Firestyle Magazine Issue 3 - Spring 2016 | Page 28

GENERAL INTEREST

“50% of guests steal
something”Linen thefts top

“Most Stolen from Hotels in 2015”
charts. Thieving guests cost the
hotel trade thousands in losses
Light-fingered guests in hotel rooms will
steal everything, even if it is nailed down, it
appears.
That’s the finding of the MonitoredAlarms.
co.uk company which has compiled a top
ten list of the most stolen items in the hotel
business.
According to the Yorkshire-based company,
the most stolen items are linen such as towels
and sheets, which customers can easily slip
into luggage and be well away before the
house staff notice, closely followed by light
bulbs.
“Thieving light bulbs really show the depths to
which some people sink,” says spokesperson
Jonathan Ratcliffe. “These are customers who
could be spending upwards of £100 for their
stay, stealing things that cost mere pounds.”
A survey of 100 British hotels of varying quality,
found that the top ten items stolen by guests
were:

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1. Linen
2. Light bulbs
3. Food/Drink
4. Towels
5. Picture Frames & artwork
6. Dressing gowns
7. Curtains
8. Kettles and cutlery
9. Books
10. Bible

The level of thefts often depends on the
standard of the establishment, meaning
that while one hotel grapples with missing
light bulbs, others have to deal with highquality knives and forks disappearing from the
restaurant.
“Every business which deals with the
public has to accept that some customers
are going to steal from them, and that’s
something that every boss in the country
accepts,” says Ratcliffe. “But the hotel
industry seems to suffer more than any
other sector, simply because the basics that
people need for a comfortable stay are so
easily abused.”
Lower-star hotels tend to fall victim to petty
thefts like the soap out of the bathroom and
the toilet paper. One small guest house in
Blackpool stated that 50% of guests steal
something. Upscale luxury hotels count the
cost of dressing gowns and the contents of
the mini bar, and have devised ever more
fiendish ways of preventing theft.
But while some theft is intended to profit from
the crooks’ ill-gotten gains (for example, fresh
bed linen for the home, or a handbag full of
mini cereal packets lifted from the breakfast
buffet), others seem to be theft just for the
sake of it.
“Why do so many people steal Bibles from
hotel rooms? Have they not read the eighth
commandment?” Ratcliffe asks. “We’ve
even heard of somebody stealing ‘The
Teachings of Buddha’ from a Japanese
hotel, so there’s no limit to this.”