Page 31 - AHATA

LOCAL Monday 30 SepteMber 2019
A17

Hotel

Hustle

Column by: Shanella Pantophlet
Left Behind

One of my biggest fears when on vacation is leaving something behind in a
hotel or wherever I’m staying and not noticing until I’m on the plane or al-
ready home. The day before check out and right up to the minute I leave I’m
constantly checking and rechecking the room for anything. The one time I
didn’t do it, I lost one sock in the beds sheets in London.

Losing stuff or leaving stuff behind is probably them behind. The most memorable of these However every now and again there are a
one of the most commons occurrences in ho- being adult entertainment devices, which few surprises in the form of shopping bags with
tels however. We like most resorts have a full the guest wanted shipped back. Taking those a mixture of both legal and illegal substances
lost and found policy for a range of items from items to the post office and having to explain and creative hiding spots are found. We’ve
clothes, to jewelry and other things. The most exactly what they were to the agent’s was an had engineering people discover stuff in the
commonly left behind items are a few pieces experience in professionalism on all sides to vents during routine maintenance of rooms,
of clothing. Although there were some guests keep serious faces. guests finding baggies in books in the lend-
who left quite a bit of clothing, to the point I ing library or housekeepers finding items while
told the Executive Assistant that they probably Another popular item that’s usually left behind cleaning the rooms for the new check in.
left them to save on overweight bag fees. A in rooms are illegal substances. As a hotel, we
theory that will be proven correct if they claim do all we can to discourage the use of those Being in a bustling hotel does afford a cer-
the clothes on their next visit. sorts of paraphernalia on property, but know tain anonymity as we can never say for sure
people are on vacation and will use if they who was the one using or how long something
While clothes are the standard we have also are so inclined. In the instances when drugs that’s been well hidden has been in a particu-
had other non-standard items behind, most are found in the room another set of proce- lar room. We are very well aware you can’t
are tame things such as a stuffed animal, fish- dures have to be followed including how it is take your stash with you, but for the sake of
ing rods and chargers or charger wires. Of reported and turned in. Usually the quantities staff and the guest coming in after you, we
course there are always times where more ris- housekeepers encounter are of the personal do wish you’d discard it instead of leaving it
qué things are either found or a guest calls to use amount and thus do not need to be re- behind.q
ask if we could have a look to see if they’ve left ported to the police.

Aruban born and bred Shanella Pantophlet is passionate about tour-
ism. That is the world she studied and works in, so we might as well call
her a specialist. Luckily for Aruba Today Shanella also loves to write.
And together with the fact that the majority of our readers are tourists,
we found ourselves a perfect combination for a column: Hotel Hustle.