Somebody realises on Sunday morning that her coat is not with her. Her keys are in the pocket. She rings the bar at ten, nobody answers, she sends a message and hears nothing until Tuesday.
The coat has been behind the bar since Saturday night. Nobody was hiding it and nobody had a process.
The checklist
Publish these and lost property becomes a service rather than a black hole.
1. Publish that you keep lost property
And where to ask. Customers assume things are thrown away and frequently do not bother trying.
2. Publish how to report it
One route, checked regularly, with what to include. A description, the date, roughly where and a contact.
3. Publish how long items are kept
By type, because valuables and a scarf are different. It is fair, it manages expectations and it lets you clear a cupboard.
4. Explain what happens to valuables
Phones, wallets, keys and bank cards, which should be handled differently and more securely than a jumper.
5. Explain the identification requirement
What somebody must describe or show to collect something. It protects everybody and customers expect it.
6. Explain the collection arrangement
Hours, where to come and who to ask for. Somebody collecting a phone should not have to explain it to four people.
7. Explain whether you post items
At the customer's cost, how it is arranged and how it is packaged. For somebody who was visiting from elsewhere it is the only option.
8. Log everything found
Item, date, where, who found it and where it is stored. Without a log, staff cannot answer and things disappear.
9. Respond quickly
Because anxiety about keys or a phone is disproportionate to the item, and a reply within an hour is remembered for years.
10. Handle the found bank card properly
Because it should not simply sit in a drawer, and there is a right thing to do with it.
11. Tell them honestly when nothing has been handed in
Rather than silence. People need to know so they can look elsewhere, and an honest no is a service.
12. Handle the other after visit enquiries
A query about a bill, something that went wrong, feedback or a complaint. They arrive in the same inbox and need routing, which is the group handling in large group and table booking enquiries at weekends.
13. Use it as goodwill
Somebody who gets a coat back having assumed it was gone becomes an advocate. It costs nothing and it is the cheapest reputation a venue can buy, which is the care in private party and venue hire questions for bars.
13b. Publish the lost phone route separately
A missing phone is the one item people panic about immediately and try to locate that night. Saying plainly whether somebody is at the venue after closing, what happens to phones found on tables and when the first check happens turns a frantic hour into a message and a reply.
14. Answer at the hour people realise
Sunday mornings and Monday lunchtimes, when nobody is at the venue, which is the availability in an AI receptionist for wedding venues and the events ground in event and bar hire enquiries breweries receive.
Getting started
Publish how to report lost property, how long items are kept and the collection arrangement, then answer at any hour. SpideyChat for hospitality venues answers from your published pages. Try SpideyChat on your own site, or read about capture on the features page.