6th June 2014
RBH reveals the most common and unusual hotel items pinched and invites past offenders to come clean for charity.
The UK's leading independent hotel management company is giving past guests the chance to come clean and return items they've 'borrowed' from hotel rooms over the years - guilt and consequence free - and all for the benefit of Macmillan Cancer Support.
RBH, which manages 54 branded and private label hotels, is encouraging guests to hand in their guilty little souvenirs from hotel stays to its venues across the UK in June, and will donate £1 to Macmillan Cancer Support for every item returned.
To mark the event, the hotel group has also released details of the top items that regularly go missing from its hotels, and the more unusual items that guests have taken home with them.
The top five most commonly pinched items are towels, pens, mugs, teaspoons and remote controls. Room key cards were also popular, with hotel staff reporting that they are most commonly taken in the winter and used to scrape icy car windscreens.
More unusual items included patio furniture, a luggage trolley, a full set of bedding including pillows, a cereal dispenser, a front desk bell, a chilli plant, a flat screen TV and the head from a statue in one of the hotels' grounds.
The hotel group estimates that around 11,700 towels, 9,000 teaspoons and a whopping 133,100 pens are taken each year.
Mary Curtin, Group Accommodation Services Manager at RBH, said: "Over the years we've noticed that there are definitely some favourite items to pocket when staying in our hotels, and we've come across some pretty bizarre ones too.
"We thought it would be good to offer past guests the chance to own up and return their 'souvenirs' to reception at select hotels throughout June - consequence free. Not only will they be easing their guilt, they'll be helping us to raise money for our nominated charity, Macmillan.
"We look forward to being reunited with some of the things that have gone missing over the years - who knows, we might come across some items we didn't even know were gone!"
Guests who have items to return can drop them off at reception at the following hotels:
- Holiday Inn Express Greenock
- Holiday Inn Express Doncaster
- Ramada Encore Chatham
- Rosslea Hall Hotel, Helensburgh
- Holiday Inn Express Antrim
- Ramada Encore Ipswich
- Ramada Encore Milton Keynes
- Ramada Encore Chatham
- Ramada Encore Belfast
- Crowne Plaza Reading
- Crowne Plaza London Docklands
- Best Western Beamish Hall Hotel, County Durham
- Best Western Grosvenor, Stratford upon Avon
- The Langstone