More like if an employee of Home Depot broke into your car or a waiter stole your jacket..

true but you can prove who it was. some things you need to let go.

Yeah, what Tim said^^

This is a totally fallacious analogy. A hotel room serves two basic functions: (1) Give you a space in which to attend to basic human needs (sleeping, bathing, etc.). (2) Provide you with a space to leave your possessions.

Whether the OP should have left money inside his hotel room is besides the point. Whether he is able to prove the theft and thus recoup his losses is also besides the point. One of the fundamental services upon which the hotel business is predicated was violated and that is bull****.

... unless you consider that Hilton's employee(s) obviously stole the money while they were on the clock and being paid for performing their employment duties while they stole the money.

As someone else pointed out, even hotels warn you not to leave valuables in your room, explicitly saying that they don't provide a safe space for your valuables. You and the OP can feel violated, but so what? Leave unattended cash in a hotel room, especially when you're from another country and they know your time is limited is just asking to lose it.

So where do we draw the line on what is and isn't considered "safe" to leave in a hotel room? If I'm sharing a room with another person and we have multiple laptops and tablets between us, are we supposed to carry them around with us all day for fear of leaving them in what should be a secure room? What about my wardrobe? If I'm staying in a hotel, it's likely for a business trip, and so I probably have 2-4 suits on me. The line of work I'm in, image is everything, and these suits do not come cheap--$2-6k a piece would be a conservative estimate. Am I supposed to lug around a week's worth of suits whenever I wish to leave the room? These items sure as **** aren't fitting inside that tiny ass safe. What are my options? Would I not have a right to be pissed/expect compensation if the hotel I'm paying over a grand for a very short visit can't even provide one of the two basic services they are paid to provide?

Your position is uniquely american in my opinion. 'We' don't draw the line. Go ahead, draw a line over this theft. What does that even mean? Does the OP have a right to be pissed? Who cares? Go ahead, be pissed. Can he expect compensation? Probably not, given the logistics and the fact that the hotel and the local police would have to take his word. As for your suits, you should probably ask these questions when you check in to a hotel. I'm guessing they're quite a bit safer than a wad of cash on the nightstand but I dunno.

you could file a claim for lost goods with the hotels insurance company. or you file with your own company for the loss.
that is how it works. the hotel doesnt give you a check for a loss you claim that you cant prove even happened.

if there was evidence of a breakin or proof something was stolen they would likely turn it to their insurance and if you could show it was there they would pay you.

Welcome to my 2nd home 😂

Tbf even if u would stay in malta and speak to police etc there is zero chance to see ur money unless u are maltese or somewat important

[spoiler]kind rgds from teh TimStone[/spoiler]

Didn't read entire thread. Have not seen anyone recommend the best solution.

A motion sensitive spy cam, and/or a sign in multiple languages stating "Smile you are on video" would be something that swings things back in our favor.

Iv always been told not to leave money lying round hotel rooms because hotel cleaners may see this as a "tip". They'll take the money then plead ignorance.

Not your fault of course and this might not have been the case here but either way its a **** situation and the hotel should have compensated you.

You really think the hotel should compensate every time a degen poker player rambles up to the front desk and claims to have had cash disappear from his room, with no real proof other than a pinky promise?

How could we all have missed this brilliant solution? Now the next time the OP checks into a hotel in another country he can leave a wad of cash on the nightstand in peace, knowing it's safe.

Yes. The ****** that posted believes this. Normal people believe that what you can't prove didn't happen.

OP, next time you are at the Hilton take a flatscreen tv as compo.

The TVs are attached to the dresser by a cable lock. I know this because i run my own cable lock around the dresser and then through the arms of my $6k suits.

I believe that someone who has spent thousands of pounds over multiple visits should have been compensated for this incident especially given the speed in which they dealt with the somewhat serious complaint.

Not even for the full amount necessarily but at least a gesture like a free meal / massage or a portion of their Bill knocked off.

As someone who worked in the service industry iv seem people have bills comped for ludicrous complaints.

It makes business sense as well , if Pads never stayed in another Hilton again how much money do you think they'll lose In the next few years? More than 200 measly Euros.

Every case should be dealt with individually and in this one they could definetely have done more to deal with a serious complaint from a loyal customer.

I've regularly "tested" hotels and left the odd $20 laying around just to see how likely it is things could go "missing"

The hotel obviously can't be held responsible for the money as they can't prove you're telling the truth. Logically it makes no sense for you to lie, but if they refunded you then they are just opening themselves up for free roll in the future.

Amazed at many responses here: a crime is a crime irrespective of how easy OP made it for the thief. If I was OP I would continue to push it harder with Hilton and go up the chain if not getting satisfaction.

I travel a lot and I am careful with leaving valuables in my room, even when using the DND sign. Recently my $200 electric toothbrush went missing: the hotel manager knew exactly who had been in my room and asked them for an explanation. The cleaner incredulously claimed that it must have got caught up in the towels and thrown into the laundry. When I said that I was 100% certain that my property had been misappropriated, the manager pretty quickly agreed to compensate me. I also believe the manager was smart enough to fire the dishonest cleaner, although I can't be sure.

The point is to be firm with the hotel until you get satisfaction.

Works for me. Next time I'm in a foreign land I'll just tell the hotel manager I left, oh, say $20k on my nightstand and somebody must have stolen it. When I tell him I'm 100% certain it was misappropriated I'm sure he'll pay me on the spot, because I'll be really, really firm about it.

You seem like a very angry person. What has life done to you to cause this incessant passive-aggression?



I spent a lot of time working in the hospitality/customer service industry in my younger years and I've learned that successful businesses (generally) go out of their way to take care of their patrons--especially those spending large sums of money. Obviously the theft is near impossible to prove so the chances of being reimbursed with cash money is highly unlikely. However, things that cost the hotel little to no additional money like room comps are incredibly likely if you are persistent enough.

FYP

Why is it that these stories are all the same (ignoring the stupidity of leaving valuables out in the open with a DND sign on the door as a magic protector)?

'I was staying in this hotel and had $VALUABLES stolen from my room. I reported it to hotel security and they did nothing. I went back $HOME (normally another country) and contacted the local police where I just was days after the event for them to start their investigation, but I'm not holding out hope.'

I'm not saying that things would turn out different if the local police were called in earlier, its just weird that people don't seem to do it more often.

Indeed. My compensation was 20,000 Marriott Reward Points, which are actually worth >$200 to me since I collect and use these for luxury vacations every year. For the hotel it costs them very little to pay this compensation, but turned a bad situation into one that I'm happy with. Persistence pays, no doubt about it.

Very simple solution here.

You've learned your lesson and know there is a 0% chance of getting your cash back.

Now, to make the most of this, absolutely continue to move forward with getting comped rooms (as many as possible) based on the terrible service you received as a complaining customer.

Businesses are very sensitive to these things, especially now with social media outlets allowing public venting for many to see.

So you can probably get close to or equal to the 1k you lost (more if you reallllly wanted to push it but I think that's asking a bit much) via complaining about the attitudes, lies, and overall poor treatment at the hands of hotel staff. That is something hilton is on te line for and should be sensitive to for a relatively large volume customer.

Separately, in terms of $, I don't want to walk around with my roll when staying at hotels like the borgata. I also don't necessarily trust the safe.

So my solution has been to split up the money and hide it in things like inside suitcase pockets in socks or undershirts. So if the cleaning people were to steal it, they'd have to literally open y suitcase and fish around etc etc. while this is not a safe, we know safes can be opened. I think it's less likely to have cleaning ladies snoop around inside people's suitcases on the off chance they find some money. Another example is inside my bag I had a box from buying Pepto bismal. I put 4k of my roll in there and put it under a bunch of clothes in my closed and locked suitcase. That to me seems less risky than the safe. The conditional probability of the lady breaking my suitcase lock, finding and opening the box and taking the money seems far fetched. But who knows. Both the safe and hiding money in seemingly unlikely to be searched places will only work until the tail event that they don't wrk happens lol. So no real objective way to measure or estimate which is better

And now that I say this. It seems the best strategy is to split up the money into 3 and have like 2 hiding spots and 1/3 in the safe.