How long should a hotel keep lost items?

Three years under the French Civil Code, one year in practice: what the law says, what the industry does and our advice to keep your storage from overflowing.

Published on March 18, 2020 · 2 min read · PeeK'in

The rules on how long hotels must keep lost items

Under French law, Article 2276 of the Civil Code states that a guest can claim their item for 3 years from the date it was lost. After those three years, the item belongs to whoever found it. If the item was sold, given away or thrown out before the end of this legal period, the hotelier may, under certain conditions, have to reimburse its value. But the owner must have an invoice, and must also prove that the item was left in the property. In other words, the rule is rarely enforced.

Common storage practices in hotels

Because lost items take up a lot of storage space, most hotels keep them for 1 year.

Many professionals do not bother keeping certain items, such as opened toiletries or underwear. In most cases, these are never claimed.

In some chains, valuable lost items are kept longer than others. It is common to see valuables stored in the safe for 3 years, while other lost items are only kept for a year. Where volumes are high, valuables are often kept for 1 year while other items are only kept for 3 to 6 months.

Luxury watch with a leather strap, an example of a valuable item kept longer in the safe

Our advice for optimising the storage of lost items

In the hotel industry, storage space is often limited. Properties are therefore forced to keep lost items for as short a time as possible. We recommend setting the retention period according to the value of the item: monetary, but also sentimental. You can then apply different retention periods.

After many discussions with hoteliers, we have found that beyond 1 year, guests almost never claim their items. Low-value items can therefore be destocked once this period has passed. For high-value items, we advise you to respect the legal period of 3 years, or to offer the guest an in-person handover if they are still nearby.

To avoid storing every lost item, the ideal is to notify guests systematically. This is what most PeeK’in users do, which allows them to significantly reduce the number of items in storage: a real space saver!