I recently left my camera in its bag recently at a hotel. I got it back, so all is well and good, but I made a mistake I thought I should tell you guys about.

If you should leave a camera bag in your room, and call the hotel to discuss it. do *not* say that it is a camera in the bag. When I called a few hours after I discovered that I had left it, it was clear from the conversation that they had never opened the bag, but had simply put it away for safekeeping. I told the person on the phone that it was a camera, rather than saying that it was just a "black bag".

I am guessing that since they knew who I was, they had no need to open the bag and may be under orders to *not* open it. If you don't tell them what is in it, there is less temptation to make off with the bag.

TL;DR;
If you leave your camera bag at a hotel, when you call just ask about the bag, don't go into details about what is in it.