by “We’ve dealt with this all the time,” said Anthony Melchiorri, a hotel consultant, former hotel manager and host of the Travel Channel’s “Hotel Impossible.” “It’s one of the reasons you have to take a credit card and check in with a security deposit.”
In recent years, hoteliers have taken more steps to combat theft: selling high-demand products online, posting signs in rooms indicating what can be purchased and using traceable chips in linens or electronic devices.
“Hotels can put in place controls to minimize the risk of theft, but the more controls you have, the more the hotel starts to feel like a prison,” Sean Hennessey, a clinical associate professor in New York University’s hospitality program, wrote in an email. “So it’s a balancing act.”
Hennessey wrote that most brands have also stepped up security to better track and monitor room access “so hotel theft is likely less common today than it was in the past.”
The most stolen items in hotels
Major hotel chains contacted by The Washington Post, including Marriott and Hyatt, did not respond to questions about hotel room thefts. Industry experts say there are no publicly available statistics.
But hospitality professionals with years of experience have shared the items they’ve known to let go, including towels, light bulbs, hangers, hair dryers, smart speakers, coffee makers and, of course, bathrobes.
“You don’t get to take the pillows, which is what people do,” said Lonny Wolfe, a former general manager who works with hotels to turn around struggling properties. “You don’t get to take the iron, which is what people do.”
Peter Eckert, executive vice president of operations for Davidson Hospitality Group, said there was a time when smartphone clock radios were stolen, but they are no longer in use. Televisions have also disappeared with guests.
“All of these things are billed to the customer,” said Eckert, who noted that thefts are rare in his experience. “If there is something visible, we pass the cost on to the customer.”
Wolfe said a guest at a hotel he worked with in South Florida told him he didn’t like his room, not the second or third he tried. Wolfe noticed the Bible was missing from all three rooms; after checking security cameras in public areas, he saw footage of the man throwing the Bibles into trash cans.
“I caught him red-handed,” he said. After the man returned to the hotel to complain about the rooms again, Wolfe asked the hotel to never let him back.
Taking away furniture and electronics
It’s not just the rooms that are being looted.
Melchiorri recounted that a guest at a New York hotel told a clerk late one night that Melchiorri had given permission to use new furniture in the lobby for a party. The guest removed a chair, and the night manager cried foul, foiling a larger plan.
“We got him back the next day,” Melchiorri said.
Michael “Doc” Terry, a senior professor at the University of Central Florida’s School of Hospitality and a longtime hotelier, remembers running a large convention hotel when thieves broke in.
“They came in through the front door, took some audiovisual equipment and just [went] “They walked out of the hotel in front of everybody,” he said, noting that they could have been real contractors. “Teams come in all the time.”
He once ran a Hollywood-themed hotel that had fake Oscars – with the winners’ names and all – in the main lobby bar.
“People just ripped him out of the bar after hours,” said Terry, who also owns a hospitality consulting business.
He said the items people take — and management’s response — will vary depending on the type of hotel, how much owners invest, the risk management approach and housekeeping practices.
Mehmet Erdem, who teaches lodging operations at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said hotels must keep a careful inventory, meticulously check for missing items and ascertain the culprit if they plan to charge a guest for stolen items or report a theft to police.
Melchiorri said if a guest takes a towel or washcloth, they likely won’t receive a bill.
“However, if you consistently agree to things, we will definitely charge you a fee,” he said. “Some hotels and management companies are much stricter than others.”
He explained that customers could dispute a charge and attempt to initiate a chargeback, in which case the hotel would have to provide proof.
“Look, there are security cameras everywhere today,” he said.
While some towel thieves get away with their scratchy souvenirs, travelers shouldn’t expect them to be spared. In 2010, a hotel guest in Nigeria was convicted of stealing two towels. He was sentenced to three months in jail or a $20 fine, ABC News reported at the time.
What hotels expect to lose
There are items that hoteliers expect people to take — an idea explored in an episode of “Friends” in which characters Ross Geller and Chandler Bing raid an inn looking for amenities.
“You have to walk the line between stealing and taking what the hotel owes you,” Ross says. “For example, a hair dryer: no, no, no. But shampoo and conditioner: yes, yes, yes.”
Eckert, whose hotel management company includes 86 hotels and resorts under various brands, said hotels even welcome guests who take home a few trinkets; a pen with a hotel’s name on it, a small sewing kit or a tiny bottle of lotion can serve as a mini marketing piece.
“They’re all marked and part of the job is to get people to see them,” he said, calling it “a good opportunity to get someone’s attention.”
Some properties offer locally inspired body products, with small samples available in the room; larger versions can be purchased. However, single-use products that were previously available to take home are often replaced with larger bottles of shampoo, conditioner and shower gel to reduce waste.
“Sustainability is about changing a lot of what’s in guest rooms so that guests can take it with them to reduce the use of single-use plastic,” Eckert said.
He said theft occurs in a “very, very small percentage” of cases and noted it hasn’t been a big discussion in his 32-year hospitality career.
“The most requested service is the bathrobe,” he said. “It’s another opportunity for us to promote the brand of the hotel and the resort that we operate.”
