The staggering items guests are stealing from hotels
A new survey has revealed bizarrely large items at five-star hotels are more likely to go missing than smaller, easy-to-hide ones.
According to German-based hotel reviewer Wellness Heaven, a survey of 1157 four and five-star predominantly European hotels has revealed guests routinely attempt to smuggle out mattresses as souvenirs.
Wellness Heaven CEO Tassilo Keilmann said hotel owners report that patrons are most likely to attempt mattress swipes at night when the reception desk isn’t open.
But large items thefts don’t stop there.
One hotelier shared of a grand piano theft: “Once I walked through the lobby, I noticed that something was missing, and soon after I learned that three unknown men in overalls had taken away the grand piano, and it never reappeared, of course.”
Another said pine benches from a sauna were pilfered from their establishment while one revealed a guest had whipped door-mounted brass room numbers.
Mr Keilmann said he was surprised guests would attempt to steal large items, as it would be easy for the hotel to figure out who took them. But he also suggested five-star hotels were more likely to overlook such thefts in their attempts to avoid being associated with reports of crimes.
TVs, coffee makers, tablet computers and artwork are all on the list for light-fingered guests, alongside the more mundane bathrobes and hangers.
The survey suggested demographics play a part in the selection of appropriated goods. While larger items (like televisions and coffee machines) are more likely to go missing from five-star hotels, batteries and remotes are targeted by four-star hotel guests.
And apparently nationality is also relevant to determining the thieving habits of hotel guests.
British and German guests reportedly prefer to pinch towels and bathrobes, while Americans are more interested in pillows and batteries.
Austrians have a penchant for high-end coffee machines, Italians for wine glasses and the Swiss for hair dryers. Dutch patrons are turned on by lightbulbs and toilet paper while French appropriate more TVs and remotes, the survey found.
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Teaspoons are the highest on the list for us all our teaspoons were disappearing. Unfortunately they were good quality and we have now replaced with not so good quality and they don’t disappear as quick. Toilet paper, tissues, soap, conditioner, shampoo, make up wipes, cotton buds, tea, coffee, sugar and hot chocolate sometimes you go into a room there is nothing in the waste bin and all these are gone!
We have a caravan park, we loose toilet paper and vast quantities of it. In our amenity blocks the grey nomads fit devices to battery operated drills to unwind the paper out of the locked toilet paper holder.
Yes Mark , as a Motel owner I hear you . We count our pillows everyday also our blankets and hairdryers and we have chargers for convenience with charging mobile phones ect in all rooms , they grow legs too.