Expensive watch taken from room

[Port Orleans fan]

Another trick: carry a dummy wallet.

Before I go on vacation, I go to the dollar store and purchase a cheap velcro wallet. This is the wallet I travel to the theme parks with. My real wallet (with ID in it) is left in the room safe.

I usually carry no more than $100 on me at one time. This way, if I ever become the victim of a pick pocket, nothing is lost.

 

[Gingerg11]

Maybe the husband misplaced it and was afraid to tell the wife. That's why he didn't push the staff about properly reporting it.

Could happen if he is unusually careless or forgetful and this time it was expensive jewelry...

 

[ilovemk76]

I am curious what a very expensive watch costs.

 

[coopersmom]

Sadly, we've had money stolen from a Disney hotel, too (see longer explanation here) And, while it wasn't in the safe, it was pretty well buried--a bag, within another bag, within a pocket of that bag, etc.--and the same M.O. as this one, taking only a portion of the total, we assumed in hopes of us not noticing it was missing, or just thinking we'd spent it already.

We suspect it was our housekeeper because of 1) access and 2) some weirdness with our room being cleaned (sort of, but that's a whole other story) but still getting phone messages that say it wasn't. We kind of think it was someone trying to cover their tracks.

We also think they kind of "tested" us by taking a few cheap things (bag of candy), and seeing if we complained or noticed.

 

[cobright]

I am curious what a very expensive watch costs.

Like in general? I have two watches I would call "Very Expensive". A Tag Heuer that was a sort of graduation present; I think it retails for about $2k. And a rolex milgauss that I paid a little less than $5k for. The Tag is my dress watch and I bought the rolex because it was designed to work properly even when subjected to very strong magnetic fields. I regularly contract to work on power plant control systems and in many areas the magnetics screw with electronics and even mechanical watch movements.

It's subjective of course. I have a classic Cartier Tank watch that I paid $90 for but appraises for a couple hundred, I wouldn't call it very expensive but I wouldn't leave it on the hotel table while I went to Magic Kingdom either.

I actually hate wearing watches, funny how that works.

 

[ilovemk76]

Like in general? I have two watches I would call "Very Expensive". A Tag Heuer that was a sort of graduation present; I think it retails for about $2k. And a rolex milgauss that I paid a little less than $5k for. The Tag is my dress watch and I bought the rolex because it was designed to work properly even when subjected to very strong magnetic fields. I regularly contract to work on power plant control systems and in many areas the magnetics screw with electronics and even mechanical watch movements.

It's subjective of course. I have a classic Cartier Tank watch that I paid $90 for but appraises for a couple hundred, I wouldn't call it very expensive but I wouldn't leave it on the hotel table while I went to Magic Kingdom either.

I actually hate wearing watches, funny how that works.

It was a rhetorical question. I did not expect the OP to answer. I personally believe it was either a Rolex knockoff or just a step above Timex.

 

[Karbase8]

I had an incident at the Contemporary Resort last week on 8/22. There has been one recent arrest of a housekeeper at WDW lately where they placed money in a safe as a setup and the housekeeper took a porton of the money. What happened to me was this. Our housekeeper knocked on our door at 10am asking to clean the room with another male I said they could come in a moment as me and my son were heading to breakfast. Every day during our stay I leave an envelope with a tip marked Mousekeeping next to the maid service card. My son and I went up to the Cafe came back over an hour later. The room was still not cleaned but I thought maybe they just got backed up no big deal our plan was to go to MK in the afternoon so we went to the pool, relaxed ate lunch and gave them 2 hours to clean the room. When I returned, the room was still not cleaned, so I called down to housekeeping just to get new towels so we can have our showers. When I went into the bathroom, I found the tip was taken and the room was not cleaned! I was shocked and very upset and to me that is stealing. I called down back to housekeeping and asked for my money back and was very upset as was the person who took my call. She sent my maid to the room with another worker, the maid said she never entered my room and it could have been anyone in housekeeping that entered. The other worker said they could track who came into my room and called a supervisor. The other worker was so kind and upset. Another concern, I could see a white envelope hanging out of my maid's pocket. I didn't want to call her out because I didn't want to falsely accuse anyone. The supervisor came and said all they could do was offer me an extended check out the next day? We could not stay because of our flight. I know it was a small amount of money, but it was the principal of the situation. I have read stories of people using the in-room safes and still getting things stolen. I felt very unsafe and in this situation. I want to give my housekeeper a tip and now I don't even feel comfortable doing that and wonder what else could have been taken from my room? I had everything secured and any cash I carried on my person with the exception of some cash hidden within a bag within a bag.

 

[Karbase8]

Why do people always blame the victim of a crime???

Just because you don't lock something up and it get's stolen doesn't make it your fault.

If I steal something from my fellow employees purse that she left sitting on her desk is it her fault?

I guess anything we leave in our locked hotel rooms is fair game for the hotel staff?

Amen totally agree!

 

[LSchrow]

Several years ago, my wedding band and engagement ring went missing. We were not traveling at the time either. It wasn't until a couple of months later that I discovered them in a piece of luggage. Seems we had returned from a trip and after unpacking, had left a couple of pieces of luggage lying around the bedroom before storing them in the attic. Our daughter who was a toddler at the time, must have picked my rings up off my dresser and put them in the zipper pocket of the suitcase.
Also, a boss of mine one time returned from a trip out of the country and insisted that his wife's pearls had been stolen by the hotel staff. A few weeks later, they found them in a makeup or jewelry bag that she normally didn't store them in. Not sure if she put them there in haste or what, but, again, it may be worth going through every piece of luggage, every little bag, etc. to make sure it didn't wind up in there somehow.

as lacey said: check, shake out, empty, recheck everything!

about 2 months ago, an associate in our shoe store found 4 pieces of very expensive jewelry (including full cut multi-diamond wedding & engagement rings, wayland pendant, etc). - inside a shoebox that was on our shelf, tucked under the shoes & paper

it took a few weeks of investigation (both on our internal network, then at home for full internet research), but i was finally able to find a customer that returned those exact shoes, and working contact info.

winds up that the woman had brought her new shoes on vacation, decided they didn't feel right, & left them in box.
while away, she decided to take off her jewelry, put the items in the shoebox so she wouldn't lose them.....came home & returned the shoes.

she didn't even realize the items were missing until i insisted she check her jewelry box, and we traced her story back.
the story had a very happy ending (not only for her, i was ecstatic to find the proper owner ), but what if i hadn't been able to find her? she had entirely forgotten about putting the jewelry in the box, and would probably have assumed they had been lost or stolen.
btw, the resulting scenario was not what i had anticipated. we assumed the items fell off a dresser into the box, or a children had been playing with them & put them in there, etc.

good luck in finding the watch

 

[maxiesmom]

Amen totally agree!

First you have to prove there was a crime. And with the OP repeatedly saying how absent minded her husband is with his stuff, it is possible he lost the watch. And as his wife apparently lets him know her displeasure with him, he could just be letting houskeeping take the heat for something he knows he lost.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Another concern, I could see a white envelope hanging out of my maid's pocket. I didn't want to call her out because I didn't want to falsely accuse anyone.

You're probably not the only guests who put tips in white envelopes.