YWang

Dear all,

I’m a long time lurker on this forum, and I appreciate all the knowledge you share here. Really enjoyed the atmosphere at this community, and I learned a lot during my time here. To make my own contribution, I have some painful experience to share about a trip this past weekend and want to ask you all for your opinion about what I should do now.

So here's what happened.

My girlfriend and I had $900 cash in our room stolen during our anniversary trip at Miami Beach Edition from August 18th, 2016 through August 22nd, 2016. The money was stolen from a wallet which remained in our room for the entire stay, and we kept the door shut all the time. The hotel was informed immediately when we realized this was a theft issue, and a police report was made in due course. We were given only a partial hotel credit which failed to cover our stolen amount. The hotel security supervisor filed a claim report to Marriott and we were told we would be contacted by Marriott within 24-48hrs. This didn’t happen however.

I composed a detailed account of what has happened and posted it on TripAdvisor. But apparently TripAdvisor has a pre-censorship policy and my review is still pending review. But for details, you can find my post text on this page:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zb8DYI8UdrF7VQSj_16RsG3iRZt4YCeuaDaDEzafwxo/pub

This was very traumatic experience to my girlfriend and me, and as a Marriot Plat Member I never thought this could happen on me in a Marriott managed property particularly at luxury level like Edition. It was exactly the opposite what I had envisioned about how our anniversary trip would unfold.

I was wondering if you guys have any suggestions as to what I should do now. As this is a very unhappy memory I hope we at least get compensated for the stolen amount and other expenses associated with the incident. Any input would be highly appreciated. Thank you all!

Best,

YW

SkiAdcock

First, welcome to Flyertalk after lurking for a long while!

It looks like you did the right thing to contact security & do the police report.

Have you contacted the security guard again to mention you've not heard from Marriott, or contact the GM to say the same? They may still be doing some internal review (ie, which staff had access to your room), but you should receive an update.

And before others chime in, was there a room safe? If so it would have made sense to put the wallet in that given the $$ amount in the wallet.

While the anniversary weekend didn't end on a good note due to the theft, hopefully the rest was ok - and happy anniversary.

Cheers.

Silver Fox

Room safe? Safe at the front desk? Will your travel insurance cover it? What was the hotels policy/suggestion on storing valuables? How did the hotel staff/thieves/anyone get access to the money if it was either with you or you were in the room the whole time? It sounds like you never left it, or it never left you, so how could thieves have stolen it?

joshua362

I was in the (high end) SF JW last 2 weeks ago and was shocked to be told by the front desk that they did not have a hotel safe and would have to use the in room safe to store a $12,000 engagement ring! The safe malfunctioned twice and maintenance had to come (the first time when I wasn't in the room), spoiling the surprise!

Honestly, I am very surprised the hotel is considering any sort of reimbursement unless they determined from the key card reader that someone indeed entered the room - which it sounds like if they gave you partial reimbursement.

Often1

First, I would make a claim on your travel insurance although your loss may not be covered if you did not use a hotel or room safe. But, failing to make a timely report is an easy way to lose out on a benefit.

Second, call the property back and note that you have not heard from Marriott yet.

Third, do not hold your breath. Not to be harsh, but leaving $900 in cash in a hotel room is a prescription for what happened. I would not expect Marriott to do much here, although the credit seems like a nice customer service gesture.

MSPeconomist

In the USA, homeowner insurance tends to partially cover such loses.

MSPeconomist

This is shocking, first of all because in many jurisdictions, hotels are required to have a safe at the front desk and, in fact, the hotel may not be liable if something is taken from the in room safe.

Secondly, maintenance should *never* be permitted to open an in room safe in an occupied room when the registered guest is not present. If they open the safe after check out, a manager should be present to witness this and document what was left behind in the safe.

I wonder whether this was an attempted inside job, starting with being told that the hotel doesn't have a safe behind the front desk.

Please report everything to Marriott. You might also want to check California hotelkeeper laws to see whether the hotel is indeed obligated to provide the front desk safe. Failing to do so might make the hotel liable for any potentila loss from the room. You might also want to file a report with the applicable state regulatory or customer protection agency.

SkiAdcock

BTW - the Miami Edition was sued last year by a couple who had $80K of watches stolen from their room. No idea how it was resolved.

http://www.miaminewtimes.com/news/mi...-theft-7807110

"The couple says the hotel's doors malfunctioned, leaving their valuables unprotected inside. The suit claims that the malfunctioning door problem was known to the hotel, and Ripley found that a neighboring room also had the same problem. They also claim that there are no security cameras in the hallways."

Cheers.

Kacee

This sucks and a great reminder not to leave valuables unsecured, no matter how safe the hotel may seem.

Very difficult for the hotel or police to do much in a situation where the timing of the theft could have been anytime over several days . . . there were likely a half dozen or more staff entries into the room during that period.

Homeowner's insurance typically does not cover cash.

joshua362

I was very surprised about the no front desk safe here, I had never used one in my life and really wouldn't know it exists except for reading people's experiences here on FT. The one time I had a need...

I thought the in-room safe was malfunctioning since it had a sign on it about swiping a credit card and it wouldn't lock for me initially. I was rushing to get to a GNR concert WITHOUT the GF who remained in the room. Hence the surprise was blown when he showed up and opened it in her presence with a special tool (she wasn't registered BTW). I did stop again at the FD to have the guy not show up but he did anyway when I was gone. Oh well.

Place definitely not worthy of its JW moniker...

YWang

SkiAdcock/Sharon,

Thank you very much for your advice and good wishes!

To answer your question, yes there is a room safe I believe, and no, we didn't use it. If I were to know what has happened, I'd definitely not hesitate to put that wallet there. However, we never expected this issue would happen particularly at Edition level of hotel. I mean, when you pay $400+/night for hotel stays you wouldn't be so concerned about property security, would you? I guess this is a very painful lesson we learned.

I will try to reach out to Marriot/hotel now. I'm quite unhappy that no one from the group even had the courtesy to contact us afterwards. Will let you know how this goes.

Again, thank you very much for the advice!

Best,

YW

YWang

Dear Silver Fox,

Thank you for your concerns. The problem was we never thought we'd need to use the room safe when we were at the hotel. If i were to stay at a motel I'd prob put all my valuable items in a safe first, but this is a well-established luxury hotel, and never thought this type of things would happen.

The wallet was in a lady shoulder bag, and the bag sat on our desk for the entire stay. My girlfriend didn't take it out of our room because I paid everything and she stayed with me for the entire time. And we didn't zip up the bag and the wallet is directly visible to anyone who passed by. I think that's how it attracted unwanted attention.

Best,

YW

YWang

Dear Often1,

Thanks a lot for your reminder. I'm unsure if my credit card provided any insurance in this regard (I paid with RC branded credit card from Chase), but will give the credit card agency a try.

I will call the property later soon and will report back in this forum.

While I did appreciate the gesture, I'm still shocked that such thing happened at level. This thing might be common at a budget level hotel, but apparently it happened at some high end one as well. This thought is very unsettling tbh.

Best,

YW

YWang

This is very shocking news. I were told by the front desk when I reported that theft in the room was never heard of... Probably the receptionist was just new to the property? Thank you very much for digging it out, Sharon!

And indeed, there was no security camera in the hallway. Didn't realize it until the theft on our trip happened. How much I wish there were cameras!

joshua362

Really don't think the class or cost of hotel has anything to do with it. Big city, big city problems, big city workers, big city opportunities. I highly doubt any insurance will pay off on a police report alone, they don't know if you lost $9, $90 or $900. As I stated above, I carried a ring around with me some 6000 miles and it was never out of my sight or not locked up.