yaysports

Hello!
I couldn't figure out my old email associated with my account, and it's been a while since I visited/posted, but good to be back. I had a question that I figured some frequent traveler out there would be knowledgable about!

I had a sporting competition in Colorado a couple of months ago. Because of airline delays/re-routings, etc., I had been arriving on no sleep, and had to quickly drop my things off in my hotel room and head to the competition.

Halfway through the day (my competition is one that lasts all day), I received a call from the police that my computer was stolen, then recovered, from my hotel room.

Apparently, the housekeeper had misread the length of my stay, and put these valuables on her cart, thinking I had left them there, but had checked out of my room (I was booked for one more night). She continued to clean the other rooms, with my items left out in the hallway on her cart. My computer was stolen, along with the power source, and a couple of clothing items, which, while not pricey, were irreplaceable (a 2012 US Olympic hat and a couple other additional small items).

After I got back to the hotel from my competition, the housekeeper brought back my computer, which since the incident had not been working as consistently as it was before, and eventually completely crashed a couple of weeks later. I hadn't noticed the missing items of clothing and "pool toys" for swimming until I had packed up the day after.

The hotel replaced the power source, but that's it. I had requested some sort of compensation for the incident, as I was still out of clothing/swim gear, and they offered me 5,000 points, which covers a half-night in their lowest level of hotel, none of my stay being comped for this happening.

They gave a statement to the police regarding this, and had claimed that it was their employee's fault (whom they told me was fired, but not sure how that helps me reclaim my items).

So my question...is there anything I can do about this? I tried talking to some sort of "corporate headquarters," but this is a franchise, so was told the responsibility lies on that individual location, and there is nothing they can do (this was a Choice hotel).

If there is anyone out there that can offer advice, I figured it would be found here, so appreciate any help!

Thanks!

Allan38103

This incident should be covered by insurance, yours or the hotels, or both.

If you have insurance, give them them the complete details and let them deal with it. If you don't have insurance, then you'll have to deal with the hotel's insurance yourself.

yaysports

That's what I thought, too. I don't believe I have insurance for something like this? I asked the hotel about theirs, and they said this wasn't covered, and the best they would do for me is give me a free night in the future, which doesn't cover very much.

audrialyn30

Take them to small claims court. I hope you DID NOT accept their measley offer.

justhere

If you have homeowners insurance it normally covers something like this but it also depends on your deductible as to whether you'd actually get any money from your insurance company.

yaysports

Thanks. I live out of state from where it happened, so would have to combine it with a trip to train if I had to come back for small claims court, though am thinking about that option. They have been pretty bad via many emails about any sort of compromise, even though they allowed employee negligence and theft to go without any sort of compensation. But, I think that might be the route I will have to go.

I just moved back to Chicago, so am renting for this year, so no homeowner's insurance unfortunately.

Often1

Not necessarily. If it is a chain and the property is under corporate ownership, you could sue in your home jurisdiction presuming that the chain does business in your home jurisdiction.

You may even be able to do this depending on how and where you made the reservation, although that may be harder.

Bear in mind that if you win, at best you get the fair market value of the laptop. That is not the replacement value. A 2-year old $1,000 laptop is worth about $200 maybe. So consider a reasonable settlement as a tradeoff for not doing a really nasty social media campaign.

By way of example, you haven't even named the property here. Maybe others have had similar experiences and could tell you how they succeeded with that property. But, they can't because they don't know the property.

yaysports

It is a franchise (Choice Hotels), and when I called their corporate number, they had said nothing could be done from their end, it had to be dealt with directly, as they are all privately owned.

The laptop was a MacBook Pro, and I had looked up fair market value, offered that amount to them, plus the value of clothes stolen (without considering that they are now irreplaceable, as they are not made anymore, and meant a decent amount for me and my sporting "goal").

I would really like to refrain from a nasty social media campaign, which is also why I had left out the name of the establishment, and typically use my social media outlets for inspiration/encouragement, as opposed to something like this.

Fortunately, the fault of the hotel has been documented in the police report, so this should be pretty cut and dry, I would think?

audrialyn30

This hotel,is treating you like dirt. Why are you letting them off lightly? If it were me, I would be posting on every social media site AND emailing everyone with a Choice email around the clock, regardless of what they say. The squeaky wheel gets the oil, and you my friend ARE NOT squeking enough!!!!!

Often1

1. Did you seriously expect a poorly-paid phone agent at Choice to discuss corporate legal liability with you? That person was reading from a prepared script. Forget that. If you are not willing to do basic research to figure out who owns the property, just put this behind you.

2. Same thing goes for naming the property. If you want help, what about others? If 5 other people who have stayed at that property and got something accomplished could tell you how they got that done because they have done the research, but have no clue because you have not provided the property's name, that is on you as well.

3. Same thing for social media. It's up to you.

Before pursuing this, you need to decide whether you have your interest or the property's interests at heart. If it's the property's, just forget the laptop and move on.

MSPeconomist

Do you have a copy of the police report? I'm a bit suspicious that the police could catch the thief and recover (some of the) the items but then just have the housekeeper return your computer to you with no formalities. Are you sure that the police really were involved? [I'm wondering whether a hotel employee could called you and given you the impression that they were the police in order to discourage you from filing a police report.]

If there's any chance that travel, homeowner, or renter insurance could cover this, you will need a copy of the police report.

Is there any chance that some of your missing items could be in the hotel's lost and found?

audrialyn30

Your are only helping the hotel by not naming them. Tell us the name, and I guarantee I can tell you the owner of the franchise and the key people. You still need to bug the people at a corporate level, because they ARE responsible for the behavior of their franchisee.

Bikeguy

OT, but there is renters insurance, and it would cover something like this. Having known someone who got their apartment broken into, they really wished they had renters insurance before the burglary. All their already wrapped Christmas gifts were stolen.

audrialyn30

And then his rates will go up!! He needs to

TMOliver

....And a well executed social and travel media war (or the threat of a seriously waged one) is likely to be successful. "Choice" in your case appears to be pretty "chickensh*t" when it comes to disowning any culpability for its franchisee, and the current breed of Choice franchisees (or at least some of them) can be expected to be even worse, so the only successful strategy may be to paint both in a harshly critical light. Unfortunately, having done so, you're likely left holding the bag, having damaged them publicly, but receiving little in return.