Accused of Stealing Towels from Hotel
 

Moderators please move this thread to the appropriate place if it does not belong in TravelBuzz.

My mother and I spent two nights at a locally-owned hotel in Monterey, California. I had stayed at this hotel two years ago. I am a very conscientious person who leaves the room in the same or better condition than when I checked in.

We checked in on Friday evening and after rising on Saturday morning, we showered separately and left our used and wet towels, bathmat, hand towel, and wash cloth in the bathroom. When we returned to our room, we noticed that our beds had not been made, the trash was still in the waste receptacles and recycling bin, and that our wet towels were missing. Two towels, a wash cloth, and one hand towel were still in the room. I did not contact the front desk and demand that the room be cleaned and I did not request additional towels. The next morning, we again showered separately and used both of the remaining clean towels.

When I looked at my emails on Monday morning, I had a message from the hotel stating that items were missing from the room. An itemized list was included with the cost of each item. The total was $60.00. I checked my credit card statement and saw a charge of $60.00 was pending from the hotel; the charge was separate from my room charges.

I contacted the hotel and explained that our towels, used on Saturday morning, were not replaced. I also mentioned that no other housecleaning services were provided that day. I requested that the charge be removed and said that if it were not, that I would dispute the charges. I did not receive a response.

Today I realized that the pending charge was no longer pending but was included on my statement as billable. I contacted the hotel again and demanded that the charge be removed and that I receive an apology. I informed them that the charge had been disputed by me. The hotel responded that housekeeping had reported that the items were missing and that housekeeping had not cleaned the room because we did not request that the room be cleaned.

Has anyone else had such a ridiculous experience? If so, what did you do? I threatened legal action and said that I would report this incident on TripAdvisor and other websites. What else can I do?

"Legal action" is a bit over the top. You've done exactly what you should have done, which is to challenge the charge with the hotel and then dispute it on your credit card. If you want to do anything else then report it on TA. Your CC company will reverse the charge and you will go on your way. Case closed, unless you are unwise enough to stay in the same hotel in the future.

FYI, the excess of detail (your mother's age, your activities for the day, your hotel nights per year and visits to Monterey per year, etc.) just makes your story more tiresome to read, not more illuminating.

can talk to high level management at hotel, and possibly owner of hotel as well

Sorry, I can't add anything to what has been said (let your credit card fight this), but I'm glad you cleared us up about that (and I won't ask about the routine on Sunday morning!)

Sounds like a housekeeper started on the room, got distracted, and never went back to finish.

What property was it?

:p

Glad that some people get my humor about the showering. If the hotel does not drop the charge, I will post the name. It was a lovely place and we were very pleased with our stay. I was just shocked that they would accuse two old ladies of stealing dirty and wet towels. What would we do with them - hide them in my Louis Vuitton bag and transport them home to Texas?

sometimes mistakes are made. at tiny family owned properties, perhaps it is easier for mistakes to be made sometimes. at chain properties, standard operating procedures often break down because they cannot account for everything. at both, entry level front line employees (who may be in their first job) almost always have little to no empowerment, may not be knowledgeable, and are not decision makers.

Even if you didn't want housekeeping service Friday night, you probably should have reported that nothing was done in your room other than removing some towels.

Sorry, should have caught that!

I once got a 10 dollar charge for a bottle of water. Except, I didn't touch the bottle of water. I had a convo with the manager on the phone and she reversed it.

Add a review on tripadvisor

Your towels are probably with the bathrobe that (never even in the room) I was once accused of taking, it showed up on my bill after checkout, I disputed the charge, the credit card company sided with the hotel, and then after taking it up with Hotel Corporate, did I get my dough back.

Of all silly expenses.... Towels? I could see it perhaps in a seaside resort where a towel might grow legs... maybe. But a regular hotel towel not meant for the great outdoors?

A property in New Orleans once accused me of stealing two pillows from my hotel room! I eventually got the charge refunded by the manager after making the point I had photographic evidence I was travelling with only a small hand luggage sized rucksack (so where would I put them?) and had plenty of my own pillows at home!