Cheapest option for couriering lost item from Spanish hotel?

[RetainersinSpainnotontheplane]

Has anyone ever used a service to have a lost item delivered back to them from a European destination?

DS left his bloody retainers in the hotel room. They’re pricy as hell. Luckily the hotel have got them but they’ve said they don’t send things themselves. They’ve just emailed me the courier they recommend. It’s DHL and they want €116. There’s got to be a cheaper option. It’s a dinky little plastic box that weighs nothing.

Alternatively is anyone going to València and wants to do me an enormous favour 🤭?

On Facebook there is a group called two fat expats. Ppl in it from all over the world. Very kind. Someone will help you I think.
Make sure they declare on customs forms that it’s second hand or you might get customs charges coming into UK

Does the hotel have a Facebook UK visitor / appreciation type page at all? Lots of the hotels we’ve visited do, might be worth asking on there if any guests could bring it back with them?

Have you tried UPS or FedEx? Seems a bit steep but depends how quickly you want them back.

@Candlesandmatches thank you that’s really helpful. I’ll definitely check them out tomorrow when I’ve seethed a bit more.

@AnotherDeadSparrow It’s a new hotel from a smallish Spanish chain so I don’t think so but I’ll definitely go searching thanks.

@Isthisbatshitcrazyorthebestmoveiwillevermake I’ll have to go through the endless quoting forms on both of those tomorrow. I know right! I’m not in a hurry, that quote was the latest date I could choose.

If a staff member in a hotel asked you to bring a package home with you would you do it?

Definitely worth asking on FB, there will almost certainly be a kind soul willing to collect it and post it back / bring it home.

I left a beach bag at our hotel, didn’t need it back but found someone via FB who was staying there and told her to retrieve it and make use of the contents including nice suncream, kids goggles and an iPhone charger. She enjoyed my book and bought herself a cocktail with the euros I’d left inside it. Happy days.

Fair point, wouldn’t want to end up inadvertently smuggling something dodgy!

if it was clearly just a dental brace then after opening and inspecting, yes I probably would

Check out packlink.com. Allows you to compare prices from different couriers. We used it recently to have something we'd left in Spain returned to us in the US. This was what the accommodation agency recommended. (It cost me €49 to return a bigger package than a retainer from Spain all the way to US and arrived in 2 days).

Thank you for this. Really helpful. It’s only quoting me €20 which is much better. I’m getting a bit bemused on the UPS website though. Did you have to get the hotel to print a shipping label? There doesn’t seem to be an option that fits the circumstance just importer exporter type talk.

Yes. The accommodation packed up the item, gave me the dimensions so I could complete the order and pay for it on packlink, then printed the label for me and handed it over to the courier. Hope this works for you!