IELTS formal letter: Asking a hotel to find and return a lost item

Formal letterRequest · General Training

The task

You stayed at a hotel last week and left something valuable in your room. Write a letter to the hotel manager.

In your letter
• give details of your stay
• describe the item and where you think you left it
• explain how you would like it returned

Write at least 150 words. You do NOT need to write any addresses at the top of your letter.

Begin your letter as follows:
Dear Sir or Madam,

Write your letter

Then get an estimated band, with checks on every bullet point, your tone and the letter format.

0 words · 150 more to reach 150

Write your own letter first, then compare. Reading a model before you write tends to make you copy it.

The plan

Purpose: ask for help finding a lost item.
Bullet 1: dates, room number, booking name.
Bullet 2: what the item looks like and where it probably is.
Bullet 3: courier or collection, and paying the cost.
Close: thanks in advance and a formal sign-off.

Model letter

187 words

Our checker: 8.0Task 8Coherence 8Vocabulary 7Grammar 8

Dear Sir or Madam,

I am writing to ask for your help in finding an item I believe I left at your hotel during my recent stay.

I stayed in room 412 from 24 to 27 September while attending a conference in the city. The booking was made under my name, and I checked out early on the Friday morning to catch a flight.

When I unpacked at home, I realised that my tablet computer was missing. It is a silver Samsung tablet in a dark blue leather case, and it has a small sticker of a red bicycle on the back. I think I left it in the drawer of the bedside table, as I used it to read in bed the night before I left. It is particularly important to me because it contains notes for my university course.

If the tablet has been found, I would be grateful if you could send it to me by courier at the address below. I will, of course, cover the postage and any other costs involved.

Thank you in advance for your assistance.

Yours faithfully,
Lindiwe Dlamini

The highlighted paragraph states the purpose; each paragraph after it covers one bullet point. Scored by the MyBandPrep checker on 7 October 2026. An estimate, not an examiner’s mark. How scoring works

Why it works

Task Achievement: A clear purpose and full coverage of all three bullets, with the kind of detail that would really help staff: dates, room number, three identifying features, a likely location, and a delivery method.
Coherence and Cohesion: A logical order that mirrors the bullets. Reference is handled well (It is…, it contains…).
Lexical Resource: Formal and precise: checked out, identifying details, by courier, cover the postage, Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: A wide range of tenses used accurately, a conditional request (If the tablet has been found, I would be grateful if…) and a reason clause.

Phrases worth reusing

I am writing to ask for your help in
I would be grateful if you could
I will, of course, cover
Thank you in advance for your assistance.