OT, but is this strange, related to hotel stay ?

[Alexander]

It is scary what can happen while you are n a hotel room. Many years ago at a hotel in Cedar Rapids Iowa I noticed the same thing. I was there on business for 2 weeks and I first noticed this a few days into the trip. The day after I noticed a bag of chips I had was missing and the TV was now facing the other bed then what it was that morning before leaving. I still thought maybe I was just crazy. On the Monday of the 2nd week our class was delayed because alot of people had weather issues after returning ( they went home for the weekend)and they postponed class until noon, so it was around 9am and I went back to the room. I went into my room and the bathroom door was shut and a bunch of my undies were out on the bed. I saw no housekeeping cart, so I went down to the desk and told them what was going on. The manager said he would go find out. Long story short, the manager found the maintance man in my room wearing my underwear:scared1,:. They apologized and offered to clean my clothes, I pressed the issue and they replaced $200 worth of bras and panties. I am sorry, but I was not wearing any of them anymore. I travel alot for work and have had clothes stolen and I know drawers gone though (I place them a certain way now), so things do happen more then many people realize. I am glad they were so nice about it for you, I love doubletree, never had a bad experience there.

Can you imagine the manager's face when he found that???

 

[dis-happy]

Some amazing stories.

We usually keep the Do Not Disturb sign on the door during our stay (we reuse the towels and replace ourselves if needed). And when leaving the room we leave the TV on, as well as a light if it's nighttime. Sometimes I'll even leave the bathroom light and fan on with the bathroom door closed so it looks like someone is in the room if someone starts to enter. Yeah, it wastes a bit of electricity, but better to make the room look lived in. Laptop either goes in the in-room safe or with us hidden in the car.

 

[ajh88]

I have been a hotel GM for over 20 years. All different properties (from resort to conference centers)

In the 20 years, guests always want to blame the housekeepers, but I have had maybe three times where it was actually them. It is very rare.

From the hotel's viewpoint, we get tons of "claims" about stolen items. Very few of them are true. Many items are actually found in the room, never were in the room to begin with and/or someone trying to scam us. They don't realize that a decent hotel won't be on the hook for anything, because they provide both an in room safe and access to a safety deposit box. If you have those two things and a copy of the Innkeepers law on the door, you won't be liable if someone stole your grandmother.

This is a bit OT, so I'm sorry...I know the hotel technically isn't on the hook for property that is missing from rooms. My issue is that I can take steps to make myself feel safe when I'm alone in a hotel room (using the deadbolt and chain, putting a chair in front of the door, etc.), but I felt just as violated as if someone had broken into my home or vehicle. It also made me feel unsafe at the location and really pretty creeped out. It was the first (and only) time I've had that sort of experience. I can't necessarily blame the hotel but I know I certainly will never stay there again!

 

[eyor44]

I'm glad that nothing was taken and that the hotel took your issue seriously. You can bet they questioned all those on staff that day who were in that area.

 

[disneyfans95]

This is a bit OT, so I'm sorry...I know the hotel technically isn't on the hook for property that is missing from rooms. My issue is that I can take steps to make myself feel safe when I'm alone in a hotel room (using the deadbolt and chain, putting a chair in front of the door, etc.), but I felt just as violated as if someone had broken into my home or vehicle. It also made me feel unsafe at the location and really pretty creeped out. It was the first (and only) time I've had that sort of experience. I can't necessarily blame the hotel but I know I certainly will never stay there again!

Oh you have every right to feel that way! We are always on the look out for employee theft and use various tools to combat it. My point was more off topic about liablity then anything. Theft from hotel staff is heavy in food and money, more then items from the guest rooms

Someone asked earlier about keys to the room. Rooms are assigned as section and when you break out the house in the morning, maids are given a section and key card that opens maid closets and just the rooms in their section. Plus there are normally hallway cameras. We also use a system where the maid must enter a code in the hotel room's telephone that shows them in the room and then again when done. This is done to be sure status of the room (clean, vacant, dirty etc) are done ASAP for guests. But it also tracks and we audit to match up how long the maid was in the room and if they entered w/o doing that and then of course, why.

There are a ton of security measures in place, but at the end of the day, you sure can have an employee rob a guest.