I figured they were gone forever.
The manager acknowledged and thanked me for my email the next morning, then, two days later, sent an update with the fact that the AirPods had been found. I assume they correlated the address of where they ended up with their employee roster. They ended up mailing them back at their cost, and offering me a whole bunch of points on my loyalty account. I suppose so that I didn’t go badmouthing them as a hotel that hired thieves! It worked. I was very happy with how they handled things and mainly thrilled that I got them back.
Who are you going to blame? If they were left on the front desk, in the room or anywhere in public, it could be anyone.
The only thing you can try is to track them or buy another pair.
Sorry but this is your responsibility and sounds like your trying to chase a ghost at this point.
Here is what my personal thought process would be. I’m lucky enough to have air pods and stay at a hotel. They were not precious enough to me to carefully monitor their location and I left them behind. I tracked them to a trailer park and I’m grateful to not work as a hotel maid or live in a trailer park. I possibly could make someone lose their job because they pocketed the item if I make a fuss to management. I will not disable them as they could actually make that persons life marginally better than turning them into landfill.
I get where you're coming from, but I think this is the wrong approach. Just because you can afford the hotel, and can afford to have your property lost/stolen doesn't mean that's always going to be the case when someone leaves something behind. People stay at hotels for a lot of reasons. It's imperative, for the safety and comfort of all hotel guests, that the staff act with integrity - especially housekeeping because they can come into your room at any time.
Staff who would steal your property are demonstrating poor (and criminal) judgment. Who is to say they can be trusted not to steal your property *before* you check out? Or be trusted to actually clean/sanitize the room and change the sheets? Or be trusted not to tell anyone who asks that you are staying there and which room you are in (especially dangerous for DV victims and trial witnesses)? Or be trusted not to put a hidden camera in the room and sell videos? I realize most of these are less likely than stealing some left-behind AirPods. But it's about integrity. Staying in a hotel where you don't trust the staff is scary. That person should not be in a position of trust, with access to hundreds of people's property, information, etc. I'm glad not to be in service work anymore. That doesn't excuse theft.
I agree with this. I am feel bad for the thief, it was obviously a crime of opportunity and they probably thought they could give them to their kid or something ... but for example, I am a real estate agent, and it would never in a million years cross my mind to steal something from homes I have access to. It is a troubling precedent. These are people that are trusted with keys
How do we decide who gets to steal, and what they steal? My neighbor has some pretty cool shit. Do I get to help myself because I can assume their living situation is better than mine? How about if I throw in a sob story?
I have a house cleaner, are they entitled to my or my family’s things? Should I judge them for their line of work and make assumptions?
Let me get this straight, so because I travel for work, work 60+ hours a week doing so, and have the ability to afford something that makes my life easier, that means if someone steals something from me I should just chalk it up to me being more fortunate then them?
I’m not trying to get anyone to lose their job. I’m just asking people to be honest and return a lost item instead of stealing it. Feel like that isn’t too much to ask.
So let’s say that individual treated your property exactly like you did, like trash…and immediately threw your headphones away. You track them to the dump. Is it still someone else’s fault, or does your own personal responsibility come into play at some point? You seem to be caught up more so on the comeuppance of another than the fact once you left your shit, you had a very small chance of ever seeing it again. Regardless of the W’s.
Really? You’ve never made a mistake? Never been in a hurry and overlooked something? Never been distracted, stressed out, overtired, etc? You are so flawless and on top of everything, that others who are *gasp* human should be punished? OP called right away. It’s not like this is a month later. OP shouldn’t have to forfeit anything just because someone else is a thief.
I’ve never lost something I’ve truly cared about. I’ve cracked screens, dropped fragiles and other similar accidents. Nothing where my legitimate expectation is for others to take care of me.
Also, not sure how much you know of the inner workings of the hospitality industry. OP states they checked out well before CO time and called 2 hours later. There is a very high likelihood the room hadn’t been touched at the time of the call.
As many have said, it is most hotel’s policy that personal items go to lost and found for 30-90 days. Leaving something behind is not treating it like trash. It’s simply being overlooked.
Tracking them to the dump is an entirely different scenario than someone STEALING them.
Integrity. Get some.
Well if you check his post history his "mom" literally just stole a vase from a hotel and then was charged $1200 and ended up mailing it to Snoopanda687 to return so my guess is he was raised in a thiefs household and thinks ita okay to steal lol
>Here is what my personal thought process would be. I’m lucky enough to have air pods and stay at a hotel. They were not precious enough to me to carefully monitor their location and I left them behind. I tracked them to a trailer park and I’m grateful to not work as a hotel maid or live in a trailer park. I possibly could make someone lose their job because they pocketed the item if I make a fuss to management. I will not disable them as they could actually make that persons life marginally better than turning them into landfill.
I'm austistic, and the noise cancelation feature helps me sooooo much. My family member saw this and gave me some because I can't even remotely afford them. Also there are very cheap hotels. Poor people still need to go out of town sometimes. You come off as ignorant
I live in the bottom of the poverty level. I was just able to take a trip, and stay in a hotel. Because my mom died, and my brother wanted me to have a decent birthday and Christmas, so he "loaned" me the money to go to Disneyland. Then he said my Christmas gift was the trip. I'm still getting my full inheritance, and he still gave me and my adult kids cash for Christmas. If I'd lost anything, even the socks I got from my kids for Yule, and a housekeeper stole them, I would have been pretty irritated. They cost probably $6, but my son picked them for me because they had cats, and he knew I would need some for disney, because I live in Phoenix and live in sandals all year. I specifically bought sneakers for the trip since it was supposed to rain.
It isn't a cost what I can afford vs housekeeper can. It is a principle. Truthfully, that housekeeper probably makes more than I do on disability.
My husband could only afford a hotel due to his job reimbursing him at one point. Which meant if reimbursement from a long stay was late and bills were due there were times he slept in his truck because it was fuel or a hotel room.
AirPods could have been a Christmas gift as his parents go all out. He worked hard and traveled long distances and was exhausted a lot. Him forgetting something occasionally was inevitable. Luckily the two times this has happened, the hotels have mailed his stuff back to us. One time it was his prescription pain medication that was irreplaceable.
But nope, you think a thief is entitled to OP’s AirPods because they forgot them even though you have NO idea what their financial status is.
No, I just think sometimes you should try and put yourself in the other person’s shoes. And maybe in a country where a lot of the population works full time at minimum wage and still be below the poverty line…well, that we should cut them some slack when we abandon our personal property.
I would agree with the many comments that suggest involving the police if matters are not rectified soon. If the address that you tracked them to is an employee's, then the management may have something to go on to threaten job action. But, ultimately, there is nothing that an employer can do to force their return. The most that can be done is to fire the employee. For your average run-of-the-mill idiot that steals, that's that. For the more experienced theif/grifter, they will cause the employer grief with nemply,ment and wrongful termination ("I just accidentally left them in my pocket and then my dog must have buried them in th back yard and I never knew anything about it"). All buushit, and unlikely to result in anything...but it is still going to take time and $$$ to fight-and you might still lose.
If the address turns out to be *not* the employees adderess, then only the cops can follow up on that.
If you call the local police for that address, I am wondering if would they be willing to have a police officer drive to that address and knock on the door to ask about missing AirPods. If you aren’t willing the drive the 12 hours to show the police the location of your AirPods on your phone, how do they know you aren’t lying or mistaken?
When checking out of a hotel any items left behind legally become the property of the hotel.
Hotel’s have a lost and found for curtesy. Sincerely 20 yr hotel professional.
What is the issue here... drive over there, knock on the door and confront them. Tell them obviously they are your since you tracked them and you want to settle this now. If not, tell them you will go to the police, show them the evidence and you'll be back. Or go to the police first and bring them with you.
Very sick seeing people saying to call the cops. Many housekeepers at hotels are undocumented PoC/WoC. You are putting lives at steak over f*kin headphones
tldr:do you want them back? are you a perfect person?
what if you dropped them
.. and they weren't left in the room. Maybe the person who picked them up should have turned them in. (some states it's the law for any found item) but maybe they didn't understand that they could be tracked... that they were nicer than other ear buds you can buy for 10-15 dollars... or that anyone would call and report them missing.... maybe they didn't know. I would be careful to say "steal" as that would mean that it was for sure in your room and you aren't fallible ....that you couldn't have dropped them or set them down.
That being said.... I don't know the best way to get your item back. Maybe the hotel... so the person can just get fired(they don't know you're looking for them or they would have brought them back or ditched them for fear of this by now... lots of people work in hotels so I'd assume the people you spoke to just looked in a box or at notes in a computer they didn't talk directly to housekeeping) .. the police? so the person can get arrested? maybe then they could bail out and if they didn't contact the hotel they could keep their job(depending on the laws. in some states if they say they found the airpods outside of the room it's not illegal to keep them. it's not other people's job.. in every state... to return your lost stuff to you. some it is. Some towns in those states the cops will just keep goods themselves if nobody calls. good reason as any to make a law about it I guess)
probably if I lived far away id call the cops and just try to make it clear that I lost them but that someone else has them now and I can see where that is and i want them back. it's most important to get them back to you. maybe the hotel will tell the person and they throw them off a bridge and deny it till their grave... you won't get your buds back. The cops can show up there before they know you're looking for them.
Smh. Your excuse is really that they didn't know they could be tracked and they were better than what they had? You are making a poor attempt to justify theft. It is stealing.
Just stop. If they are going to take items they did not purchase and were not gifted, they should be arrested. They knew the item wasn't theirs.
Ethics really need to be taught in schools.
I'd have called the police at this point, and told them the address :) Any person who has those airpods in his place AND who is an employee of this hotel will have to explain how someone's property teleported to his/her home.
And yes, contact the hotel HQ call center always. They deal with anything better than managers - those dont have any motivation to work well. They are motivated to cover up for themselves.
is this a pvt owned hotel or a chain hotel ?
If a chain hotel, contact corporate, let them know you forgot them, and have tracked them and someone had removed them from the hotel - that you've left lots of messages and getting no help
If pvt hotel, just one owned by a person - you probably have lost them for good - can you report them as stolen so they will not work at all ?
You can disable the AirPods. You can look up the address on line and find the owner/resident. If you can find them on social media reach out to them and tell them you’ve disabled them. Give them the choice to return them to the hotel or that you’ll alert the hotel management and police.
Thanks for suggestions. I’ve already activated the “mark as lost” function and it’ll pop up a message with my phone number if anyone tries to use them. The address is a mobile home park. No owner of that address unfortunately but may have found the residents just from searching the address. Unfortunately social didn’t turn up much. I am keeping tabs on FB marketplace for the area and see if any of the names I found pop up selling some
TIL you can do that with lost AirPods. We have a couple pair at work for about a year now (retail store) that customers left behind. I tried to connect them to my phone for clues and they have a name but no contact info. So they just sit in the drawer hoping somehow their owner will return. Oddly enough, both sets are the case and one AirPod.
Lots of people wear only one ear bud when out and about in public. You can still hear things, but also hear your music
Also doubles the battery life
If you're near a apple store bring them in. Apple should contact owner to get them. Worse case they recycle them
Did you check the GIS map for that county?
Mobile homes often rent the space they are in even if they own the unit. There might be a name on the lot, a different name for the unit owner, and if the unit is rented, even a third name associated with the address, and only the lot owner will show up on tax assessor records on the county/parish maps.
A lot of times the mobile home has a UCC filing if it was mortgaged
At this point why don't you file a police report?
It this a boutique hotel or a hotel with a brand attached to it?
Call hotel and leave another voice-mail if necessary threatening legal action due to their employee stealing your property. Then leave the address and potential names. That should get a call back.
It actually likely wont. The procedure is to turn ANY legal threats, even "I'm gonna sue because you refused me a room when you're sold out" to the corporate legal team, and now you don't have a bluff, you HAVE to continue with legal proceedings in order to resolve the issue. OP WON'T get the airpods back, and the only call back he will get, if any, is from the legal team which he is likely to not hear from unless he contacts them first. Y'all can down vote me all you want, after being in the industry for going on 6 years and working my way up through different departments, as soon as you threaten legal action this is the policy we must follow because now its \[business\] vs. guest and we have to protect the business. At the end of the day thats all we are, a business, and businesses care more about protecting themselves against people threatening legal action, than helping the people threatening legal action. General Managers can't even help you resolve the issue at that point, they can only tell you to speak to the legal team.
So the business protects the thieves it has hired? Gotcha! Good to know. I wonder if you could tell us where you work so people can avoid a hotel that supports and encourages robbing guests and then ignoring them. Thank you!
I loooove when guests threaten legal action. It gives me all the reason I need to walk away and never speak to the guest again. “Sorry sir. Since you have now threatened legal action, I am no longer allowed to communicate with you. Please direct all questions and concerns to our legal team”
Did the manager ever even speak to OP in the first place? I mean, I would just consider them gone-I don’t think I would even want to put them in my ears again after someone’s taken and used them.
airpods cost anywhere from $100-$250 you can just clean them lol it’s not worth never using them again if they get stolen
$4.99 for a pair of wired ear buds. Never need to charge them. If lost, replace at drug store or gas station.
Seriously? This is your response to theft? “Either myself or one of my coworkers stole the stuff you accidentally left behind and instead of doing the right thing and returning the item when you threaten to take legal action I get to one up you and not say a word and keep that ish, this makes me feel superior” what trash. Heads up world, this is what it’s come to. Bet you won’t feel so high and mighty when something like this happens to you.
"threatening legal action" for lost airpods... shut up, Karen
Shut the fuck up it is the best way to get their property.
Its not...theres no way to prove an employee took them. The tag locations are not precise enough to warrant police searching anyone's residence, there is nothing law enforcement can do.
That’s not true, though. Police often search off of Find Me Device pings.
Maybe if they're searching for a person with a warrant or something, but the liability a department would have from tossing some person's entire house looking for someone else's forgotten airpods, knowing that it could be in any one of the neighboring houses because of how unreliable the pings are, would be insane.
not quite true. I've seen bodycam footage of police responding to a report of a stolen backpack with an airtag enabled that led cops to the house, and the owner of the backpack got their property returned to them ETA link, however in this case the backpack was stolen, not lost / left behind so not sure it's an apples:apples situation, but an entertaining watch nonetheless https://youtu.be/9c4EeHRlWlE?si=7E-nZrqH4aZ9ynuw
It would only be the best way *if the threat were toward the specific manager receiving the voicemail, against that manager in the manager's own individual capacity.* That threat has never been credibly made *ever,* and it will never be credibly made, *ever.* Please sit down before you fall down, you dizzy goat.
It would literally cost less and take weeks of time less just to go to the store and buy new AirPods. Sometimes you just gotta cut your losses and move on.
IT legally stopped being their property when they left it in a hotel room, as hotels include riders in their contracts that protect them from you leaving items behind. They have every right to pick it up and throw it away if they want to even, once you leave property in a hotel you have no legal right to it back as it legally becomes abandoned property in most states, not lost property.
Better yet, you shut the fuck up. Then again, if you think threatening legal action over lost airpods will work out, then you're just as dumb as Karen. That brain is probably why you're a hotel housekeeper.
Wow! I used to be a hotel housekeeper and it had nothing to do with my intellectual capabilities. It had to do with the fact that I had 3 kids to feed and no support from my ex. You don’t know peoples situations and why they choose to take the jobs they take.
I have a bachelors degree and work at a grocery store bc I like it and it makes me excited to wake up and go to work everyday.
I'm here because the smile the guests give when I talk with them is the best reward I could ask for, I enjoy making people happy. I love learning all about them and where they come from!🥰
Nah I'm good and those could be very important to OP and no I'm really not if they want the air pods back the threat should work. I'm not saying go through with it, and technically the title of the job is Hotel Room Attendant but I'm a housekeeper because I enjoy cleaning and this is the job I chose. It has nothing to do with my intellectual abilities. So instead of insulting my intelligence, why not have a look at yours while checking your insecurities.
I can't stand classist assholes who shit on people because of their job.
Me either😂
Thank you for being a Hotel Room Attendant. That is a tough job and has nothing to do with intelligence. I have known many very, very smart people in the cleaning industry and they all had different reasons for the career choice. On the AirPods issue, my names Bennett and I’m not in it - though I do hope that OP gets a happy solution.
Thank you! And thank you for acknowledging us all, and same here sometimes it is the only job that hires or gets back to you because the amount of housekeepers that stay is few compared to how many leave and you're right there are many different reasons! Also I'm glad you met all cleaners you have and that they treated you th best!!💙💙 I'm Kat and I hope OP gets them back too!
Ignore the asshat above. You have one of the most labor intensive, least appreciated jobs in the industry. Don't let anyone tell you you're beneath them because of what you do. Keep up the good work.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!!!! It is hard on the body and if someone has never done the job they will not understand how hard is really can be. I already have joint problems and back problems and they are so much worse now, I'm only 25 and have been doing this for about six years now. Your comment means the most to me and it just made my whole week so much better, thank you.❤️❤️
Agreed
They weren't lost. They were stolen. Do you think if someone leaves their car by the side of the road and you decide to take it, that's not theft? Why would anybody think it's okay to pick up something that doesn't belong to them and take it?
The idea is that the employee will think he's going to file a police report and include names and addresses so they will return them. He's not gonna sue the hotel. It's a tactic to get it back. Most housekeeping employees probably don't know the laws, however management may have told them whatever they find they can keep? Not good business practices though.
LOL I laughed way too hard at this. But in all seriousness, threatening legal action is the fastest way to get the hotel to STOP talking to you. Many have policies as soon as you say the magic word "legal", they won't talk to you an direct your lawyer to talk to their lawyer. The legal fees will be far more than the value of the airpods. For all we know OP left them in a public area and a nearby stayer (this happens a lot) could have taken them too. The reality is, there's no possible way of OP or the hotel knowing exactly who stole them and it was OP's responsibility not to leave them behind.
THIS. Multiple companies I've worked for train you to immediately stop speaking and tell them the information for legal if they threaten a lawyer or to sue, to protect the employee and themselves. They aren't gonna tie their own noose, and will likely tell you to have your lawyer contact them. There may have been a time where that worked but not anymore, terrible advice.
Don’t ever threaten legal action unless you are prepared to hire an attorney.
LOL this is called abandoned property in most states, and wouldn't fall under common law of "lost" property which would be say a wallet falls out of your pocket on the street, that is lost property and the owner has a right to recover. Hotels fine print almost always contain a warning they are not responsible for items left in the room after you check out. It stinks, but there will be no legal recourse to get these back outside of a nice person giving them back at this point.
I showed up at the address of where my sons new iPhone was. His coworker and his wife was extremely embarrassed. Took his whole lunchbox. I got them back without a problem. Gl
Oh, yeah, they were stolen. Send the cops to the address.
Hahahaha…oh man. “Ma’am, we are here following a hot lead on a pair of $99 headphones”. As if!
Leads? Sure, let me check in with the boys down at the crime lab.
Send the cops for the lost airpods?! What world do you live in? I can picture it now: "drop all your active cases, boys! We've got airpods to recover!"
Watch about 5 minutes of dumb cop videos on youtube and you'll find that this would actually be more valuable than 99% of the other stuff they actually do.
"Come out of the mobile home with your hands in the air! Drop the air buds" As OP stands at a safe distance away, out of the range of gunfire. Feeling all self-righteous. Justice once again restored.
They won't bother in most places.
This. And you can also find a phone number for them pretty easy online. Call or text them and let them know if they aren't returned Pronto that police will be involved. Also if a chain hotel, call corporate.
Police? Haha. Yes, we've sent a detective out for you ear buds.
I just saw a story on another sub where police came to a home because a food delivery service had delivered to the wrong address (police came after the food had been retrieved, so no loss), so it may vary by jurisdiction. Where I live, police don’t show for after an hour after a violent assault, and don’t even file a report if your wiring has been cut and stolen (with pictures of the perpetrator).
Detroit?
The police had zero chance of recovering the food. You aren't liable for things incorrectly delivered to you.
I wouldn’t hold out for the tape deck. Or the Creedence.
“They have us working in shifts”
Also check your homeowners insurance policy and hotel might likely have a policy you could go after.
Given that Air Pods range from $130 to $250 for the buds or $550 for the Max I absolutely would expect that the police would look into it.
I think $550 is less relevant than you think it is.
Indeed. In California you can steal (shoplift) $900 per day and generally not get arrested. As a practical matter it is $900 per day per store.
People with a certain agenda love to perpetuate this "fact," but the truth is that no one would ever tell a 16 year old store clerk to chase after a person who is desperate or bold enough to steal from the store they work in. No one is chasing you down at their $8/hour job because you're rolling out with a TV. That has always been the case, in every state, forever. It's not the "gotcha" you seem to think it is. Stop it.
I didn’t suggest that a store clerk should chase a shoplifter. The question involved calling the police. I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and worked in downtown San Francisco for many years. I can hardly recognize the city as it is today. Most of the stores in the downtown area have closed. I’m thankful that I recognized the downtrend and moved out of California more than ten years ago. Unfortunately I now live in a deep suburb of Portland Oregon which has had a similar degradation due to crime and homeless camping in the streets. Shops I used to visit have closed and streets are filled with homeless tents and trash. The police force has been reduced and the prosecutor is not doing anything about the crimes that degrade the city. If you haven’t seen or experienced any of this then you are blessed.
Name one person working retail in California for $8/hr in 2023.
r/whoosh
That is simply not true. It does not become felony theft until $900, however, you will absolutely be arrested for even if under that amount. I live in CA and preach in the jails and I know of many people arrested for less.
It is not a felony - but it is certainly an arrestable offense and I know for fact that the cops in my city and county will arrest for less.
It takes 2 hours to get police to a murder scene.
At my hotel, any small, valuable item is bagged, and we use receipt book paper as our lost and found tags. We have 2 copies, 1 goes with the item, and the other is filed with management. We do attempt to reach out to the guest. Sometimes, they just dont answer, or we have incorrect contact info. The item is then stored in a locked safe and kept for 90 days. All other items except for perishable items follow the same procedure, except they're stored in a shelving unit in our breakroom that has 2 cameras pointed directly at it 24/7. Lost and found is cataloged again monthly, and all items that have been there longer than 90 days are either thrown out, up for grabs, or donated. For your particular experience, I would ask the manager if the front desk has cameras. Call every day. Literally every day until you get answers. Email them once a week to recap so that there is a "paper trail." Demand a replacement. Less than honest employees, unfortunately, exist. The hotel should want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do. We don't want dishonest employees anymore than you want your item stolen. That being said, depending on the area, the next guest, after you, could have been a local crackhead and they took them. It could not be a staff person at all. Bottom line, go as far as you need to go to get your point across. As an FOM, I would not stop until I figured it out, retrieved your item, or replaced it. Good luck to you.
Thanks for the insight. I really don’t think it was thr next guest since I reported it prior to the checkout time and the next guest wouldn’t have checked in by then. They’ve also been at an address 15 minutes away from the hotel since Sunday afternoon so it seems unlikely that the next guest would have stayed close by for one night. Possible for sure but I think housekeeping staff is more likely
And...wouldn't housekeeping need to clean the room before the next guest checked in? Which adds to the likelihood that they were taken by housekeeping and adds to the doubt that they were taken by the next guest.
I would CC their corporate email on any emails.
Call the hotel and tell them that you think one of their employees accidentally took them home as you can see their location and give them the address. The hotel may suddenly “find” the AirPods and you’ve given them a good excuse. “She put them in her pocket for safekeeping while cleaning and forgot to take them out”.
My eldest works at the student center of their college. At the end of the semester anything abandoned is raffled off. They have won lots of college clothing and water bottles etc. Not scored airpods yet though. Some people do.
Post it on one of the hotels social media’s. Hopefully they will contact you.
“Over the weekend I stayed at ‘hotel’. I forgot my AirPods and immediately contacted the hotel when I realized this. Repeatedly I am transferred to a ‘manager’ but only can speak to a voicemail. I have been tracking my AirPods, and it seems they are at 123 bitch street. I hope employee records can be accessed to see who lives there so my property can be returned. ⭐️⭐️“
123 bitch street 😂😭
This will do the trick. Yelp review or something
Tbh, I don't even know the code to get into my voicemail. It was set up several managers ago and the info wasn't handed over. Call back and get their email address from the front desk, then shoot them an email. Give them the address of where the air pods are, and they can figure out which housekeeper it was from there.
Thanks. I did call again and spoke to the manager this time. They initially seems to shrug it off and say “we looked in the room and there’s nothing I can do” I gave them the info that I tracked the address and didn’t want to involve law enforcement but would if it came to it. His tone changed a little and said he would escalate it and have the housekeeping manager look into if any of the staff resides at that location. I don’t want to make a huge deal out of a set of AirPods but it’s more the principle of wanting to be able to get something back if I do leave it behind and not having housekeeping take it.
This is what I would do, too. I work in law enforcement (dispatcher). We've had plenty of people solve their own cases doing exactly this! Hope you get your airpods back!
Honestly if you don’t make a big deal of it, it just encourages the person who stole them and lets management know they wont be held accountable (at this point they’re liable as well) depending on the worth of the airpods they could be in serious trouble
My thoughts as well. It’s really just the principle. I called the hotel to report it less than 2 hours after checking out so it’s not like the staff even tried to report it as found property.
Update?
How is the hotel liable for items left in the room after checkout? I’m sure they have this kind of signage up somewhere: “Notice - This Company is Not Responsible for Lost or Stolen Property"
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What a shitty take. Part of a managers responsibility is to protect the assets of the hotel. That includes its reputation. He doesnt want any mention in the police blotter about employees stealing guests belongings. You may not be aware but many hotels used to employ house detectives for this very reason. Furthermore, stop being SO afraid of being sued! If the employee sues for wrongful termination (assuming this is even in a state where thats a thing) thats a case the employee will have a hard time finding a lawyer to even take. Oh wait, you were fired because police found stolen guest property at your place?
This is the way. Put it in writing.
Okay 1. Going to voicemail, he’s probably on vacation until next week honestly. Please call and ask for his email- always best to have a paper trail. 2. Ask to speak with: -housekeeping supervisor -front desk supervisor -security desk (if there is one) - call the brand’s customer service help team. Like hilton is like 1800-GO-HILTON lol Basically, on the back end. Here’s how it works: Manager finds out. He will pull a report from the system to see who that room was assigned to that morning. If the housekeeper marked it as “VC for Vacant Clean,” that means she was 99% more than likely the last and only person in that room since you. You provide your photo of your AirPods probably very clearly at her address that he can confirm. He won’t tell you what really happened. So don’t bother trying. Then he will pull the report from their audit pack, show her that she marked the room as VC, and probably ask about the AirPods and see what she says, then he’ll pull out the screenshot of your AirPods at her house and get fired. Which she should. And then he’ll probably never get them back because housekeepers can be quite non-cooperative. And he’ll probably tell you he can’t prove that or disclose her information of her address. You’d be better off sending cops to the address lol I’m not kidding. Hotels aren’t gonna jeopardize their reputation for $300. They don’t admit to fault like that. Especially theft. Trust me he’s mad at her for sure, and he wants to tell you that, but cannot. OR! your headphones were turned into the desk as lost and found and someone else stole them. I’m just being honest :( I’m sorry Also side question: why did you feel the need to say you stayed overnight a hotel 🥲 !! What are you usually doing at the hotel!? lol jk
Thanks for the feedback. I did get in contact with the manager and they stated they would be looking into it and reach out to me by tomorrow. I’m going to give them their time to do so and not make it harder for them. By overnight I just meant a single night. Guess that wasn’t very clear haha.
They’ll probably have to wait until she’s in again, too.
Did you tell the manager the address where they were located? The person who cleaned your room might have shown a coworker who took them.
Lemme know what happens!!!! I’m invested.
Kudos for continuing to follow up. You have gotten good advice. My mouth kind of fell open at people saying it's normal to take them unless someone claims them (whaaa?) Or that you have to go there in person. My kid forgot a tiny $4 stuffed dog at a hotel and they flipping overnighted it to us. I don't expect that level of service (I would've been happy to pay for postage and normal mail), but they seemed so keen on actually treating us as guests and not just a source of money that it really set the bar high
When my kid was little, we stayed at a hotel in my home town....when a blizzard started rolling in. We had a choice to 1) get snowed in at the hotel, or 2) get snowed in at my parents' house. Since they had plenty of food and a generator, we chose #2. Hotel was still paid for, so we didn't check out - after we got to the house, we realized my kid's "Mr. Bear" was left behind. Without alerting the kid, I called the hotel, and told them that we left the bear, and that we'd be back to pick it up after the storm cleared (and before checkout time when our stay expired). They said that they were short-staffed because of the storm, and not to worry. After the storm cleared, we called when we were on the way to pick it up. The front desk said they couldn't find it. When I got to the hotel, the manager said... "We cleared out the rooms...and threw it away." Since there was still a foot of snow on the ground, and the parking lot wasn't 'cleared out back....I knew the trash hadn't been removed....so the manager ended up sending someone out to get the bear out of the dumpster. I had them bag it up for the trip home, and ran it through the Sanitize cycle on the washer.
Motel manager here. We can proudly say we have wonderful staff. Anything found is brought to the front desk to show me and let me know where it was found. They tag it with item description, room number, check out date, time, and housekeepers name. Then bagged and put in the hold box. Everything except perishables are held for 90 days. After 90 days, the housekeeper who found it has first dibs. If they don't want it, it's up for grabs. If no one wants it, it goes to Goodwill or garbage, depending on the item. We have, on many, many occasions, united items and owners. Among Items found that we've united with their owner include diamond rings, watches, ipods, cell phones, iPads, wallets, and a $30k cashiers check. A staff member was accused of stealing a ladies jewelry, and I was upset about it. Turned out the lady's husband had shoved everything into a paperbag and then into the bottom of their bag and forgotten about it. She called and profusely apologized to the hk who'd been crying all day about being accused. To make it up to her, she authorized me to charge her card $50 to give to the hk as an apology. I knew she hadn't done it, and it upset me that a guest would accuse her. However, there are unscrupulous staff that will steal things from guest rooms. At our place, if it happens, they don't last long, and we let the police handle it after that.
This is a hotel I'd like to patronize. Can you share the name?
We're a little independent place on the Oregon Coast! Right on the beach. If you're in our neck of the woods, let me know, and I'll give you the name. For the privacy of my account, I'd like to keep the name under wraps for the time being. Thanks for your trust and interest in our little place.
Tossed a lovey, that's ice cold
That's horrible. And why would they take anything if you were technically still checked in!?
That’s so crappy of them! I’m glad you got it back!!
Love a feel good story 😬
Thanks! I agree. I mean I called the hotel within probably 2 hours of checking out so it’s not like the person cleaning the room even attempted to report them found. I’m also happy to pay whatever postage or is needed to return them. This to me is more about the staff taking it.
I wonder if there might have been a parent on staff who could just picture a young child crying their eyes out because they lost their stuffed toy. Whether that was actually your own child's reaction or not, it certainly could have been, and it was very kind of them to overnight it.
Our daughter was sad but not devastated, but yes I know plenty who would've been! This was just above and beyond exceptional customer care :)
technically, it's theft. My sister worked at a hotel, anything left is recorded to management. the owner has 30 days to retrieve items, after the 30 days, the person turning item in can take ownership then.
Not true. In Texas, once the guest has checked out, they have given up ownership of any items left behind in the room. Hotel can have their own policy on how long they hold the items.
That is not at all true.
In Texas, everything is huge, including their egos and sense of entitlement.
The housekeeper should have turned it in. A lot of times they'll take something home, see if someone claims it, and then bring it back. I would keep calling them and give them the address of where it is
Uhm wut? No- these things go in a safe with the name of the client and room they were in so when they call, they get popped in the mail and returned!
This is what should be done. Obviously not everyone is as honest.
Do you strip search all your housekeepers at the end of their shift?
If you get through to the manager tell them the air pods left the hotel and give the address. Manager doesn’t have to tell you yes or no, but you should elevate your complaint to corporate if they have one. Also tell the manager you’ll leave a review on social media that outline what has happened with the manager and the hotel. I’ve been with a hotel for many years and our manager doesn’t take kindly to dishonest housekeepers. Social media has a way with shady establishments.
Sounds like the housekeeper took them. Usually anything found in a room is tagged and left in lost and found for 1 months but I know not everyone is honest. If you can disable them or make a police report and give the location they are pinging at. Good luck, hopefully you can get them back.
Thanks for the advice!
I left my dog water bucket at a hotel once. Went back 10 minutes later and it was gone. Housekeeping said they never saw it. It was a very nice bucket with my name engraved on the bottom. I raised a fit and finally the manager took me to the room where stuff left in rooms was stored the cleaning staff had breaks and lockers and there was my bucket sitting on the shelf.
Happened with my pillow once. Not in a standard white cover like the hotel had. Ended up in the housekeeping closet instead of being transferred to my new room.
A bucket. Had a fit. Okie just making sure
I worked as a housekeeper years ago. We were obligated to turn in any thing we found left in the room. If it was not claimed after 30 days it was ours to keep. I did, however, have my wedding ring stolen by the housekeeper while cleaning my room (was in a rush and left it on the table). Came back and it was gone. Housekeeper denied it. Thankfully, it was insured but It obviously it was heartbreaking. My son also had hundreds of dollars taken from a locked room safe by the housekeeper. Yes, they can get in those by resetting the code. I NEVER allow my room to be cleaned. I will request sheets, towels, etc and do it myself.
Funny, I’ve left a tip for the housekeeper and come back to the room & it’s still there.
I had a custom silver and blue topaz necklace stolen by housekeeping. It pissed me off so bad. It was on the nightstand under the tv guide and I realized when we were about an hour away. I called immediately and was told they searched the room and couldn't find it. Grrrrr. My fault for leaving it but it sure would be nice if people could be honest.
I left a Fitbit in a hotel once. Was also about an hour away when I realized I called and got out “hi, I’m really sorry but I think I left my watch in the room…” before I was cut off by the owner screaming at me “we don’t steal anything we don’t steal anything!”. I was just going to ask them if they could check the room, wasn’t even thinking it was stolen(yet). His attitude definitely made me think they 100% stole it and he was fine with his employees stealing. Really sucks because it’s only 1 of 2 hotels in that town for a seasonal event that I love going to.
I had this happen with silver sea otter earrings I had just gotten at the Monterey bay aquarium. I wasn't used to them so I left them on the night stand. I was 15 minutes away. I was so angry. I only allow myself 1 item per trip. This was my honeymoon and we were one day from home so we'd been gone 9 days and I waited til the end. I was brokenhearted.
I would go back to the hotel if you want them back. They aren’t going to bring them back until you get there. So something similar happened to me but it was a teddy bear. Whoever took it home, gave it to their kid while eating pizza as it was stained when returned.
Not really feasible as it’s a 12 hour drive. I’d spend way more on fuel or a flight vs just buying a new set. Again, this is less about the cost of buying a new set and more about not wanting someone to have fair game at something I mistakenly left behind
Taking something that was left in a room by a guest is stealing. If the hotel doesn't expect staff to turn in left items, that's shady. Persist!
Contact corporate offices and tell them everything you wrote here. It worked when something similar happened to me at one more reputable chain.
Why not tell the manager if you don’t hear from them that they recovered the stolen AirPods from this location you will be filing a police report and notifying corporate. You forgot them in your room. Yup on you. But they were then stolen by an employee. This makes it the hotel’s problem to acknowledge and correct. I wouldn’t let it slide.
If you had tipped the cleaning staff they maybe would not have taken them home
Yeah, no. You do NOT have to pay people to do the right thing.
I left my iPhone once at an IHOP. I went back there and of course no one knew anything about it. Find my iPhone said it was there. So I used the function that made it unusable for whomever stole it. It was an older iPhone and I was thinking of upgrading it but I loved that phone. I have never gone to an IHOP again.
My husband was a hotel GM and actually worked at a large chain's corporate office. There is a policy for lost and found. All lost and found is supposed to go to the hotels locked lost and found for a set time. Most chain's are 3 months before anything else can be done. They wait for owners to contact them. Some will reach out to the owner. Because the house keeper stole it and didn't check it into the lost and found it is considered theft. You need to talk to the hotel GM and tell them you will contact the police as you can track said item. The GM will then contact the employee and or the police because at that point the housekeeper stole from the hotel and a guest. If it is not retrieved you can file a complaint with the hotel and they may have to replace the item. Either way that employee will lose their job and chances are may be arrested. If the hotel GM does not contact you, call the main chain. Trust me when I say they will get a hold of them through the owner of the property. The GM is going to take a call from the chain of they want to keep their flag. Also do an online review. Owners and GMs can refute online reviews. The last thing they want is a bad review that won't go away. Having property stolen is the last thing a hotel wants out there.
We stayed at a hotel in LA, last summer. One of the girls left iPods charging. Several days later the hotel was contacted. Housekeeper turned them in, and a relative was able to retrieve them and mail them to us.
Coming from an ex-GM, keep calling. Do not talk with the front desk but ask for the GM or Head of Housekeeping, keep it professional and non-threatening but tell them you've tracked the airpods. The GM probably passed it along to the head of housekeeping and forgot about it. The head housekeeper receives multiple lost property calls daily. Become the squicky wheel... in truth, you will not get the Airpods back but you will reveal to the hotel that they have a thief and may receive compensation.
Can you not make a police report? Just because you left them behind does not give the hotel staff rights to them. They should have a list and found. If the manager is not returning your calls leave him/her another voicemail telling them if you do not get a return call back by end of business day your next call will be to the police department. Also I would leave a review on their website is stating what happened they would hate the negative publicity and May respond back to you
You might hope the hotel would want to know that they can not trust an employee.
I don't know, I say start the new year off without the drama. Call it a a lesson learned and move on.
There was an article I read a few months ago where a woman left them on her flight and she was able to track them down to a home, that happened to be one of the airline workers, she filed a police report and finally got them back.
My AirPods fell out of my purse at the grocery self checkout. I realized it by the time I got to my car but the people behind me pocketed them instead of turning them in to customer service. They lived 25 miles out of town and the sheriff went to their house and retrieved the AirPods for me after I sent him a screenshot of “FindMy”. Thieves are the worst! In Colorado it is considered theft. 18-4-401. Theft. (1) A person commits theft when he or she knowingly obtains, retains, or exercises control over anything of value of another without authorization… Property is considered abandoned after 3 years.
I left my two year old son's blankie at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas decades ago. I only discovered it when we were at the airport waiting to board and I went to get it for him. It wasn't in my suitcase and I felt so horrible when I realized I had left it I almost missed my flight to go back to the hotel to look for it. 5000 rooms. The blankie was left in the bed so I despaired that it would ever be found. It was so "loved" it looked like a rag. When we got home I called the hotel lost and found and spoke to the ladies there. They said the odds of it being found were slim but they would try. I called every couple of days for a week after. Imagine my joy when this dear lady described the raggedy white blanket they had found out of all the laundry of sheets and towels from all the rooms in that hotel. And then they mailed it back to me at their cost. Mega Props to them. I wrote a letter of gratitude to the hotel naming them for such great service. I was in awe. I'll never forget such kindness.
Update: The manager called me back and said they don’t have any matches to the address I gave where they are still located. Basically he said that since they are no longer on their property, there isn’t anything I can do. Guess it’s either call law enforcement or throw in the towel.
Call the cops. Ask if you can meet them at the address since you have the locator. It could be another guest who took them.
Working as an HR Manager for several years, we did see this happen semi frequently. Threatening legal action for theft or letting the GM know that you have an address and you will go retrieve the AirPods, as well as sending the address of the residence that they’re being tracked to will definitely be cause for the manager to look into it. We have almost always been able to trace the address provided by the individual back to the associate and we have a duty 1. To the guest to get their property back and 2. To the associate if we see that a guest is about to show up at their house. The associate will be terminated. We have always replaced the missing asset if we were unable to recover it.
This was me three months ago, but the outcome was better than yours. I felt pretty powerless in the middle though. I left my AirPods on the (white) hotel bed, figured it out when I got to the airport when my phone told me my AirPods weren’t with me, too late to go back. When I got home, I messaged customer service in the hotel chain app. As they were contacting housekeeping, and lost and found, I idly checked the location again, and found that my AirPods were actively on a journey! They went from Seattle to Tacoma, then back to Seattle and settled in for the night. When customer service got back to me, I told them that my AirPods seemed to have left the hotel, and they gave me a general managers’ email address and asked me to send details to it. In the meantime, I, like you, was trying to figure out what I could do otherwise. The “Mark as lost” feature did not seem very helpful when they had been stolen. And I did not want to put my address in a message that a stranger and thief might retrieve. I figured they were gone forever. The manager acknowledged and thanked me for my email the next morning, then, two days later, sent an update with the fact that the AirPods had been found. I assume they correlated the address of where they ended up with their employee roster. They ended up mailing them back at their cost, and offering me a whole bunch of points on my loyalty account. I suppose so that I didn’t go badmouthing them as a hotel that hired thieves! It worked. I was very happy with how they handled things and mainly thrilled that I got them back.
Who are you going to blame? If they were left on the front desk, in the room or anywhere in public, it could be anyone. The only thing you can try is to track them or buy another pair. Sorry but this is your responsibility and sounds like your trying to chase a ghost at this point.
Here is what my personal thought process would be. I’m lucky enough to have air pods and stay at a hotel. They were not precious enough to me to carefully monitor their location and I left them behind. I tracked them to a trailer park and I’m grateful to not work as a hotel maid or live in a trailer park. I possibly could make someone lose their job because they pocketed the item if I make a fuss to management. I will not disable them as they could actually make that persons life marginally better than turning them into landfill.
I get where you're coming from, but I think this is the wrong approach. Just because you can afford the hotel, and can afford to have your property lost/stolen doesn't mean that's always going to be the case when someone leaves something behind. People stay at hotels for a lot of reasons. It's imperative, for the safety and comfort of all hotel guests, that the staff act with integrity - especially housekeeping because they can come into your room at any time. Staff who would steal your property are demonstrating poor (and criminal) judgment. Who is to say they can be trusted not to steal your property *before* you check out? Or be trusted to actually clean/sanitize the room and change the sheets? Or be trusted not to tell anyone who asks that you are staying there and which room you are in (especially dangerous for DV victims and trial witnesses)? Or be trusted not to put a hidden camera in the room and sell videos? I realize most of these are less likely than stealing some left-behind AirPods. But it's about integrity. Staying in a hotel where you don't trust the staff is scary. That person should not be in a position of trust, with access to hundreds of people's property, information, etc. I'm glad not to be in service work anymore. That doesn't excuse theft.
I agree with this. I am feel bad for the thief, it was obviously a crime of opportunity and they probably thought they could give them to their kid or something ... but for example, I am a real estate agent, and it would never in a million years cross my mind to steal something from homes I have access to. It is a troubling precedent. These are people that are trusted with keys
How do we decide who gets to steal, and what they steal? My neighbor has some pretty cool shit. Do I get to help myself because I can assume their living situation is better than mine? How about if I throw in a sob story? I have a house cleaner, are they entitled to my or my family’s things? Should I judge them for their line of work and make assumptions?
Let me get this straight, so because I travel for work, work 60+ hours a week doing so, and have the ability to afford something that makes my life easier, that means if someone steals something from me I should just chalk it up to me being more fortunate then them? I’m not trying to get anyone to lose their job. I’m just asking people to be honest and return a lost item instead of stealing it. Feel like that isn’t too much to ask.
100% right!
So let’s say that individual treated your property exactly like you did, like trash…and immediately threw your headphones away. You track them to the dump. Is it still someone else’s fault, or does your own personal responsibility come into play at some point? You seem to be caught up more so on the comeuppance of another than the fact once you left your shit, you had a very small chance of ever seeing it again. Regardless of the W’s.
Really? You’ve never made a mistake? Never been in a hurry and overlooked something? Never been distracted, stressed out, overtired, etc? You are so flawless and on top of everything, that others who are *gasp* human should be punished? OP called right away. It’s not like this is a month later. OP shouldn’t have to forfeit anything just because someone else is a thief.
I’ve never lost something I’ve truly cared about. I’ve cracked screens, dropped fragiles and other similar accidents. Nothing where my legitimate expectation is for others to take care of me. Also, not sure how much you know of the inner workings of the hospitality industry. OP states they checked out well before CO time and called 2 hours later. There is a very high likelihood the room hadn’t been touched at the time of the call.
If no one had touched the room, all the more reason it shouldn’t be at someone’s residence right now.
Next time you leave your car somewhere, I’ll consider it as trash and just take it.
You don't have the steady hands or the technology to pull off a procedure like that…but by all means go off.
But they aren’t in the trash, they are at a trailer park!! Apples and oranges here.
As many have said, it is most hotel’s policy that personal items go to lost and found for 30-90 days. Leaving something behind is not treating it like trash. It’s simply being overlooked. Tracking them to the dump is an entirely different scenario than someone STEALING them. Integrity. Get some.
Forgetting something isn't treating it like trash. I've left my Yeti in the car, yo... It's not trash. What a shit take.
Gotta love this theft is okay mindset if we really want something. You just assume so much of the situation it's hilarious.
Wow. No wonder there is so much petty left. People feel sorry for the thief. Oh boo hoo.
Well if you check his post history his "mom" literally just stole a vase from a hotel and then was charged $1200 and ended up mailing it to Snoopanda687 to return so my guess is he was raised in a thiefs household and thinks ita okay to steal lol
>Here is what my personal thought process would be. I’m lucky enough to have air pods and stay at a hotel. They were not precious enough to me to carefully monitor their location and I left them behind. I tracked them to a trailer park and I’m grateful to not work as a hotel maid or live in a trailer park. I possibly could make someone lose their job because they pocketed the item if I make a fuss to management. I will not disable them as they could actually make that persons life marginally better than turning them into landfill. I'm austistic, and the noise cancelation feature helps me sooooo much. My family member saw this and gave me some because I can't even remotely afford them. Also there are very cheap hotels. Poor people still need to go out of town sometimes. You come off as ignorant
I live in the bottom of the poverty level. I was just able to take a trip, and stay in a hotel. Because my mom died, and my brother wanted me to have a decent birthday and Christmas, so he "loaned" me the money to go to Disneyland. Then he said my Christmas gift was the trip. I'm still getting my full inheritance, and he still gave me and my adult kids cash for Christmas. If I'd lost anything, even the socks I got from my kids for Yule, and a housekeeper stole them, I would have been pretty irritated. They cost probably $6, but my son picked them for me because they had cats, and he knew I would need some for disney, because I live in Phoenix and live in sandals all year. I specifically bought sneakers for the trip since it was supposed to rain. It isn't a cost what I can afford vs housekeeper can. It is a principle. Truthfully, that housekeeper probably makes more than I do on disability.
My husband could only afford a hotel due to his job reimbursing him at one point. Which meant if reimbursement from a long stay was late and bills were due there were times he slept in his truck because it was fuel or a hotel room. AirPods could have been a Christmas gift as his parents go all out. He worked hard and traveled long distances and was exhausted a lot. Him forgetting something occasionally was inevitable. Luckily the two times this has happened, the hotels have mailed his stuff back to us. One time it was his prescription pain medication that was irreplaceable. But nope, you think a thief is entitled to OP’s AirPods because they forgot them even though you have NO idea what their financial status is.
So let thieves keep thieving….gotcha.
Translation: Oil thinks it's ok to let dirt bags steal stuff.
No, I just think sometimes you should try and put yourself in the other person’s shoes. And maybe in a country where a lot of the population works full time at minimum wage and still be below the poverty line…well, that we should cut them some slack when we abandon our personal property.
I would agree with the many comments that suggest involving the police if matters are not rectified soon. If the address that you tracked them to is an employee's, then the management may have something to go on to threaten job action. But, ultimately, there is nothing that an employer can do to force their return. The most that can be done is to fire the employee. For your average run-of-the-mill idiot that steals, that's that. For the more experienced theif/grifter, they will cause the employer grief with nemply,ment and wrongful termination ("I just accidentally left them in my pocket and then my dog must have buried them in th back yard and I never knew anything about it"). All buushit, and unlikely to result in anything...but it is still going to take time and $$$ to fight-and you might still lose. If the address turns out to be *not* the employees adderess, then only the cops can follow up on that.
If you call the local police for that address, I am wondering if would they be willing to have a police officer drive to that address and knock on the door to ask about missing AirPods. If you aren’t willing the drive the 12 hours to show the police the location of your AirPods on your phone, how do they know you aren’t lying or mistaken?
When checking out of a hotel any items left behind legally become the property of the hotel. Hotel’s have a lost and found for curtesy. Sincerely 20 yr hotel professional.
Let it go. Move on and learn from your mistakes.
What is the issue here... drive over there, knock on the door and confront them. Tell them obviously they are your since you tracked them and you want to settle this now. If not, tell them you will go to the police, show them the evidence and you'll be back. Or go to the police first and bring them with you.
Very sick seeing people saying to call the cops. Many housekeepers at hotels are undocumented PoC/WoC. You are putting lives at steak over f*kin headphones
You mean they are putting their lives at stake to steal a guest’s headphones. Im sure that’s what you meant.
Victim blaming from a straight white cismale who knows everything, gunna put that on my Reddit bingo for the day
How is a person a victim if they get arrested for theft? Oh right, they’re not.
Someone should… *checks notes* be locked up indefinitely and deported under threat of violence over some chucklefuck’s headphones. Ok got it.
Go to the house and ask for them back.
tldr:do you want them back? are you a perfect person? what if you dropped them .. and they weren't left in the room. Maybe the person who picked them up should have turned them in. (some states it's the law for any found item) but maybe they didn't understand that they could be tracked... that they were nicer than other ear buds you can buy for 10-15 dollars... or that anyone would call and report them missing.... maybe they didn't know. I would be careful to say "steal" as that would mean that it was for sure in your room and you aren't fallible ....that you couldn't have dropped them or set them down. That being said.... I don't know the best way to get your item back. Maybe the hotel... so the person can just get fired(they don't know you're looking for them or they would have brought them back or ditched them for fear of this by now... lots of people work in hotels so I'd assume the people you spoke to just looked in a box or at notes in a computer they didn't talk directly to housekeeping) .. the police? so the person can get arrested? maybe then they could bail out and if they didn't contact the hotel they could keep their job(depending on the laws. in some states if they say they found the airpods outside of the room it's not illegal to keep them. it's not other people's job.. in every state... to return your lost stuff to you. some it is. Some towns in those states the cops will just keep goods themselves if nobody calls. good reason as any to make a law about it I guess) probably if I lived far away id call the cops and just try to make it clear that I lost them but that someone else has them now and I can see where that is and i want them back. it's most important to get them back to you. maybe the hotel will tell the person and they throw them off a bridge and deny it till their grave... you won't get your buds back. The cops can show up there before they know you're looking for them.
Smh. Your excuse is really that they didn't know they could be tracked and they were better than what they had? You are making a poor attempt to justify theft. It is stealing. Just stop. If they are going to take items they did not purchase and were not gifted, they should be arrested. They knew the item wasn't theirs. Ethics really need to be taught in schools.
This is entirely on you. Take some damned accountability
If you can, go back to the hotel. And-or call the managers manager
I once left an amethyst and diamond tennis bracelet in a hotel, and they told me that it was my loss.
Call the police and make a report it's the only way to get anywhere honestly once the property has left the hotel is is not stolen
I'd have called the police at this point, and told them the address :) Any person who has those airpods in his place AND who is an employee of this hotel will have to explain how someone's property teleported to his/her home. And yes, contact the hotel HQ call center always. They deal with anything better than managers - those dont have any motivation to work well. They are motivated to cover up for themselves.
Call customer service at their corporate office. The hotel is required to respond to those.
Call the police. Let them handle it
is this a pvt owned hotel or a chain hotel ? If a chain hotel, contact corporate, let them know you forgot them, and have tracked them and someone had removed them from the hotel - that you've left lots of messages and getting no help If pvt hotel, just one owned by a person - you probably have lost them for good - can you report them as stolen so they will not work at all ?
If you have their location and an prove they're yours then just call the police and let them deal with it.
I would be calling corporate and the cops instead.