A guest at the Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner (generally considered one of, if not the worst Ritz) was accused of stealing a bamboo plant from their room, and billed for it. The hotel treated them like a thief when they objected, eventually taking the charge off their bill as a “courtesy” clearly believing he was, and treating him like, an undesirable.

I stayed at a ritz over the weekend and when my bill came, there was a fee added with a note that said “bamboo removed”. I had no idea what this meant, so I called the hotel to ask about the charge. Apparently, housekeeping had reported that a bamboo plant was taken out of the bathroom and it was charged to my bill.

I of course did not take said plant, and told the person on the phone it must have been a mistake and asked him to please remove the charge. He refused to remove it and said they needed to “investigate” by talking to the housekeeping staff.

I continued to reiterate that I did not take any plants and he kept telling me “we will only remove the charge if we can confirm from housekeeping it was a mistake”. He called me back later in the day and said they would take off the charge as a “courtesy” but basically insinuated that they can’t confirm I didn’t take this plant.

Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner

It’s frustrating to me that a hotel simply decides you owe them money, bills you, and there’s no real adjudication possible (outside of going to court). You could dispute a charge with your credit card issuer, and risk getting banned by the chain.

And even more telling about the Ritz brand that the customer would be treated this way unless they were 100% certain that the guest was a thief – rather than treating the standard of review as the customer would be treated as one unless proven otherwise.

Ritz-Carlton Tysons Corner

People Steal From Hotels All The Time

Of course, people do steal from hotels. That’s why many hotels have been embedding RFID chips in towels for over a dozen years. A single hotel has saved $16,000 per month by reducing its towel thefts each month from 4,000 down to 750 by attaching washable RFID tags to its towels.

The Nairobi Hilton once prosecuted someone for stealing two towels and they received a two year sentence. Twenty years ago IHG promoted ‘towel amnesty day’ but honestly I wouldn’t expect towel theft to be so common in a world of checked bag fees, who travels with extra space for towels?

Five-star hotels are more likely to see higher-value items taken – like tablet computers, artwork, TVs, and mattresses. Forty nine hotels reported mattresses being stolen in a two year period. In 2018 a family was caught on video in Bali with items stolen from the hotel they stayed at packed in their luggage. The hotel demanded they open their bags for inspection and a big argument ensued. As the bags are searched one stolen item after another gets revealed.

We’ve heard about a grand piano stolen from a Sheraton lobby, and about guests who steal televisions from their room. And, would you believe: carpet, light fixtures, curtains and mirrors? Even door hinges have been stolen. The Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire (the Pretty Woman hotel) had a fireplace stolen.

By the way, people also steal pretty much everything out of airport lounges.

I’ve Been Accused Of Stealing From A Hotel

I was once accused of stealing coffee by the Sheraton Macao. I ordered a pot of coffee from room service. They explained that I could tell them how many cups of coffee I wanted, and that’s what they would fill the pot to. So I asked for 6 cups that my wife and I would share.

Sheraton Macau

A short while later room service delivered the coffee. It seemed awfully light for 6 cups. I poured two cups, and the pot felt nearly empty. So I called back down to in room dining. The same person I ordered from answered, and she remembered that I had ordered 6 cups. She said she’d send up 4 more cups right away.

So at 6:30 a.m. there’s a knock on the door, and the man who delivered the first pot of coffee appeared. He didn’t have a pot of coffee in his hand. Instead he declared: “I am here to investigate.”

I told him that we had ordered six cups of coffee, I poured two and that’s all there was. He lifted the pot of coffee and said, “there’s still some left”.

He then said it’s not possible that we could have gotten less coffee, because the machine is electronic. They specify how much goes in the pot. There I am, standing in a bathrobe in my hotel room, being told that it’s not possible that I could be missing coffee and in any case the coffee I ordered was right there, in the pot!

Sheraton Macau

What was I trying to pull, anyway? He thought I was trying to cheat the hotel, to get extra coffee without paying for it.

He then poured the remaining coffee from the pot into an empty cup. It filled only half way. I said, “You were right, there were actually two and a half cups.”

He harumphed, walked directly outside the room, and handed me the pot he had brought along with the four replacement cups of coffee I had been promised — once I satisfied him that I wasn’t actually trying to steal coffee.