Top 5 items Hotel Guests forget to pack

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It doesn’t matter where you go or why you’re going, chances are when you get there you’ll discover you left something vital at home.

It’s one of those laws. Like the one that says when you drop your toast, it will land jam side down. Or the one that dictates if everything is going well, you’ve obviously overlooked something.

The fact of the matter is, when you unpack your suitcase in your hotel room, something that should be there won’t be.

All you can hope is that it isn’t something irreplaceable like the PowerPoint presentation you’re due to deliver at 9am the following morning. Or your medication. Or your mother-in-law.

Fortunately, you’re more likely to have forgotten to pack something perfectly replaceable but annoyingly unobtainable - unless your hotel is conveniently situated next to a 24 hour corner shop.

Hotels that acknowledge the fact that their guests will forget things and then make sure they fill the gap will undoubtedly score customer satisfaction points. It’s all very well making sure every room is equipped with a bible and a sewing kit, but when you get a call from a guest who can’t clean his teeth properly because he left his toothbrush at home, you really need to be up to the challenge.

Vending machines in hotel lobbies can be an onsite shop that never shuts. As well as the forgotten classics like toothpaste and plug adaptors, they can stock essential toiletries like shaving gel, deodorant and moisturiser or travel accessories like city maps, disposable cameras and even umbrellas.

The last thing you want after a long journey is a problem, so when your hotel is prepared to go the extra mile to solve it for you, chances are they’ll be quids in when it comes to customer satisfaction

According to data collected by hotel guest supply specialist Vendease, here, in reverse order are the top five things folk forget to pack: -

5. Toothpaste – a naked brush just isn’t up to the job. Perhaps that’s why they invented mints.

4. Painkillers – as soon as you realise there’s no paracetemol in your toilet bag, you’ll really, really need one.

3. Plug adaptor – you were prepared for a different language, different food, different money. But a different electricity system? Suddenly half your suitcase is defunct because the chargers you brought for your phone, laptop, camera, portable DVD player and Nintendo DS won’t fit the socket.

2. Tooth brush – maybe it’s because the last thing we do before we leave the house is brush our teeth, and it’s just force of habit to put the brush back where it belongs. Instead of in the toilet bag.

And the number one most commonly forgotten item....

1.Condoms – not everyone wants to take home a souvenir when they go on holiday. But forgetting to pack this health and safety essential is a frustratingly common mistake.

Dave Berman director of Vendease says “it is clear from our research that hotel operators who make ‘forgotten items’ available for sale on site, regularly feature high in customer satisfaction leagues.”

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