Firestyle Magazine Issue 3 - Spring 2016 | Page 29

With profit margins being squeezed in an
ever-competitive hotel business which
is now being driven more by online
reviews than ever before, hotels and
B&Bs know they have to strike the right
balance between maintaining security
and not being accused of spying on
their guests.
“That means establishments need
to work ever harder to build up a
relationship between hotel and guest,
and make the customer actually

feel bad about unhooking the curtains and
throwing them out of the window for an
accomplice,” Ratcliffe says.
But like most petty thefts, criminals tend to fall
victim to their own stupidity.
“The thing is that many petty thieves get found
out quickly and completely forget that the
management has their credit or debit card
number,” says Ratcliffe, “and it comes as
a nasty surprise to read their statement the
following month.

“They’ve only got themselves to blame.”

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