Hotel guests leave millions of pounds of lost property

A staggering £750,000 worth of lost property was left in Holiday Inn hotels in the UK in 2007, the hotel’s owners revealed today. Among the strange and personal items the hotels’ guests left behind were a prosthetic leg, glass eye and false teeth.

Many hotels reported a number of items which raise more questions than answers, including a blow up sheep, a monk’s habit and a selection of whips.

Other extremely valuable items still unclaimed include £2,000 in cash, a £2,000 Rolex watch, a £1,000 Mont Blanc fountain pen and a £3,000 engagement ring.

Hotel managers were left bemused by other items left behind which seem to defy any explanation, like the inflatable sumo wrestler outfit, a gas stove, a bike and eight posters of Jonathan Ross.

“It never fails to amaze us the things people seem to forget to take with them - you’d imagine it would be difficult to forget a glass eye or your dentures. And you would certainly think a person would notice he didn’t have his prosthetic leg when he walked out the door, but apparently not,” said InterContinental Hotels Group’s Chief Operating Officer UK & Ireland Alexi Hakim.

“Some of the items seem beyond explanation – and others make you wonder what goes on behind closed doors!” he said.

Holiday Inn and Express by Holiday Inn – which both belong to one of the world’s largest hotel groups InterContinental Hotels Group – filled more than 8.8 million rooms in the 12 months to end-September 2007.