Left your passport at a hotel? What to do
Published November 2026 • 4 min read • For guests of Australian hotels
Short answer
What should I do if I left my passport at a hotel?
Call the hotel straight away and ask them to check the room safe, the bedside drawers and their lost property. If they have it, ask how they release passports and whether they will send it by tracked courier. If it can't be found and you need to travel, report it lost to the Australian Passport Office (or your embassy for a foreign passport), knowing a reported passport is cancelled for good.
A passport often goes in the room safe and stays there at check-out. Ring the hotel rather than email: a passport is worth a phone call, and the duty manager can check the safe while you wait.
1. Call the hotel first
Give the front desk your booking name, check-out date and room number, and ask them to check:
- the room safe (housekeeping may need a manager to open it)
- bedside drawers, the desk and the wardrobe
- reception, in case it was left at check-in or check-out
- the lost property log for the days since you left
Ask them to call or email you back the same day, and leave a number that works where you are.
2. Decide when to report it lost
Once you report an Australian passport lost or stolen at passports.gov.au, it is cancelled. If the hotel finds it the next day, you still can't travel on it. So if you're fairly sure it is at the hotel and you don't need it in the next few days, give the hotel a chance to look first.
If the hotel can't find it, or you have a flight coming up, report it and apply for a new one. For a foreign passport, contact your embassy or consulate in Australia.
3. Getting it back
If you are close by, collecting it in person is the simplest option. Bring photo ID and your booking details. If you have already gone home, ask the hotel whether it will send the passport by tracked courier. Some hotels won't post passports and hand them to police instead, so check first.
You can also report it to us and we contact the hotel for you, usually within one working day. If the hotel has it and agrees to send it, you enter your address and pay for postage online, a courier collects it from the hotel and you get tracking by email. If you need it urgently, call the hotel as well: don't wait on our email.
What the hotel must do with it
The law treats passports differently from other lost property. In NSW, a hotel holding a passport must give written notice and wait 28 days, then return it to the issuing authority or destroy it securely. South Australia also sets 28 days after notice and requires secure disposal. In the ACT it goes back to the issuing authority. None of the three lets a hotel sell it. Other states don't name passports, and some hotels hand them to police. For the general holding periods, see how long hotels keep lost property.
Frequently asked questions
Can a hotel post my passport to me?+
Many will, by tracked courier, once they have checked the passport matches you. Some hotels only release passports in person or hand them to police. Ask the hotel what it does before you arrange anything.
If I report my passport lost and the hotel finds it, can I still use it?+
No. The Australian Passport Office cancels a passport once it is reported lost or stolen, and a cancelled passport can't be used even if it turns up. If the hotel finds it after you report it, ask your passport office what to do with the old one.
What will the hotel ask me to prove it's mine?+
Usually your full name and date of birth as they appear in the passport, your booking details and sometimes a photo ID or a copy of the passport's photo page if you have one.
What if I left a foreign passport at an Australian hotel?+
Contact the hotel first in the same way. If it can't be found quickly, or you need to travel, contact your country's embassy or consulate in Australia about a replacement or emergency travel document.
Does the hotel have to keep my passport?+
Hotels hold passports carefully because they are personal documents. In NSW, South Australia and the ACT the law sets out what happens: after notice and a holding period, the passport is returned to the issuing authority or disposed of securely. It can't be sold.
We can ask for you
Tell us what you left and where you stayed.
We contact the hotel, usually within one working day. If they have it, we email you a link to pay for postage. Nothing is charged until then.