Somebodys stealing things from my hotel room

MR DAVE

I have had three items go missing within one day. I noticed my travel first aid kit was missing last night and thought somebody may have stole it at the airport, then just a coulpe of hours ago my pac-safe bag chainer was gone as well as well as my lunch box with bits and bobs in. I think maybe the clearer guys at the hotel have taken them. What can I do? Should I report it and who too? Thnaks. btw I'm in colaba, mumbai.

AprilFlower

This is very common. You should be sure to lock up any and all things in your suitcase and if you have an extra chain then chain the suitcase to your bed. Another solution is to use your own personal padlock on the door of your hotel. You can try reporting the theft to the hotel owner but don't have very high expectations. Major crimes in India is relitively low but this type of petty crime is incredibly high. Worst case you can try moving to a different hotel.

kalbarri

tell manager, get police if anything was valuable or quickly shift to a different hotel.

capt_mahajan

Agree. Tell the manager- or owner, even better. at least. though I am afraid most hotels will not do anything much about it.

Pilferage is not uncommon.


PS You could tell them you are going to make their name mud all over the place, including out here

kalbarri

in my experience of india pilfering is not common. i never had anything stolen from my hotel room, that i have noticed. over time, i have probably been in about a hundred different hotels and often leave valuables lying around when i go out. i would hide large sums of money or take it with me.
there's always room for precaution!

labrol

I agree. In twenty years of traveling budget as well as upmarket, almost a dozen trips a year in different parts of India, I only lost once, my spare camera battery pack in Kullu in 1988. I complained to the hotel manager who raised heaven and hell with his emloyees. He was so apologetic, I was embarassed.

We returned five days later to the Bhuntar airport where we had arrived earlier. And there it was, the battery pack, at the check in counter, waiting for someone to claim. It had apparently fallen out of my bag in the aircraft while disembarking!!

No harm in having your own padlock for the room in a budget hotel.

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kalbarri

that's when you really would have been embarassed. at the airport. those poor hotel workers.

PeakXV

I've never had anything stolen in 4 & 5 star hotels and always, always leave heaps of pocket change in the bedside ashtray .... never lost a paisa with that inhouse banking style yet.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

chAos

Yeah, I've never had anything taken from a hotel room, either. Well, not by staff anyway... however, travel with an adolescent niece and it's a different story!

I'd tell the manager and as a starting tactic, feign confusion, along the lines of "oh, there must have been some sort of mistake; I'm sure no one meant to take anything." I find this sometimes gets better results than making someone defensive.

Nick-H

Well, I guess I have been lucky, at least with the hotels --- though I have been stolen from by someone we trusted in our own house, which is a different kettle of fish altogether.

I'll trot out one of my sayings:

On a bad day, temptation can make a thief out of a good man.

Keep stuff under cover, keep stuff locked up in your case. It won't stop a man with a pair of pliers, but that is not the kind of theft you are most likely to face.

AprilFlower

Here here. Great saying, one to live by .

crvlvr

What kind of hotel are you staying at?

Ali-Monbeam

We left a tip for the cleaner in our room when we left as she had been really nice and told us loads of tips and she rushed down to reception when we were checking out and said we left it by mistake....her face was so happy when we told her it was for her and thanked her for her honesty.

The other side of the coin in Agra a cleaner swiped my Estee Lauder lipstick and some earings...I saw her wearing them! I told the manager and he told me to prove it!!? so I showed him the matching necklace, he then searched her and found loads of things from other clients rooms as well as the lippy that I hadnt until that point missed.

palerider

Wow. Not a thing ever stolen, more good luck than good management probably.
But any money obviously, I take with me.

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Wildhorse

Have just stumbled over this thread. I try to always use my own padlock on the door because I'd rather be safe than sorry but there are doors on which no padlock can be used. What then?