What is the most unusual item you’ve found in a hotel room on your travels?

A yellow rubber duckie, at the Milan Berna Hotel. Intended to bring a smile…and it did!

New management did away with them some years ago.

Laurel, I loved the yellow duck! I had a tiny single room, and it was waiting for me in the bathroom sink. I took a photo of it.

Someone else's luggage.

We checked in at the front desk, were assigned a room and given keys. We went to the room unlocked the door and found that someone else's things were all over the room and the bed wasn't made. We quickly backed out, went to let them know that they had made a mistake. It didn't make me feel very confident in this hotel. I kept thinking, if it were our room they gave someone the key to, they could have taken anything or everything from our room.

At my former favorite hotel in London, I checked into my favorite room a few days before Christmas only to find it decorated for the holidays.

At the Alex Johnson Hotel in Radid City, SD, I opened the door to my room only to find a large table able to seat 10. No bed. I searched and found a connected bathroom. On the far side of the bathroom was another door. I opened it and there was the bedroom. That room had a door to the hallway. It, and the room with the table, had the same number.

Nadler Hotels, which became Resident Hotels, also had rubber ducks.

At a hotel In Turin, my room had an exercise bike.

A FREITAG loaner bag for use as a day bag during my stay - at 25Hours Hotel Copenhagen Papir Island

https://www.instagram.com/p/DLzkQk4M2C-/?igsh=ZDB2Y2luMG8zM3gz

Not so much a strange item, as what was on the items. I stayed at a hotel in Hong Kong which had price tags on many of the items in the room, presumably for any guest who wanted those items. That included the art work on the walls and the slippers as well.

I'd have to say I've never found anything unusual or strange. I suppose I'm boring.

Two things in the Kameha Grand Hotel in Bonn / Königswinter (Germany):

• a little mosque painting under the roof in every room (stayed a few dozen times there), so Muslim guests know where East is
• the hand soap packaging was titled "Unschuld" (looked like this) which was an intelligent funny interpretation of the German bible term and saying "seine Hände in Unschuld waschen" (wash your hands in innocence). I laughed or minimum smiled about it every time when I unpacked a new soap at a new stay. Btw another fun fact: a soap to wash your hands in innocence is not mentioned anywhere.

The in above post mentioned foreigner's luggage I had also two or three times but I cannot remember in which hotels this was.

Years ago and I mean years ago before computers and electronic keys we hit a couple of occupied rooms. Didn't think anything about it since I don't assume everyone is crook and is eager to rush in and steal my stuff. The most pleasant surprise was the 50 lb British note under the mat in the in-room safe. Once moved the bible on the stand next to the bed and two unused, sealed condoms fell from the pages. Not going any further with the comments.

I also once found a cheap, flip phone in the safe of a hotel in Copenhagen. I told the people at reception who said no one called to claim it. It was registered with a British phone number and a few pence left on the sim card.

They though it was a cheap PAYG phone that the person didn't want anymore.

The safe was not locked.

In Japan, many of my hotel rooms had an electronic air purifier. Many also had full toiletries--toothbrush, toothpaste, razor, shaving cream, comb, brush, qtips, cotton balls, soap, and shampoo. There was also a room deodorizing spray and flashlight.

Once moved the bible on the stand next to the bed and two unused, sealed condoms fell from the pages

Better than finding them on the floor (almost) under the bed, used.

Advised the property manager of the condo of our 'discovery' and suggested housekeeping needed to do a better job

Learned from the property manager, that the condo owner was the last to use the unit before I stayed there, and the owner had done the "cleaning" themselves.

I can't remember where, but I once entered my room after a late arrival and found person sleeping in the bed. That was awkward.
In Japan the door to my room opened and a hotel concierge escorted a blind man into my room to deliver a massage. He kept repeating masageee, masageee, while I tried to figure out how to make them both go away. That has always been quite high on my list of hotel room oddities. There are plenty of others.......

Friends of mine once found a quarter ounce of coke in a vase on a houseboat rental in Amsterdam.

In Beijing, a gas mask to allow for safer evacuation during a fire, securely boxed with a label indicating one would be charged if opened. I don't know if the charge applied to use during an actual evacuation. I'm glad I didn't find out!
This room also had a glass wall between the bedroom and back side of the shower. It was somewhat frosted to allow some privacy but I was glad I wasn't sharing a room! I know others on the forum have experienced this type of shower. Who thinks this type of wall is a good idea??????

At our Lisbon hotel - Avienda Palace, they provided a cell phone to use during our stay for finding your way around town and looking up things to do.

Once we found a half eaten chicken leg on the floor, and this was a high end hotel, but apparently housekeeping missed it;)

Another time we found a laptop bag (no laptop) with a checkbook in it. The lady name on the checks did not have a phone number, but we used our laptops to google her and match the address and we found a phone number that way. She of course did not answer not knowing we we were, but we left voice mail telling her we were leaving it at the front desk and what check numbers were in there, just in case anyone thought of taking one. We took it to the desk, and not 5 minutes after we left she called us back and was so grateful. We were surprised there was a checkbook since we have not carried one with us in years, and this was only 2 years ago.

It was what we.considered to be.a posh hotel and rather expensive in Louisville,, KY. We opened the door to our room only to discover an evening gown laid out on the bed and someone in the shower. We quietly closed the door and returned to the front desk to try again.

Back in the days of boxy TVs, I entered my room at a Super 8 in Orlando, Florida, and found the TV sitting on the bed, ripped off the TV stand, wrapped in the bedspread. Apparently someone was planning to steal it but didn't follow through.

I called the front desk. They said to put it back on the stand and plug it in and let them know if it doesn't work.

Hilarious and awkward at the same time, everyone!

I’ve remembered more….a half-eaten pizza in a box and two empty beer bottles under the bed in a cheap hotel…the only one in town…. where some friends and I went to attend a wedding in rural BC.
A bathroom scale and a huge magnifying mirror in a small b and b in Naples.
Nine bathroom towels, six hand towels and three beds in a tiny single hotel room in London.

We had a gas mask in our hotel room in Beijing as well! But what really caught my eye was the individually packaged toothbrushes, comb, and soap which were all labelled "Cease to struggle and you cease to live" (and underneath in smaller text "I walk slowly but I never walk backwards"). Strong statement from a toothbrush!

Such a fun post! Thanks for starting this. I've enjoyed each one. I remember my first encounter with a bidet in an Italian hotel many years ago. I had no idea how to use it, or what the little cloth towel was for. The lady at the desk enjoyed explaining it, with hand motions since we didn't have a common language.

In 1994 we had a surprise when we first entered our room in Provincetown. A young naked man walked out of the bathroom . When he saw us he went back to the bathroom and grabbed a towel. He then explained that he worked for the hotel and didn't know that the room was booked. We went to the office to give the guy time to collect himself and to inquire if that room was really free and intended for us. The manager said yes it was our room, apologized profusely and promised to talk to the employee. We asked the manager not to be too harsh with naked young man because we were not complaining.

This question is one the forum would prefer I not answer. So I won't. But it was very disgusting indeed.

I should add this was not in Europe, but rather Pennsylvania.

I won't mention some of the disgusting things I've found in rooms because of poor housekeeping--and one in particular is often mentioned on this forum.

How many remember way back--I think in the 60's and 70's--when you had to put a quarter in the TV in some hotels to watch it. I think it was Motel 6.

And how about "Magic Fingers?"

Found a interesting object in a side table in a hotel near Indianapolis that, when you flicked the switch, wiggled and buzzed. The owner must have been so ecstatic that they forgot to take it home with them. ;)

Frank did you mean the massaging beds? I stayed with my family at a motel in Virginia (a lifetime ago) and we put a quarter into the slot to start a "bed massage" . We could not get the thing to turn off so we slept all night with the vibrations..

In a chain hotel in Florida, we found a partially eaten can of tuna fish in the mini-bar. But in a long list of exciting hotel finds, that is way down the list.

Used to manage the hotel for the American Consulate in Frankfurt. When we moved sites, we had to move all the furniture of course and when moving a couch, found this huge wad of money! A bit exciting, because it was from Mongolia. No telling how long it had been there, but we had stopped using this room for several months. We often had people from consulates around the world, come to Frankfurt for security classes, so this must have been someone from Mongolia.
Went home and looked up the exchange. This huge wad of money was worth about $6. So much for finding a fortune.

I won't go into other stuff we found in the rooms.

What a fun/cringy topic! I've found all manner of odd items missed by cleaning crews (some of them EWW). In Peru the hotel rooms had coca tea bags for elevation sickness. And I was once the person in the room that surprised an incoming guest. I was attending a conference in Chicago and they checked someone in to my room (late in the evening). Poor guy (and I) nearly had a heart attack. Irritatingly, the hotel staff made me repack my bag and change rooms instead of giving my "correct" room to the other guy. Needless to say I'll not stay there again.

While checking over my hotel room and bed I discovered a pint of liquor tucked between the mattress and the box spring. In another tour hotel upon examining the bed it was quite clear that the sheets had been used. Both situations were brought to the staffs attention. There wasn’t anything I needed to say. In another instance there were bedbugs. In yet another there were sugar ants running around the bed pillows. Finally, in my cabin giant spiders crawling over the door way, the toilet area, and the sink vanity made me wonder if I had made the right decision to go on a safari. Thankfully that safari ended up being one of the best experiences ever.

Weights. I stayed in a lovely hotel in Umeå, Sweden in 2015. It was a very modern, single room. There were different sizes of weights on the wall at the foot of the bed. I didn't use them. However, over 10 years later, I would use them now as I now need to remind my muscles that they are supposed to be muscles.

How about lack of doors?

https://www.cnn.com/travel/hotel-rooms-missing-bathroom-doors

Mary, the door issue, if there is one, has a thread of its own.

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/general-europe/make-hotel-room-bathrooms-private-again

Lava lamps at the Hillside Su (now Hotel Su) in Antalya in 2005. I think more hotel rooms should have lava lamps.

I often think about the trip report (was it on here? Does anyone else remember this?) by American travellers in a rural hotel in the UK who thought there were enema bags left in their room for visitor use.

And in fact they were hot water bottles, which are a very common item in UK homes but apparently not so much in the US!

Golden Girl one of my prized possessions is my Gromit hot water bottle bought in Belfast. Still have it, still use it.

In Madrid, we stayed in the Hotel Petite Palace Posada del Piene.

Our room was not ready and they put us in a smaller room for a few hours do we could freshen up after our train ride. I found a skeleton key in the mini bar fridge. I thought somebody left it behind.

After we checked into our originally booked room, I found another skeleton key in the mini bar fridge. It was slightly different from the first key. Curious, I explored the room and the rest of the floor to see if the key opened any secret door or compartment. This hotel is one of the oldest in Europe, and has a back story about a ghost and a secret room.

Finally, I asked the front desk. They told me that the key is a complimentary souvenir bottle cap lifter for the bottles of drinks in the fridge.

Hot water bottles: I was surprised to find them in rooms in Africa (September 2024). But they turned out to be much appreciated!