Cleaning Lady Stole Jewelery From Hotel Room

[scorecard]

Make the realization, for future reference, that hotels offer very little security, even the 5 star hotels, but especially cheap hotels.

In most hotels numerous staff members have access to room keys, and nobody is paying much attention / any attention to the absolute security of the keys. And it would be quite easy to steal a key, or a set of keys, for an hour and get them duplicated. Supervisor can't find her/his set of keys, suddenly one hour later the keys are suddenly spotted on a desk, on a shelf or whatever. Mystery solved and no further thinking about it.

With pass cards perhaps a little more difficult, but I'd be surprised if nobody had ever worked out a method to by-pass the card system.

I stayed in a hotel once in Vietnam where every pass card was the same. Only noticed it because my work colleague and I both put our pass cards on the dining room table, then we couldn't remember which card belonged to who (no markings on the cards). We both said no problem because we'll just go to the rooms and try the keys to sort it out. Because of our uncordinated attempts, we accidentally discovered that both keys opened his door, then we tried my adjoining room, same result, both pass cards opened my door.

I've come back to my room from breakfast, or whatever, and many times the maid has arrived very early and is halfway through the cleaning:

- And I've realized I had forgotten to put some things away, including notebook computer.

- The maid has disappeared for some reason and reappeared a few minutes later, meaning that there was a time window when the door was fully open and nobody at all in the room. And another guest could have easily come in, scanned the room, and quickly departed.

Last year there was a program on TV (Discovery channel I think) showing how easy it was for a professional thief to very easily and quickly open many hotel room safes.

As already mentioned safety boxes are probably the most secure, needing two keys to open the box. But if the room where the safety boxes are storred is out of the way, in an isolated part of the hotel then I'd be a littel concerned about that too.

Ultimately there are no guarantees.

Edited February 11, 2010 by scorecard

[tonglen]

Guess we were the lucky ones, while we were staying in Koh Samui my wife lost a gold necklace with a huge red ruby surrounded by diamonds amulet worth more then five thousand dollars. My wife noticed it missing when we got back to the States. I sent an e-mail to the resort where we stayed and informed them of my wifes loss expecting the worst, because as far as my wife and I know she could have lost it anywhere. To our surprise a few days later the manager of the resort returned my e-mail and said that the cleaning lady found the necklace in the back of the headboard. A week later we received the necklace, and the cool thing was they even paid for the shipping cost. The next year we went back to the hotel and immediately asked for the maid and handed her two thousand baht as appreciation, we were also going to give the manager a tip but he no longer worked at the resort.

So,

a: you were so careless to take such thing on a holiday

b: so careless to loose it the room

c: you rewarded her with 2.000 for something worth 170.000 ?

8.000 would have been nicer :-)

(in my country the finder even could sue you because she has the right to receive 20%)

This lesson was too cheap for you buddy, hope you loose it again, hahaha lol

This guy loses his valuables and all you can do is berate him? Where did you develop your personality, in a car wreck? Heartless bas_ard.

Who cares if he could have taken precautions to prevent this. It's done, stop kicking him in the nuts.

[orchidlady]

I'm sorry for your loss. If you had looked for the items close to Dec. 9 when you last saw them I would suggest going to the police but at this point they have probably been sold for cash. Report it to the hotel management but don’t expect them to do much. Even if they had CCTV camera in the halls it has been too long to establish who has been in/out of the room.

If you have to keep something of value in your room for a very, very brief time here...I have found the best place is to keep it with your dirty underwear. Thais have a phobia of underwear. I learned this from a friend who lived here seven years. She hung her laundry/underwear outside of the public walkway in the apartment she had. The manager finally asked her to take it down as the workers had to walk around the block to come to work. They "could not walk past the underwear!”

I don't leave things in the room but if I need to for a very short time and the room has already been cleaned...

Just as a warning when traveling to Chiang Mai-be very careful with your cell phones...I have had two cells phones stolen both in Chiang Mai. On my second trip to Chiang Mai in 2008, I left my phone in the room one day in a rush to get to a training class. When I came back at the end of the day, the cell phone case was on the bed minus the phone. I did not accuse anyone of stealing the phone-just asked if it ended up in the laundry. I told management and they said I was stupid for leaving it in the room. Never apologized so I moved out to another place and told them why at the reception desk in a loud voice when other people were waiting to check-in (it does work wonders-about six people turned and walked away) even though I was planning to stay for six more weeks.

The last time was over this past Christmas holidays, when I went back for a visit. I went to an upscale spa inside a hotel owned by a New Zealand hotel chain. It was a Saturday night late. I asked the woman manager where I could lock up my purse-fortunately I had pre-paid so I did not have much money on me. She said to leave my purse in the room as only she (the manager), the spa attendant and I were in the spa. I thought this is very strange but since I was not offered a locker... I walk to the Jacuzzi and what do I see-lockers-I looked at them and the spa manager says-even if you put your things in there, I would ask for the key so you don't lose it. This was so unlike any spa I have ever been in.

I was in the Jacuzzi and the steam for at most 15 minutes. I had my spa procedures for about two hours. I took a shower inside the room at the end while the attendant cleaned the room-and she did "clean out the room" I think! I was rushed out of the spa-not surprising as I kept them 45 minutes past their closing time... After using the bathroom in the lobby, I exited to the street to get something to eat. I wanted to call someone in Bangkok to check on something. Looked inside my purse and the compartment where l keep my cell phone was open. I looked inside my wallet and my Bangkok condo key card was taken also. They probably thought it was to my hotel is what the police later said. They probably thought they could clean out my room while I was in the spa...

I had an all-day tour leaving at 6:45 am the next morning so I was not able to contact the spa until Monday morning. Upon going back to the spa, the manager upon hearing my story said, you called us yesterday and reported your phone was missing. We told you we checked the room and it was not there. The room has not been used since. I said this is quite interesting. I was gone all day yesterday and was not near a phone. I looked for a pay phone but they were all to call abroad. It was not me who called. You have a ring of cell phone thieves working in your spa. I was just notifying you, as I am not a tourist. I live in Thailand. I am a Thai government employee and the cell phone is their property. I THOUGHT MAYBE IF SHE HAD TAKEN THE PHONE SHE MIGHT SUDDENLY HAVE “FOUND IT” UPON HEARING THAT... I am going to the police to report the theft now. I wanted you to know first. The spa attendant was out sick-how fortunate...

[ben01]

It's a long story I don't feel like sharing at 2:23am. The jewelery exists, the hotel isn't expensive, blah blah blah. Thank you for the nonsense response.

You may feel it is nonsense but as you confirm, you have no money, your hotel is cheap and now you have lost mega money jewellery you were carrying around the world "locked" in a backpack. Perhaps you would care to share what you will tell the police if you report it. Forget insurance as even if you have any they will not pay out as it was not in a safe.

Have you got a receipt from customs for the temporary import of such valuable jewellery ?

he never said he had no money, he said he had no money at the time to pay the deposit on a house hence he is staying in a hotel.

why do some posters choose to misread posts and look to try and belittle another poster by posting crap?

and expensive-ish now means mega money, get real, what is expensive to one person may not expensive to another. Also there is no mention of a backpack, or travelling around the world. It seems like you read what was written, ignore what was written and spout your own shit to make your crap post seem better.

Ah, yes....the normal responce from a 'platinum' type member (just member would be suffice)...they get this staus from having many posts...most of which are a smiley face / Lol / etc....and have no decent answers to the topic's. Dont know why the bother even answering.

[Sakeopete]

When I stay in Hotels that have suspended ceilings I like to lift one section and hide my valuables in their. Just make sure you do not leave any clues like plaster flakes on the carpet or chair you stood on.

[anothertorres]

Edited March 8, 2010 by anothertorres

[dogleg]

When I stay in Hotels that have suspended ceilings I like to lift one section and hide my valuables in their. Just make sure you do not leave any clues like plaster flakes on the carpet or chair you stood on.

LOL, I've got a terrible habit of lifting ceilings, floorboards, electric sockets for my hidy holes.

Then forgetting.

Doh!

[dogleg]

Anyway, which hotel are we talking about?

[elkangorito]

When I stay in Hotels that have suspended ceilings I like to lift one section and hide my valuables in their. Just make sure you do not leave any clues like plaster flakes on the carpet or chair you stood on.

These are the most obvious places to look for valuables.

If you want to hide something, it should be conspicuous &/or time consuming to find. Ceilings are simply too easy.

[Maizefarmer]

The sad reality is that if you had handed the goods in for safekeeping in the hotel safe they would have been insured and you would have been able to assign liability.

You may like to publish the hotels name, if they take a "not my problem attitude" - then we can all send emails and spread the good news - see how fast their business goes downhill then. That really is the problem isn't it: hoteliers now they are not liable for goods that go missing from rooms, and they make that clear in the small print when you check in. Before the days of the internet they could really just laugh off customers who complained - not sure they can nowadays if folk get their act together and support each other.

Let us know how the hotel management responds.

[thepanicandthevomit]

I had 1000b nicked from my wallet by a cleaner in phuket once. One of the most entertaining half hour of my life, and would've been well worth the money if I didn't get it back. Culminated in her "finding" said 1000b note under the bin, with me looking the other way, to help her save face. She'd originally offered to make good the debt by paying with the 'hairy cheque'. She was 70 if she was a day.

[Sakeopete]

When I stay in Hotels that have suspended ceilings I like to lift one section and hide my valuables in their. Just make sure you do not leave any clues like plaster flakes on the carpet or chair you stood on.

These are the most obvious places to look for valuables.

If you want to hide something, it should be conspicuous &/or time consuming to find. Ceilings are simply too easy.

I don't think too many Thai maids are going to get a ladder + flashlight to start lifting ceiling tiles to see if the farang guest has hidden stuff there.