What do hotel guests forget most? Lessons from 3,000 shipments

Since 2019, SpeedPorter has shipped nearly 3,000 forgotten items from hotels back to their owners. That is a surprisingly honest record of what travellers leave behind. Here is what it shows.

About the numbers: all figures are totals across 2,995 paid shipments from 119 hotels, delivered to guests in 78 countries between 2019 and October 2026. They cover 3,218 items in total, because some shipments contain more than one. No personal data is used.

The most forgotten items

Clothing is number one by a clear margin. More than one in four items we ship is a jacket, a sweater, a dress or a pair of trousers, usually left in a wardrobe, on a hook behind the bathroom door or in a drawer.

Electronics add up quickly: phones, tablets, laptops and chargers together are about 26% of everything we ship. They are also the items guests are most eager to get back, and the ones most often insured.

What is in "Other"?

A quarter of items do not fit a category, and the descriptions guests write are the fun part of the data. The most common words are glasses and sunglasses, watches, cameras, bags and backpacks, shoes and jewelry. Then come the items that matter far more than their price: stuffed animals and teddy bears, a child's pillow, notebooks, medicine, e-readers and gifts bought on the trip.

If there is one lesson, it is that the things people forget are rarely the things they pack carefully. They are the things in daily use: whatever was plugged in, hanging up or lying on the bed.

When guests forget things

Forgotten items follow the travel season closely. July, August and September account for 46% of all shipments, with August the single busiest month. January is the quietest.

Month in which the shipment was ordered, 2019 to 2025 (complete years).

Different items peak at slightly different times. Clothing is most often sent back in July, wallets in July, keys and accessories in August, smartphones in September, and tablets and laptops in October, when business travel picks up again.

Most forgotten items are light

The median shipment weighs just 1 kg. About 62% of shipments are 1 kg or less, and 80% are 2 kg or less. The average is 2.2 kg because the occasional suitcase or box of souvenirs pulls it up. About one in four items is marked fragile, and one in five orders adds insurance.

Where the items go

Guests ship items home all over the world. The United States is the biggest destination (26% of shipments), followed by Greece (17%), the United Kingdom (9%), Germany (7%) and France (6%). Many Greek shipments are guests who live in another city and simply do not want to travel back for a charger.

A 60 second checklist for check-out day

1. Look at the walls. Chargers and adapters live in sockets, usually behind the bed or desk.
2. Open every drawer and the wardrobe, including the top shelf and the safe.
3. Check the bathroom. Hooks, shelves and the shower are where clothing and toiletries stay behind.
4. Run a hand under the pillows and the bed. Phones, glasses and teddy bears hide there.
5. Take a photo of the empty room before you close the door. It takes five seconds and doubles as proof of what you did and did not leave.

If you do leave something behind, our step by step guide explains how to get it back.