D.C. Hotel Offering Amnesty for Stolen Stuff

WASHINGTON - Hotels in general, and the 80-year-old Renaissance Mayflower Hotel in particular, seem to bring out the sticky fingered side of many people looking for souvenirs.

Now the Mayflower is asking for its wayward stuff back, and offering amnesty to those who return the items. They're hoping for some stories in return.

The things that guests have swiped, inadvertently or not, include towels and bathrobes, engraved ashtrays and china plates. Hotel staff say the most popular items to be carried home as souvenirs are silver utensils engraved with the Mayflower ship logo.

In fact, in one year back in the 1940s, 4,000 teaspoons vanished.

But guests who want to turn in the items with amnesty have to pay a price. The amnesty coincides with the publication of a book documenting the hotel's place in Washington. The staff say they want the stories of those items' new lives to put into the book.

The American Hotel Lodging Association has said that guest theft costs the industry about $100 million a year. But the fancier the hotel, the more likely the souvenir items will end up on eBay.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)