use your room safe!

I'm sorry that happened to you. But I don't think you were being stupid, and I hope you won't beat yourself up about it too much. Even though it turned out not to be the case here, at some point we need to be able to assume that hotel staff aren't going to risk their jobs over the theft of a relatively low-value item. After all, most of us travel with a lot more than $75 worth of gear (counting not just electronics but also clothes, shoes, the bags themselves, etc.), and it's not all going to fit into the hotel safe.

And that is assuming there actually IS a hotel room safe. Most of my accommodations over the years have not had such an amenity. My perspective is to assume that things may be pilfered, so I avoid traveling with things that cannot be easily replaced. I am sorry for the loss of your Kindle, but as you say, it was only $75 and some inconvenience, and now you are even more careful.

I’ve been a bit sloppy about this myself so, sorry for what happened to you and thanks for the reminder. As this article notes hotel theft is common with the minority staff related. Hotel thieves are opportunists-get in get out quickly-so using your safe is one more deterrent: https://www.cntraveler.com/story/the-secret-world-of-hotel-theft

To boot, it is a hôtel that i frequently visit so I feel more comfortable there than most places. I accept full responsibity for my weak moment. Youre so right...what a reminder.

Worry not. I has not ruined my trip. I love France too much to let one bad apple ruin my tarte aux pommes.

"As this article notes hotel theft is common..."

Actually that article says no such thing. If you read to the end it concludes:

"my experience was a statistical anomaly: Frederick [the "expert"] stresses that experiences like mine are quite rare. In his three-decade career, he’s learned that many reports of in-room theft are mistaken. “I always had a policy of calling the person back after they got home, and following up, to say that we’d done our investigation but didn’t find the item,” he says, “Fifty percent of the time the person said, ‘Oh, I was going to call you— I found those earrings stuck in a sweater.' It usually ends up not to be a theft, just a lost and found.”

This from the article: One expert estimated that every day in a big-city hotel, there’s at least one crime committed—and it’s almost always theft.

Also, the article emphasizes that hotel management discourages reporting so the actual incidence is murky.
Believe what you want, but it happens.

Although I have sometimes used in-room safes, my usual practice is to put my tablet inside my suitcase and slap a little luggage lock on it. I figure no emplyee is going to break a lock, creating proof that the missing item hasn't just been misplaced, and a lock will slightly slow down a non-employee who happens to pass by and see the room open, which I assume does sometimes occur during the housekeeping process.

The only time I've had something taken from a hotel room was during the middle of the night when the door wasn't completely closed. (It was one of those automatic locking doors.) That happened in the U.S., and it was plenty scary.

The fact is that I think the odds of my leaving town without clearing out the safe are much, much higher than a theft from a locked bag inside my room (or even from an unlocked bag, but there's no reason to be that lazy).

Most hotels even low cost ones now have room safes; it is also clear on websites so you can make that one of the things you require and not book places that don't. Some have safes large enough for laptops. I too have a fear of heading for the airport with my passports secure in the room safe, so my habit is to always take them out of the safe the night before travel and hang the money belt that I use in transit on the hangar with whatever I am wearing to travel.

Many of us are seasoned travelers and it seems the more you travel the
more apt it is that you'll expérience everything. Last time my bag was
sent to LGA instead of CDG and I had to wait six days to have it
delivered from New York to Lille (i left direct from Atlanta).

That's a screwup! Given that LGA has no flights to anywhere in Europe (may I assume you flew Delta given your Atlanta reference), I'm impressed they got the luggage to you in 6 days. Seriously! This is why I never check bags going away and will only check a bag returning if I am bringing home a bottle of wine or something like that.

This time my kindle fire tablet has been stolen from my hotel room. I
usually frequent Accor Hotels and am this time as well. Instead of
putting it in my room safe I left it in my backpack in my closet. I
turned my room upside down for thirty minutes trying to find it before
I went to report it. I wanted to make sure I wasn't reporting
something that I was responsible for. When I went to the fronk desk
the lady had a panicked look when I explained the situation. She got
the manager and the manager checked the log for who had access to my
room. Two people besides me had entered: the house keeper and the
housekeeping manager.

When they pinpointed the two employees who had access to your room, what happened after that?

Screw that, not your fault at all.

I am not going to use the hotel safe for kindles / ipods and the like.
If I cannot trust the hotel to not steal my stuff while I am out, I am sure not staying there and would put up quite a stink.
If not 100% satisfied I would call the police and file an official report as well as post a negative review everywhere on the web I could find.

Sure if I have a large wad of cash around or an expensive jewerly/watch I would put that in the safe but I am not going to stay somewhere I have to worry about every minor valuable being stolen. I have clothes worth more than a Kindle ; do I need to put them inside a safe too?

Kaeleku: agreed
I have seen some "stolen" reviews on TA though at least half of them sound a little shady.

I think actual thefts by staff is extremely rare. Most theft stories are usually more of a "lost or misplaced" story in the end, probably as many insurance fraud type make up thefts as real thefts.

All of that is why if it did actually happen to me and I was certain I did not misplace the item ; I would be raising quite the scene at the front desk and would surely cost the hotel far more in potential business than they would have stolen from my room if the manager on duty did not rectify the situation with me to my satisfaction.
Accepting theft from a room you paid for is not part of how I travel nor should be something you accept any blame for.

Sorry it happened. I get a kick out of those hotels that have room safes, but the safe isn’t attached to anything. Happened at our hotel in Brussels in March. Someone could just walk off with the safe. Put all your valuables in it and save the thief the time of having to go through your stuff.

That's too bad.
In order not to forget to empty the room safe on departure; put one of the pair of shoes you plan to wear on checkout into the safe, and leave the other out.
You can't leave with only one shoe, so that will remind you.
Never saw the point of "loose" safes!

Not to state the obvious but for all those who downplay hotel room theft because it has not happened to them or anyone they know: the OP had this happen that is why there is this thread.

There are bad guys who specialize in hotel room thefts. It's not the employees that should be suspect rather people from the outside who manage to sneak in. It's why so many hotels these days have thingies inside the elevator to require a key card to reach your room. One should always utilize an in-room safe when available; it's foolish not to.

Conde Naste recently had a very detailed article about the phenomena; very interesting reading:
https://tinyurl.com/y9mm38ob

Of course thefts from hotel rooms sometimes happen. But I agree with some of the others, it seems to be very rare and sometimes a person thinks something was stolen only later to find it was misplaced or lost some other way (not saying this about Alexander). But if it was common, hotels would be raked over the coals with all of the negative customer reviews. Asteroids sometimes hit our planet too but I would never consider that common...

I worry more about theft of opportunity from another guest or non-guest walking by while a maid has the door propped open. So I never leave anything visible. That Alexander had his Kindle stolen from a bag in the closet does suggest that it was staff who would have had time to search the room thoroughly. I would have been very direct with the manager and asked for a report (maybe even a police report).

I've read several of these types of posts and the advice to lock things up in the safe. But what if you're staying in an AirBnb?

Pacsafe has a line portable safes which are handy when in-room safes are unavailable:
https://tinyurl.com/y7dls3k7

I've read several of these types of posts and the advice to lock
things up in the safe. But what if you're staying in an AirBnb?

You take what you deem as valuable with you. I don't stay at AirBnBs yet I always have my tablet (iPad mini) with me. it's light so it's easy.

I too would suggest that in addition to putting valuables in the safe, you would be wise to lock your luggage as well. We just returned from a resort in the States only to discover that 3 articles of new clothing as wall as an expensive cosmetics item had been stolen. Live and learn...won't make that mistake again!

To the OP: sorry for your loss. IIRC, if your Amazon device has been registered with them before it was pinched, they can disable it for you remotely. Won't get it back, but still....

Dear OP -

So sorry to hear that that happened to you! I'm just glad it wasn't something more expensive and irreplaceable!

I hide my "whatever" in my the lining of my luggage. Never fails - if you lock it.

So after you were using it in your hotel room, you slipped it into your backpack in the closet, rather than the safe?

Curious.

I have returned to my room in hotels ( all over my travels.. not just in france ) to find my hotel door wide open.. a maids cart nearby.. but NO one in the room.. maids gone for fresh supplies or is in another room.. this infuriates me.. my door is WIDE open.. any one walking by could enter.. and if they did.. the maid wouldnt even not know its not the actual room occupant.. think about that..

So I do lock up my stuff in the safes.. always. I dont trust putting it in locked suitcase.. too easy for someone to pick up suitcase and walk out front door.. who would think anything of that..

I do tend to prefer small family run hotels where they recognize their guests .. over large hotels with hundreds of guests coming and going through the lobbies daily ( like many chain hotels)

I am sorry this happened to you but glad it was only a kindle.. not money or phone..

Well, of course when I checked out the manager was not to be found. I sent them an email saying I was very disappointed as a long time Accor Hotel member and would give them a day or so to reply before I write a review and contact their management.

No need for the attention, folks, I just wanted people to hear my tale. Lots of you travel as often as I do or even more. It was a valuable lesson to be learned.

I would not have reported it if i were not 100% sure it was taken. I had used it and put it away right before going out that day. Why not in the safe? I put my passport and credit cards in there. I didnt give a second thought to putting it in my backpack. That is where I kept my journal and travel documenta. I take nothing with me but my wallet, phone, and stash a monoprix sack in my pocket. I emptied my bag and suit case three times to double check, took the matress apart, looked in the couch cushions, and in all shelves. It was gone.

Now I am on my first airbnb adventure and staying in Rouen for a month (for work). Something crappy happened, but I am lucky to be spending quality time with my favorite country.

Now I am on my first airbnb adventure and staying in Rouen for a month
(for work). Something crappy happened, but I am lucky to be spending
quality time with my favorite country.

Have a wonderful time! I've been considering a day trip to Rouen and would be curious to know how you are enjoying Rouen. I'll ask somewhere else as I don't want to sidetrack the thread!

I have noticed that regardless of the price charged for the room in a Hotel, the safe is now part of the amenities, as are the high dryer, WC, TV (with or without English language programs or News), etc.

I never use the safe. I'm not sure if the Pensionen provide a safe...maybe not in Berlin.

I've never had anything stolen. Sometimes I leave things behind me, and that should be considered as well.

To update you on the situation,

The hotel took one week and two days to tell me the obvious: file a complaint with the police. To me it is clear that they waited, hoping either I would forget or be long gone do anything.

It turns out that you can report a complaint online. Search" pré-plainte en ligne." You pick your department, badda bing, badda boom.
I'll never get my tablet back but at least the hotel is now part of the statistics.

Sorry it happened to you. Review the heck out of this place everywhere you can. They KNOW who entered the room; they know it was staff; they should fix this but won't.

Twice I have left clothing behind by accident, eg a shirt I forgot to pack, etc. I've never had anything stolen from a hotel, B&B, Pension, or even a hostel private or a 6 person dorm room. The room safe is the first target the bad guy is going to hit, that's why I never use it by leaving valuables, eg. the passport, cash, let alone credit cards, etc in a safe.

acraven, great idea from you, as usual! I don't use hotel safes because I'm the type that would forget the combo or forget the items in the safe when I leave. I am going to get myself a little luggage lock as you suggest. Now how do I remember the combo or keep a little key in a spot I'll remember! ;)

I urge anyone who (like me) tends to rush, get distracted, etc., to take two keys for the luggage lock. I had a feeling that at some point I was going to have a problem, and sure enough, it happened last year when I was in Chester. I had the little key in my hand, getting ready to put it in my purse, when I noticed something that needed to go in the suitcase, picked it up with the same hand and dropped both items in the suitcase. Then I carefully locked the suitcase. Oops. Fortunately, this was one of those rare occasions when I was staying in a nice, full-service hotel. The maintnenace engineer easily broke the lock with a screwdriver (and refused to accept a tip), and I bought a replacement lock at a shop a few blocks down the street. It could have easily been a much more annoying situation. From now on, two keys travel with me.

take two keys for the luggage lock...

We don't take any keys for our little luggage locks. We typically have about a half-dozen locks between us (multiple pockets to lock on multiple bags). They're all TSA combination locks, set to a number we would never forget. Yeah, it's not exactly Fort Knox but it does serve as just-enough of a deterrent with minimal added complexity.

Here’s an anecdote to illustrate the advantages of small, family-owned hotels, as noted, above, by Pat. On a trip around Tuscany, my husband left a shoe (!) behind. We received an email from the hotel, letting us know. Fortunately, our route was a loop, and we were to pass there, again. When we stopped to get the shoe, there were also a pair of his underpants and a sock, laundered, all three articles placed together behind the desk, awaiting retrieval. The rest of the service at that hotel matched the same level. Of course, we weren’t in a big city at a big chain hotel, where there is likely large turnover of staff and a lot of anonymity.