Any other Disers have problems with hotel theft?

[ConnieB]

The thread about the theft really woke me up. I never ever thought about theft at the hotels. We leave all our stuff out, cameras, laptops, my purse, etc when we leave. Never thought twice about it. I, for one, will be buying a lock for my suitcase. I'll also make use of the safes

Ok...but keep this in mind....if I'm a hotel employee in your room looking around and I see a LOCKED suitcase....ummm, I'll just carry the whole suitcase out the door (or in my laundry cart, however they get stuff out) and open it later with a crowbar.

And...employees will know enough about the safe locks to be able to get into them quickly and easily...so that's not really foolproof either.

I've also seen locks that you can get for your laptop....they are attached to your laptop and then to a piece of furniture in the room. The funny part is when people talk about attaching it to the leg of the table.....ummm, all ya gotta do is lift up the table and pull it off.

We travel a LOT....in 2008, which was our most "away from home year" we were in hotels over 250 nights (average year we're gone 150-175 nights a year). I always travel with my laptop, cameras (still and video), MP3 players, even a DVD player to hook up to the hotel TV if they don't have one, lol. And I leave it all laying around the room, laptop running sometimes even if I'm downloading big files for work, DVD player plugged in and our carry case of DVDs sitting near it, etc etc. Now...I can say that I don't ever leave cash laying around, but that's more because I don't want some maid to think the $50 on the dresser is her tip! LOL And we've never lost anything to theft. Perhaps we've been very lucky, who knows. I doubt I'll change my ways either.

If you truly want to keep things safe, leave them home. Or, if you drive your car, store that locked suitcase in a trunk....so long as the trunk contents can't be seen to a passerby (like a van or SUV would allow). Of course, that also depends on where you park your car...I think I'd consider a Disney parking lot pretty safe, but some parts of LA the whole car might disappear not just the trunk contents.

Putting locked suitcases in the back of a closet isn't going to deter a hotel employee from taking it.....but it will probably save it from the hotel guest that walks by and see the door left open while the maid is in the bathroom cleaning and decides to walk on it and pick up what is handy. Bigger hotel suites make this more difficult. We usually stay at Extended Stay and the whole kitchen is between the door and the living part of the room (i.e. table with laptop, dresser with TV/DVD and other electronics.). So some of it may be the type of room you stay in....thinking of the POR rooms at WDW the bathroom is all the way in the back and the table where the laptop lives is about 2 steps through the door. A quick thinking guest could grab it while the maid is using your toothbrush to clean the toilet!

 

[mystic_path]

Mousekeeping envelopes didn't do the trick for me, either, they just left them. I leave little Avon products and some cash along with a note that says "For Housekeeping - Thank You!" I make sure that the note is even tucked around everything they are supposed to take. I plan on taking some Aero chocolate bars on this next trip, to leave, as I have heard you can't buy them in the USA and people really love them. I also make sure to tip with little Avon products when they would bring us something to the room, like extra towels, etc. that we had phoned in for.

They dont have Aero bars in the USA? I never knew that... How unfortunate if thats the case. They are amazing!

 

[ArchOwl]

I don't know, I think the idea of tipping per day is more common now. Or so says Peggy Post of the Emily Post Institute:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/family/etiquette/hotel-service-tipping-apr05

She also says $2 per day at a moderate hotel, $3-$5 at a deluxe hotel. I tip $5 a day and almost always have great service!

ETA: most housekeepers are hard working people who clean anywhere from 12-16 rooms a day and they don't want to jeopardize their jobs by using toothbrushes as cleaning tools or stealing from the room. Just being accused of stealing is usually the end of their job. Let's remember how hard these ladies (and gentlemen) work to take care of our rooms and not accuse them unjustly. Are there some who are dishonest? Probably. But I would imagine most of them are honest people trying to do their jobs. There is not much work available for housekeepers who steal. Word gets around.

 

[Kittyskyfish]

Ok, but the average person tips at the end of their stay, so how would the maid know on day one that you won't be tipping?

Most people I know tip daily because staff and shifts may vary.

 

[mystic_path]

Most people I know tip daily because staff and shifts may vary.

This too, but I've come back a few days to find my room not even touched. If I had to pay at the end, I dont want to over spend on a service that never was. Besides sometimes they leave you little extra goodies which may want you to tip a little extra the next day.

 

[miss.potatohead]

We locked our ipods, spare change and coins and other random items that were of value in a 4 digit pin safe in the room we stayed in, but now that I think about it, I am sure that there is an overriding code that could be used by staff to open it (if someone forgot their code etc) but everything else like travel documents we left locked in our suitcases. We always carried our passports, travellers cheques/money/cards on us.

We stayed for 7 nights and had cleaning every 2nd day, leaving $5 tip with a small note saying 'thank you'. On our final day we left $20 I think.

 

[poohbearbt]

Because we bring a lot of valuables with us(dh's job require lots of techy stuff), we RARELY have the maids come in and clean. We always leave our Do Not Disturb sign outside the door. If we are staying more than 3 days, we let them in but lock up everything.

 

[jlmarr]

Most people I know tip daily because staff and shifts may vary.

That's what we do. Usually $4-5 a day. We figure it means a lot to the staff and they do an extra spiffy job, so we benefit too.

 

[starshine514]

I'm not sure about an overriding code on the safes. I remember at one place we stayed (it was a resort, but not Disney) I remember reading that if you didn't leave the safe unlocked when you checked out, it would be a $75 fee. So, I presume it would be more than a simple override code.

We always use the safes (if available) and pack our luggage mostly back before leaving for the day. We also sometimes leave up the 'Do not disturb' sign if we don't need towels or anything. The only thing I've ever had stolen from a hotel was a can of Lysol, and I'm guessing that was just a mistake!

 

[SilentFeline]

The only thing I've ever had stolen from a hotel was a can of Lysol, and I'm guessing that was just a mistake!

I don't know why, but for some reason I thought this was really funny!

 

[briangl]

Never had anything stolen, but that is because there is really no market for used laptops. I think people stopped stealing them when they realized no one was going to give them anything for it. Also since more people are using low-jack the chances of getting caught are increasing.