Do YOU leave your bags with hotel reception after checking out?

4 August 2016 - RPS Partnership

Do YOU leave your bags with hotel reception after checking out? If luggage is stolen you could be left out of pocket by insurers. Contact us on [email protected] for travel awareness courses and other courses for travel to difficult and remote locations as well as Crisis Management courses to deal with those emergency situations which you never expected to happen.

Many holidaymakers leave their luggage with hotels after they check out. But if their bags go missing, the insurance might not cover the loss
One British family lost out on £3,000 after losing their luggage in Turkey, says the British newspaper the MailOnline.

This makes interesting reading for travellers, says RPS Partnership.

Most holidaymakers will have left their luggage with hotel receptions after checking out so that they're free to spend the remainder of their break without the hassle of lugging heavy bags around.

But where and how you leave your bags could impact whether they're covered by your insurance if they're stolen.

And as one British family discovered after their belongings disappeared from the reception of the Turkish hotel they were staying in, you could be left out of pocket. Ann, Paul and Tyler Arrowsmith (pictured) from Staffordshire appeared on an episode of BBC's Rip Off Britain to talk about an ordeal they experienced in September 2013.

At the end of their stay, the Arrowsmiths decided to check out and spend the remainder of their day on the beach - leaving their bags at the reception.

According to Ann, she was told by the hotel it was 'absolutely fine to leave them to the left of the reception desk' and that there would be a bellboy who 'organises the cases and make sure they go on the right coach'. 

After spending a day on the beach, the Arrowsmiths returned to their hotel to discover that their luggage had gone astray. Despite the best efforts of their Thomson holiday rep, the family were forced to travel home in their wet beach clothes.

But although the family were confident that they would be able to claim for the lost items, which totalled to £3,000, including clothes and gadgets, through their travel insurance, they were shocked to discover that their circumstance was not covered by their policy.

According to the fine print in the policy, their luggage was left 'unattended' as it was not in the possession of an 'authorised person'.

What's more, the family's home insurance also rejected their claim on similar grounds. After the family discovered their bags had disappeared, they were unable to claim any compensation for it through their insurers.

If you do find that your luggage has gone astray, it may not be too late as there may still be ways you could try and claim back your losses.

However, the insurers did say that they might reconsider their judgement if the family was able to prove the bags were left in a sufficiently secure locations, which the Arrowsmiths unfortunately were unable to do in this case.

Thomson sent the family £50 as a good will gesture but that still left the family seriously out of pocket. A spokesperson for Thomson said: 'After carrying out an investigation in 2013, we advised Mr and Mrs Arrowsmith to contact their insurance provider – offering any necessary support with their claim if required – and we also offered a gesture of goodwill to apologise for any inconvenience.

'Incidents of this nature are incredibly rare, and we would encourage customers not to leave luggage unattended where possible.' But the Arrowsmith family's experience could happen to anyone.

TravelSupermarket's Bob Atkinson told MailOnline Travel: 'Essentially if you leave your bags anywhere that is a risk that you take. 'Liability with a hotel etc. will be down to each location and most would probably say you leave your stuff at your own risk. The same would apply to things like staffed left luggage or to left luggage lockers.'

Hotels are unlikely to accept any liability for the bags but Atkinson says it 'will vary from hotel to hotel'. He added: 'Insurers will vary as to how they view that, as to whether they see it as being secure or not.

'Essentially you should read the small print on your policy and if in doubt check with them by phone. Your policy will have limits on value and exclusions as to where and how you can store your bags.'

WHAT TO DO IF YOU LOSE YOUR BAGS AFTER LEAVING IT WITH A HOTEL

If you do find that your luggage has gone astray, it may not be too late.

Frank Brehany, Consumer Director of HolidayTravelWatch, told MailOnline Travel, 'there are times when before we head to the airport or move on to our next destination, we have time to kill and so we leave our bags in the care of a hotel reception desk. When we do, they are often placed in a hotel safe room.

Occasionally, perhaps because security is not too good or the administration becomes confused between similar type cases, it could result in bags "disappearing". 'In those situations you may be able to claim off your travel insurance but when they discover the facts, they may well say that the loss is down to a hotel's insurer. I have known cases where this has happened and happily, holidaymakers have managed to resolve their claim for loss through that insurance.

'On occasions some hotels refuse to deal with claims but the simple thing to do is to ask for details of their insurer or simply go straight to their head office to get those details.

'Whatever you do, make sure at the time of your loss that you put your complaint in writing to the hotelier and keep a copy. If you are dealing with a small hotel and they refuse to help you, you could always complain to the local council who will have details of their hotel licence and perhaps insurance.

'Don't forget you can always take a hotelier in the EU to your local small claims court under EU Regulations and make a claim for up to €2000; if you have to take action, this would be the cheapest and simplest way to deal with it if you could not resolve your loss through negotiation of their insurers.

'Also remember that if you do get into legal difficulty, you may find that your own travel insurance may have legal expense cover and this could help you resolve matters without you having to direct the legal action yourself.'

Contact [email protected] for more details on travel awareness courses and how to avoid crime when on business travel or on holiday.

Photo: RPS Partnership - travel awareness training.