The steal industry
The Rubens hotel in London recently held an amnesty for guests who had "unintentionally borrowed" items of hotel property. Among the more extraordinary items returned were a pair of curtains, a doorman's jacket and top hat, and a lavatory brush.
Other bizarre "borrowings" have included the brass number from a guest's bedroom door at the Franklin hotel in London's Knightsbridge - "We only noticed it had gone missing when the next guest was found wandering up and down the corridor looking for his numbered room," says general manager Karen Marchant - and an entire dinner service. In the latter case, a regular hotel guest was found to be helping himself piece by piece over a period of several months, slipping downstairs in the middle of the night.
Then there are the mysterious cases of the two busts outside the front door of the Chesterfield hotel in Mayfair, London, that went missing one night, only to be returned in the back of a taxi the following morning; the Molton Brown soap dispensers that were unscrewed from lavatory walls in the public areas of the Franklin hotel; and the plastic ducks that find their way from the edge of the bath into many a guest's luggage at the Hotel on the Park in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire.
It is impossible to quantify the overall cost to the industry of such theft, says the British Hospitality Association, as most hoteliers are reluctant to admit that it is a problem. However, hotels can expect to lose between 10% and 25% of their total linen stock - arguably the most expensive loss from hotel bedrooms - in the course of a year, with as much as half of that due to theft. The replacement cost of a single set of linen can run to much more than £200 and, with three- to five-star hotels having three to five sets of linen per room, that level of theft can add up to £120 per room per year, or £24,000 for a 200-bedroom hotel.
Jonathan Raggett, managing director of Red Carnation, which owns the Rubens hotel, is trying to discourage guests from helping themselves by offering the most popular items for sale in a shop due to open next door to the hotel in May. Bathrobes, ashtrays and toiletries will be available alongside items used to decorate guest and public rooms. Raggett uses other methods, too: "We try to get round pilfering by putting notices in rooms reminding guests that if they take their bathrobe there will be a charge. But there's always someone who will try their luck."
At Hambleton Hall in Oakland, Leicestershire, general manager Rupert Elliot says that theft is not a problem, though he admits that the odd ashtray and umbrella do go astray. "We have a lot of nice antiques in bedrooms and around the hotel," he says. "People would probably feel they were stealing from someone's home." But, as at the Rubens hotel, he recognises that guests often want a souvenir of their stay and he has certain items on sale, the most popular being the Molton Brown toiletries, monogrammed bathrobes and own-label whisky.
Other approaches to minimising theft are more direct. Closed-circuit television, electronic sensors that alert reception when a bedroom television is unplugged, bedroom safes and hard-wiring of electrical appliances are all potential obstacles to the would-be thief.
But hospitality and hi-tech security are unhappy bedfellows, and a more low-key strategy based on staff vigilance may be the easiest and most cost-effective strategy. Mike Foden of Corden Consultants, which has experience of advising the hotel industry on security matters, says: "Staff are your front line, your eyes and ears. Incentivising them to be alert is much more cost-effective than thousands of pounds-worth of camera equipment." He says that training staff to be aware of security risks, such as leaving linen rooms open and leaving equipment in corridors, is the most effective form of security.
With hotels being among the few buildings that can be entered without restriction, staff should be keeping an eye open not just for theft of hotel property, of course. Theft of guest property is on the rise and, while the Hotel Proprietors Act 1956 does limit hotel liability, most guests would think twice before returning to a hotel where they did not feel their property was secure.
While London's Metropolitan Police are closing their specialist hotel intelligence unit on 1 June, West Midlands Police are stepping up their activities in this area - in Solihull there have been a reported 420 thefts from cars in hotel car parks in one year, and 80 thefts from hotel rooms and offices in just four weeks. Police have responded by setting up a Hotel Watch scheme for hoteliers to alert each other to possible criminal activity. Superintendent Paul Scarrott says laptop computers and credit cards are the main targets, but opportunists will take any unattended item.
A similar alliance has been forged in Bournemouth between Dorset police and the town's hotel and restaurant association. Police say that the project has improved staff vigilance and reduced hotel crime by 30%.
At the 50-bedroom Franklin hotel, Marchant follows another piece of police advice that costs nothing and is at once courteous and a deterrent. "Everyone who walks through the door has to be acknowledged," he says. "The police say that if someone knows they have been seen, they are less likely to take anything."
How to minimise theft
A few simple precautions can deter thieves.
Train staff to look out for loitering and nervous or hesitant behaviour, and to be suspicious if someone asks unusual questions about the hotel and its procedures.
Encourage staff to approach such people - or people they do not recognise - with a courteous offer of assistance. This can often be enough of a deterrent.
Never leave reception desks unattended.
Keep linen and equipment stores locked and maintain proper stock-control procedures.
Bedroom doors left open should be closed.
Keep doors to private areas clearly marked.
Keys should never be issued without guest identification, and should be collected on departure.
Meal trays, dirty and fresh linen, borrowed irons and ironing boards should not be left in corridors longer than necessary.
Use tent cards to remind guests that complimentary items such as bathrobes may be purchased.
Do not over-stock toiletries or hospitality trays.
Hard-wire hairdryers, kettles and televisions.
What thieves like best
Towels are probably the most frequently stolen items in hotel bedrooms. Branded luxury items also tempt many guests, with monogrammed linen such as bathrobes, bath mats, pillowcases and towelling slippers all popular illicit souvenirs. Ashtrays and named coat-hangers are also favoured.
At London's Franklin hotel, general manager Karen Marchant says that guest toiletries are "fair game", though she notes that women are more likely to clear out their bathroom's supply than men.
It comes as no surprise to hear which are the most commonly stolen items of guest property. Mobile telephones, credit cards and wallets, laptop computers, handbags and coats top the list.
Simon Bennett is joint owner of Augill Castle, Kirkby Stephen, Cumbria
Source: Caterer & Hotelkeeper magazine, 10-16 May 2001
