cityvisitor

Hi, has anyone experienced a theft at a Hilton family hotel? I stayed at the home2suites in Fort Lauderdale and had our bags gone through and stuff stolen. We filed a police report and report with the hotel and they pulled a key log report after the 5th request and only after waiting until the next day along with having a police officer request the info too. It showed a guest key entered our room when we were both no where close to the room and had our keys in our possession. We were told that we still needed to pay for the stay even though I requested it comped. The hotel response was a bit laissez faire and they didn’t really do much until the next evening when an assistant manager was called in. They informed that they will be turning it over to corporate and their insurance company to decide what they will do and get back to me vis email soon. In all my hotel stays all over, I’ve never had this occur and unsure how to handle it. Thanks in advance.

Often1

You have not explained what you mean by "stuff" or the rough fair market value involved, but you should probably report this to your travel insurer (may also have some coverage under homeowners). If the hotel does not accept responsibility, you may face reporting deadlines from your own carrier(s).

State laws differ, but you may find yourself disappointed by the protections afforded for "innkeepers."

Here one would hope that the property falls all over itself because this is either an inside job or had inside assistance.

craigthemif

Clearly an inside job, or the stupidest front desk clerk in America... handing out room keys to whoever asks... (instead of checking ID, etc.)

Hotel stay should clearly be comped, and corporate should do more, especially if you have status. Can't really help you much on the insurance angle...

I can't even imagine how annoying this would be.

arlflyer

You would not believe how rarely anyone validates info to get a replacement key. Sometimes I will be using mobile key but want a plastic key e.g. if I am going running or such, and rarely ever get asked anything more than name and room number.

That being said, in South Florida during a down economy, my money would be 100% on inside job.

craigthemif

At least matching a name to a room number is something. "I'm in Room 123 and I lost my key" should never work with the most basic of staff training.

Of course, the thief could have been hanging around the lobby, waiting to hear the magic combination of name and room number.

I suspect inside job as well though.

mozilla

No, positive ID verification is something. If guest left ID behind in the room: front desk makes new room keycard, hands card to security along with a written note of the name of the registered guest, security accompanies guest to room with 2 associates (at least one has same gender as guest - no exceptions), associates knock, enter and verify room is empty, then invite guest in the room and ask to locate ID (even if it is in plain sight) and hand the new keycard after positive ID verification.

That's why the front desk should never mention the room number, just write the number on the card sleeve and hand the sleeve to the guest. If guest then decides to shout their room number in the lobby, that's on them.

Be aware of your surroundings when you're a guest at the front desk and need to mention your room number. Do so discreetly, or just show your card sleeve.

finarg

I have a friend who had same problem in south florida .
almost definitely insiders who get a cut of the proceeds. but they choose targets who they think have valuables.
what did you have which might have attracted their attention?

lastly, the hotel response was pathetic .
everyone who reads this should put Home2Suites on their NOGO list .

The Road Goes On Forever

FWIW, you would be hard pressed to find a security staff at most select service properties or even two associates on property at the same time for the majority of the day.

muzthe42nd

At a Home2 Suites, the front desk agent is probably the only staff member on duty. They should still accompany the guest to the room though.

linsj

Every time I've locked myself out of a hotel room I've had to show ID to get a new keycard, or someone accompanied me to the room to look at my ID if I didn't have it with me.

loomis

Please know that I am not making any judgement about the OP, but most states have an innkeeper's law to protect hotels against bogus claims. After all, any guest could say that anything was missing from their room.

Here is Florida's innkeeper's law, with Section 509.11 being the applicable verbiage regarding guest's property:
Statutes & Constitution :View Statutes : Online Sunshine

Unfortunately, I think the hotel's "we are turning it over to corporate and our insurance company" is just a line to appease the OP. I doubt that that will go anywhere.

I would be interested to hear the value of the stolen items vs. the amount of the OP's refund. Did the refund at least come close to making you whole?

Often1

These are fairly common across the country and place OP at a major disadvantage. This either gets dealt with as a customer service matter or through OP's insurance. As noted above, don't let any deadlines run on filing your own claim.

Don't let the question of the room key become a red herring. That is an issue for the property.

Loren Pechtel

What looks like the relevant section:

Since a key card existed that shouldn't I can't imagine how this isn't at least negligence. $500 is a joke compared to what an awful lot of people carry with them these days, though!

cityvisitor

I apologize, stuff meaning basically my carry on items like clothes, digital slr camera, noise canceling headphones for myself and my traveling companion. Total cost maybe $2-3k. Thanks for the info, I suspect it’s an inside job too but unsure since there is a random key log time where neither of us were anywhere close to the hotel and both had our hotel key on us. Thanks, that was my feeling too but I figured the stay would be comped at least when we were able to show that we weren’t even close to the hotel when this keycard entry occurred. FYI, we did try to look for security cameras and they did not have any onsite within the hotel except at the check in desk or the garage. They comped 1 night for about $120 due to having to change rooms due to being checked into a room that had not been cleaned (dirty, I flushed toilet and trash) and in the new room, the sink was leaking and flooded the bathroom.

Often1

Given the amount involved, if the property does anything, it will likely make an offer in return for a release of liability and NDA. Comping the room and other things which might later be seen as an admission of liability are the kind of thing which property management are trained not to do.

Once the dollars reach some amount, these things turn from customer service to cold hard dollars.