Can you leave your luggage at a hotel you're not staying at?

It happened to me this summer. After checking out of my hotel I was planning to leave my luggage in the public luggage locker at the train station and go for a long hike in a nearby natural park that I was recommended. However when I arrived there…all lockers were full!!

After waiting there for a precious time, I decided to leave and try to store it in another hotel nearby (my hotel was too far away from there and completely opposite to where I was going).

I went to several (maybe 4) hotels explaining my problem but none of them let me leave my luggage there. There was only one hotel left there so I changed the tactic and didn’t explain my problem at all. Just told the two persons there at the counter that I was leaving my luggage there, already leaving it at the counter. They took my luggage and gave me a tag with a number, when they asked me what room I was i just said "I still don’t have a room" and they said…"ok" while I was almost already leaving. When I later went to pick my bag they gave it to me with no questions asked.

So my advice is just look confident as you own the place, it worked for me!

Stasher.com connects you with places where you can store luggage for short periods of time. They have hotels, small shops etc.

Of course, it costs something, but one advantage is that you know beforehand where you can leave your stuff and don’t have to spend your precious time asking around at multiple places. Another advantage is that you can search geographically, and work this into your travel plans.

I used this service a few times in 2019 and was quite happy with it, leaving my bags at one shop in central London when I arrived before heading to the hotel in the evening, and again when I visited the British Museum before going to the airport. In both cases, it was easy to find storage close to my destination for the day.

Whenever I’ve left my luggage with the bell desk, they never asked for any proof that I was a guest there. In fact, most of the times that I’ve used the luggage storage service, it has been after I’ve checked out (I check out in the morning, but I’m not leaving the hotel area until later in the day), so I’m not technically staying there at the time.

It’s possible that they recognized me from going in and out of the hotel for a week, so they didn’t need to ask for any ID. But I actually suspect that it’s simply not worth the effort to try to prevent non-guests from using the luggage storage service. Unless the luggage room is full, the cost to provide the service is negligible.

I have done it with 100% success both times I tried (albeit quite some time ago). I don’t think it’s official policy but concierges tend to appreciate generous tips and especially if you are dressed and look like you could be staying at their hotel I think you might do okay. After all, they often store luggage of guests after they have checked out. If there are several hotels within a small distance, there’s also Plan B and Plan C.

Alternatively there are a number of apps that direct you to small businesses that are willing to store your luggage temporarily for a fee. I have not used them, but they seem to be prevalent in Europe- the businesses were things like convenience stores and quick print places.

Of course things could change very quickly in something like this, and a single terrorist incident in the region could change their attitudes very quickly, as they are not going to have the X-ray facilities of an expensive airport left luggage facility.

General answer: Expect not to be able to.

But as so often there will be hotels which will accept luggage from non guests for payment or even for free. The hard thing will be to find them.

In most of Europe the main cities will have luggage storage at the (main) railway stations, often also at smaller stations or in smaller towns and in those countries I do not expect hotels to publish they take luggage for non-guests.

In those countries where luggage lockers have disappeared you might find some hotels mentioning it or at least you getting directed to a hotel from the tourist information office, but do not expect that to be available in all places.

If you have status with a hotel chain you can try to call them, me not having status I can not tell you how your succes rate will be.