Hotels have long had to contend with guests helping themselves to
toiletries, pens and towels. Now, a survey of hotel managers has delved
deeper into what some guests walk away with.
Wellness Heaven, which reviews spa and luxury hotels in Europe and
Asia, found there is a difference between the items guests take from
4-star and 5-star hotels, and what different nationalities prefer to
smuggle out the door.
The main result of the study: towels and bathrobes are stolen the
most. These two objects of desire are closely followed by hangers, pens
and cosmetics.
Some guests, though, go much further with their nefarious activities.
Hoteliers reported that guests have removed bathroom fixtures,
including the head of a rain shower, a hydromassage shower, a toilet
seat and sink.
Wellness Heaven found that when classifying hotel thieves by
nationality, German and British hotel guests follow a rather boring
theft behaviour, taking towels and bathrobes, cosmetics and toiletries.
In contrast, Austrians help themselves to dishes and coffee machines, while US guests take a fancy to pillows and batteries.
Italians seem to prefer wine glasses as a hotel souvenir, while the
hair dryer ranks high up in the Swiss ranking. The French, on the other
hand, steal in a more spectacular manner: they represent the nation that
is attracted mainly to TV sets and remote controls.
Dutch hotel guests pack away light bulbs and toilet paper.
A total of 740 hoteliers from 4-star hotels and 636 from 5-star
hotels were surveyed to determine the behaviour of guests depending on
their wealth.
Wellness Heaven reported that the probability of tablet computers
being stolen in 5-star hotels is six times higher in comparison to the
4-star segment. Similarly, artworks are popular objects of desire in
luxury hotels.
TV sets, coffee makers and mattresses are also being stolen a lot more frequently in 5-star hotels.
The 1,376 hotels whose management participated in the survey are located primarily in Europe.