stimpy

I got zinged by a new one. I had all day meetings in the hotel (Shangri-la Bangkok) so I left my wallet laying on the desk in my room. Later that night, I returned to the room to find my wallet missing. Everything else was fine.

So I ransacked the room looking for my wallet, then called security. They took a report and left. Then I called Amex to cancel my credit cards. Soon afterwards, security returned with a special device to unlock the room safe. There we found my wallet. What happened?

It is hotel policy that when a maid finds a valuable lying out in the open, and the safe is open, they call security who places the valuable in the safe and locks it. Then they are supposed to leave the guest a message. In my case, they forgot to tell me or even their own colleages that they did this.

The hotel apologized about the error and provided a limo to take me to the local Amex office to pick up my new cards (Amex says that once the card is reported stolen, there is no going back).

I wondered why my wallet with cancelable credit cards and about $60 is a valuable, and my $2000 laptop with priceless information on the disk is not?

Chalk it up to experience. I hope this helps someone else in the same situation sometime.

doc

Sorry to learn of your huge hassle but happy you at least got it back- boy, but what a loss of time and such aggravation.

I always put my wallet and things like laptops IN the drawer, rather than on it. This avoids temptation and the accidental provision of a huge tip for housekeeper! It's worked so far.

Beckles

I've got one for you ...

I was in the Crystal City Hyatt a couple weeks ago and I go to plug in my cell phone charger but there's no outlets and I take a closer look at the plugs there already. Well, there's already a cell phone charger there, so I unplug it and plug mine in. The next morning I drop off the charger and tell the guy the last person in the room will probably be looking for this.

I return to my room that evening and go to plug my cell phone in and guess what, my charger is gone. Well, I immediately know what happened ...

Luckily they had not sent my charger back yet and sure enough the other charger is behind the front desk with no tag or anything on it noting the room it came from (like I expected the guy to do when I gave it to him). Needless to say I pointed out that I was none too happy about them taking items out of my room regardless of their reasons (especially since there are only about 100 million Motorola cell phone chargers in the world) and their lax front desk staff who didn't note the charger had already been returned.

On the other hand I was able to get them to extend my stay at the sold out hotel (see my thread elsewhere about this) after this incident without any trouble ...

Nanook

A couple of years ago a friend of my had his laptop stolen from his room at a hotel in Canada. He was in a room that had a connecting door to the next room. In older hotels, this is the door that the bellman opens with a special key when someone requesting connecting rooms checks in. He could open his door, which had a doorknob on his side of the door and a metal plate over the inside of his door. The other door, had a metal plate and on the other side of that door, a door knob. It turns out the thief in the next room heard him go out and then opened his door and pried off the metal plate on my friend's door. All he needed was a screwdriver and he could open the other door. So now, when I check into any hotel room, if I have a connecting door, I look at how it secures. Most of these type doors, however, are on older hotels.

ranles

I too leave "stuff" in the dresser drawer. Hotels make it clear from the history of non reimbursement, that they are not responsible for missing items.

Leaving ones wallet on the table is too much temptation. One could ask why you did not take it with you, but there are any number of reasons to leave any number of valuables behind, and so the risks are there. Just seema, like putting stuff in the trunk of ones car (I know you do not have one!), it just keeps things out of sight and therefore less vulnerable.

Thanks for the tip. I would have never thought of that being their response.

doc

BTW- Stimpy- A small note on the counter explaining this "policy" would potentially minimize a whole lot of future grief for other SL patrons! You might mention this to management particularly if you have not yet checked out.

BTW-ranles- Just remember though in NYC you should put "stuff" in the trunk prior to parking and emerging- especially in heavily trafficed tourist areas near museums, concert halls etc. People watch and "hit' your auto just after you leave! Sad but true- one of the few unfortunate things about NYC. Better yet - give up the car!

Catman

I am overly paranoid...

I tend to put my valuables (the laptop, air tickets, passport, cat pixs, etc) in a secret place that I won't say here. If I can, I carry the valuables with me at all times.

If I'm in a real strange hotel I sleep with the wallet under my pillow. I'm a light sleeper so any little noise wakes me.

Jon Toner

Clothing and toiletries are all I will ever leave in a hotel room.

If I have to do a quick run to a Walmart or something, I'll pack the laptop in the trunk of the rental car and go.

As for the wallet, it NEVER leaves my pocket or hand.



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"I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own."

baobab

I like hotels with safes, or laptop drawers (found in Zurich hotels...) where one can plug the beast in to recharge while it is safely locked away.

One alternative to lugging a laptop about or putting it in the trunk of a valet-parked car is to chain it to a piece of heavy/indestructible furniture in such a way that a thief can't walk off without taking the furniture with (or bringing a hefty pair of cable cutters) Locks on laptop bags, while not fool proof, can also be a deterrent.

(Here I diverge somewhat to complain that I lost a lock from my bag when Delta in SLC made me unpack the laptop to go through their X-ray machine. What's with that???)

stimpy

My laptop problems went away when I bought the new tiny Sony C1. It has a nearly full size keyboard, but a half-size monitor and it fits in my jacket pocket. So I take it nearly wherever I go. When it's in my bag, airport security doesn't realize it's a laptop and they don't scan it.

Check out http://www.sony.com/picturebook

I recommend it highly for travelers who don't have bad eyes or very large fingers.