Suggestions for dealing with petty theft
 

I've stayed at the SHS in Seattle for 40 nights this year. For the second time i have had change removed from counter in the room. I know...call me stupid but when I'm away from home i treat the hotel room as home. When i get off of work i come through the door and put the change from my pockets on the counter. The first time it happened the manager moved me from silver to platinum. A very nice gesture so i continued to come her. So...it happens again. The housekeeping manager just showed up at my door with the woman who cleaned the room and of course she has denied taking anything. My feelings on that are that the manager made a huge mistake by putting me in a face to face situatuion with the housekeeper in the middle of a hotel hallway. Suggestions on how i should deal with this??

Stop leaving change in the room? ;)

Seriously, there is no way to prove this is happening so you've done all you can. The manager most certainly took note, and if rooms cleaned by this housekeeper repeatedly generate complaints, then karma will run its course.

Also, I didn't know that individual property managers (at SHS particularly) had the power to grant higher levels of elite status. While I'm glad for you (and think you got a lot more than the loss of a few cents would seem to warrant), I have to wonder why Marriott would let their otherwise tightly-run program be diluted so easily.

Or just leave 2 pennies in your room and see if someone will take that. :p

Seriously, you got a good deal in going from silver to platinum. It can get tricky to prove who took what. I have had a couple of instances where 2-3 housekeepers came to clean my room at once.

Small amounts of money left out in the open is the standard way of tipping the housekeeping staff.

I don't care what you do at home but when traveling, it is common sense not to leave valuables, particulary money, out.

I agree, I would bring both situations to the GM's attention again: 1) missing change 2) the face to face

Yes, this is the quickest and simplest way to solve his "problem."

I've heard of doing this with small bills, but do people really leave spare change as a tip?

And if this were a simple misunderstanding like that, then the housekeeper could simply say she thought it was a tip and offer to return however much change was taken.

Yes, I accumulate a lot of change during the week (still can't figure out why), and if it's enough for a tip, then I'll leave that. Usually with a few ones. Better than lugging it around to the airport, and hey, money is money.