Check out the remains of the stay
● A stash of cocaine, a prosthetic leg, a car, a pet snake and sex toys.
These are some of the bizarre items guests have left behind at SA’s hotels.
Joanne Hayes, PR manager for the Red Carnation Hotel Collection SA, said that over the years they had seen their fair share of “odd leave-behinds” during the silly season.
“A pet hamster was lost by one guest at the Oyster Box [in Umhlanga, north of Durban] and the next guest nearly had a heart attack when they arrived in their room to find the critter running around,” said Hayes.
She said another guest left their pet snake at the Twelve Apostles Hotel in Cape Town, but thankfully it was safely contained.
Hayes said prosthetic body parts seem to be a common leave-behind.
“The guest left the property in a wheelchair and the carer had forgotten to take the prosthetic along.”
She said the most alarming illegal item found at the group’s Cape Town property was a small bag of cocaine, which was disposed of immediately.
Perhaps the biggest item a guest has ever left behind at a Red Carnation hotel was a car, at the Oyster Box. After three years, it was sold.
Fezile Africa, spokesperson for The Capital Hotels and Apartments, said sex toys are the most common item found by cleaning staff. These include dress-up or role-playing props.
She said guests had also left behind expensive items including a Tom Ford suit and bottles of Johnnie Walker whisky.
The more common things found include lone shoes, glasses, wallets, sexy lingerie and phone chargers.
Hoteliers said while they find things left behind, there are some guests with sticky fingers — which ends up costing hotels thousands of rands in losses.
Africa said that at The Capital, items such as hairdryers, bathrobes and facecloths are their most pilfered items. At the five-star Oyster Box, toilet rolls are a hot ticket.