Toilet paper and bidet faucet: what tourists steal from hotels

14 rolls of toilet paper, 5 liters of Baileys, slippers, bathrobes, towels and oranges. A couple from Surgut tried to take all this out in two suitcases when checking out of a Turkish hotel.

The staff of one of the resorts in Alanya watched for a whole week as a Russian man and woman carried free Baileys from the bar to their room. Let's have a drink. The maids wondered where the toilet paper disappeared every day. Rolls. The gardener reported to the reception that the flowers in the garden had been torn out. With roots.

Before leaving, hotel security forced the couple to open their suitcases. All the loot was neatly packed. Baileys is bottled in plastic bottles. Oranges and apples in bags. Slippers, bathrobes, towels and toilet paper lay on top. The roots of flowers torn from the ground are moistened with water.

The Turks came up with the most terrible punishment: they were forced to pay for the contents of the suitcases at the market price, and then they were released to board the plane.

By the way, Aventura Park is not some seedy three-ruble note, but, albeit not very large, but a very decent 5* hotel near Alanya.

This is a video of Maria and Rustam's suitcases being searched in a Turkish hotel.

PS. The man's name is Rustam Fakhtlislamov, he is 25 years old, his wife is Maria Kasyanova, she is 35. They live in Nefteyugansk. Rustam is a businessman. He has two companies. Three years ago, he received a master’s degree in Oil and Gas Engineering; he really wanted to work at Rosneft, but it didn’t work out.

Hotel theft has become a global problem.

Five liters of Baileys liqueur, one glass at a time, collected in plastic bottles, 14 rolls of toilet paper, several kilograms of oranges and apples, slippers, bathrobes, towels and plants, uprooted and carefully wrapped in wet rags, were found in the suitcases of a couple from Nefteyugansk by employees Turkish hotel. A little earlier in Egypt, a Ukrainian was caught with a similar catch: light bulbs, shampoo bottles, spoons and forks, fruits, a bidet faucet... People are stolen from hotels every day, and this problem is on a global scale.

"Rule S"

In expensive hotels they steal more often - in cheap hotels there is nothing special to take.

We paid! - the guests think. - So, everything here is ours.

They didn’t call the police, they just asked me to pay for everything. It cost $230. Photo: Vk.com

These people are partly right: hotel owners include material risks in the room price. But this does not mean that the guest can take everything.

Hoteliers all over the world adhere to “Rule S”: we consider small things whose name begins with this letter to be consumables and do not mind if someone takes them with them - as a keepsake and as an advertisement for our hotel,” explains David Elton, co-owner of the British chain Homegrown Hotels.

FOR REFERENCE:“Rule S” establishes a list of hotel-owned items that a guest can take from the room with impunity. This list includes:

Soap- soap
Shampoo- shampoo
Shower gel- shower gel
Shower cap- shower cap
Slippers- slippers
Stationery- stationery set
Sewing kit- travel sewing kit
Shoe Shine Kits- boot cleaning/polishing kit

Some people look at the theft of towels and bathrobes calmly, but most still consider it theft. Dishes, appliances, interior details are definitely a steal. Whether they will turn a blind eye to her, settle the matter with you quietly, or harass you in full view of other guests - depends on the situation, the hotel, the country.

The Russian couple's trophies were counted right in the lobby of the Turkish hotel. Photo: Vk.com

If guests are suspected of any wrongdoing, they will be asked to open their bags upon check-out. As a rule, thieves are offered to pay for the stolen goods, and sometimes a fine. If guests persist, hotel staff may call the police, although a threat is usually enough. However, the hotel can simply write off the cost of the lost property from the card you used to pay for the room. This is stated in the rules, which you probably haven’t read.

How to catch hotel thieves

The fight against thieves has been going on for many years. For example, once upon a time ashtrays with the logo were stolen from hotels en masse. As soon as simple glass ones were installed, the number of thefts dropped sharply. Hair dryers were saved by making them stationary. Shampoo, soap, gel are poured into containers.

Microchips have appeared - they are sewn into towels, bathrobes and bed linen, and they squeal disgustingly if these things get outside the building. Magnetic keys practically eliminate the possibility of strangers getting into your room, which means you won’t be able to blame the theft on someone else.

BY THE WAY:The international travel portal lastminute.com calculated which items are most often stolen from hotels (shampoos, slippers and other Rule S items were not taken into account). The top ten included:

Towels/robes.
Pillows.
Batteries.
Light bulbs.
Food and drinks from the minibar.
Picture frames.
Paintings/photos.
Curtains.
Kettle.
Bible (available in Western hotel rooms) .

Somewhere they approached the problem creatively and stamped the inscription “Stolen in...” above the hotel logo. It makes a cool souvenir.

In large chains like Ritz Carlton or Hyatt there are souvenir shops of things with symbols, somewhere I even saw a sign in the bathroom: they say, in our kiosk a set of pure cotton towels costs $30, but if you want this particular one, we will add to yours account $75.

The most unusual cases of theft from hotels*

Former General Manager of Starwood Hotel Hotel Group Colin Bennett spoke about the most daring theft in his 20 years of experience:

“I went out into the lobby and began to look around: something was missing. And then I realized: our piano had disappeared. They raised security and looked at surveillance cameras. Three men dressed as movers calmly entered the hotel, pulled out a tool and rolled it down the street. Nobody batted an eyelid.

Ten years ago, our correspondents visited the Parisian apartment of the great Anya GIRARDOT. The actress boasted of a collection of ashtrays from hotels and remembered each one, where and when she stole it. Photo by Larisa KUDRYAVTSEVA/website

A guest of one of the Berlin hotels took a shower head, a hydromassage nozzle, a toilet seat, a sink and taps.

Job Andy Warhol worth $300 thousand stolen from the Shangri-La Hotel in Hong Kong.

In Las Vegas, an impressive piece of carpet was discovered missing.

In a five-star hotel in Dubai, a guest stole a sofa and a minibar (refrigerator with all its contents).

A+ creative: “This is the cutest soap you'll ever steal from a hotel. Enjoy"

Guest three star hotel in Dubrovnik, he cleaned out the kitchen, taking all the dishes and cutlery.

A five-star hotel in Madrid has lost its double orthopedic mattress.

Hot guest Hotel du Vin in Birmingham tried to rip a boar's head off the wall of a billiards hall. He was forcibly calmed down, and a few weeks later his friends came to the hotel, bought the stuffed animal and gave it to the unfortunate thief as a wedding gift.

At the Residence Hotel in the British city of Bath, you can order sex toys to your room. More than half of the guests, having played enough, do not return their items.

A married couple stayed at the American Hotel Holiday Inn, next to which there is parking for vans and motorhomes. The entire furnishings of the room where they spent the night migrated to the couple’s truck.

A guest at the Franklin Hotel in London managed to unscrew the screws and steal the sign with the room number. They grabbed it only when they discovered that the guests were wandering lostly along the corridor, not understanding where they should settle. Another client, who regularly stayed at this hotel, took out an item from the table service over and over again - until he collected everything.

*According to lastminute.com. The study involved 500 hotels around the world.

What is the penalty for stealing from a hotel?

In Nigeria, a guest at the Transcorp Hilton Abuja hotel who stole two towels was sentenced to three months in prison. And two Australians who stole a bicycle from a hotel on the Indonesian island of Gili were led through the central streets with shameful signs around their necks

Island police are searching for two foreigners who stole an elephant statue outside a restaurant.

Police on the popular tourist island of Koh Samui are looking for two young Americans who stole a statue of a large wooden elephant that stood at the entrance to a restaurant. The theft occurred late at night from Sunday to Monday.

When restaurant employees arrived at work, they immediately noticed that one of the two decorative elephants was missing and checked the video footage from surveillance cameras. Based on the results of the review, it turned out that two foreigners approached the restaurant at 2 hours 25 minutes on the night from Sunday to Monday, the two of them lifted a heavy elephant and carried it down the street.

The theft was committed by American tourists Drew Davidson and John Johnson. They arrived in Thailand in early June with a friend.

All three are in their early twenties. Friends lived in hotel The Lodge Bophut Beach Hotel. Corso rented the truck using his Virginia driver's license. Research into his social media profile helped identify two of his former classmates.

After the theft, the friends, not realizing the seriousness of the crime, continued to explore the island. Throughout Monday, they actively explored local attractions and shared photos. The friends will certainly be tried for theft, and before that the case will probably receive wide publicity in the media.

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Update: Three American tourists who stole an elephant statue on Koh Samui in Thailand, were arrested this evening on Koh Phangan. Drew Davidson, John Johnson and Andrew Corso were stopped by police in a rented pickup truck with a stolen elephant hidden in the back of the vehicle.

All three were taken into custody and will be sent to Koh Samui, where they committed the crime and are accused of theft.

The administration of one of the Turkish hotels the day before detained two tourists from Surgut who were trying to take with them 14 rolls of toilet paper, five liters of liquor, fruit, slippers, bathrobes, towels and even uprooted plants that were growing in the hotel garden.

All this time, hotel security was watching the couple. And on the day before departure, she demanded that tourists open their suitcases and show their contents.

Everything stolen was neatly packed. The liquor was poured into plastic bottles, the fruit was packaged in bags, slippers, robes, towels and toilet paper were on top. And the roots of the torn out plants were moistened with water and wrapped in plastic.

After the would-be thieves were caught red-handed, they were forced to pay for the stolen goods and only after that they were allowed to board the plane.

Such situations are not uncommon. We remembered the most that happened in hotels.

Light bulbs and bidet faucet

In March of this year, a Ukrainian tourist was caught in Egypt trying to take a whole set of things from the hotel: toilet paper, fruit, cutlery, light bulbs and even a bidet faucet. Before leaving, hotel staff asked to show the thief the contents of the suitcase, as they suspected him of theft. During the inspection, the missing items were discovered. As a result, the man was fined ten times the value of all property stolen from the hotel.

Toilet seat

Last year, tourists from China stole a toilet seat from a Japanese hotel. The couple found a spare seat under the bed and packed it in a suitcase. When the hotel administration asked to show them their luggage, the tourists stated that the seat had been left in the room by the previous guest. But the hotel management said it was a backup. It is unclear why the couple chose this particular souvenir. However, after the incident, the couple apologized to the hotel staff for what they had done and promised that this would not happen again.

TV and sneakers

In 2015, a 49-year-old resident of Barnaul stole from private hotel in Crimea there is a TV, a tuner and sneakers. At about two o'clock in the morning he made his way to the hotel, had dinner, and then lay down to rest. Waking up in the morning, the uninvited guest found a plasma TV on the wall. Having removed it from the wall, the attacker took it, taking the tuner with him and changing into someone else's sneakers. Police officers detained the thief in hot pursuit. The man admitted to the theft and wrote a confession.

Bike

Late last year, authorities on the small Indonesian island of Gili marched a young couple from Australia on a “march of shame” for theft. As it turned out, the Australians stole a bicycle from the hotel where they lived. The young people, surrounded by police, were marched through the city streets with signs that read: “I am a thief. Don't do what I did." Thus, the authorities punished the couple for stealing someone else's property. After the “march of shame,” the young people were expelled from the island. Despite all this, the couple was never officially charged. According to the city administration, this practice of punishing theft has been practiced on the island for many years.

Lived for free

In May of this year, French police detained a homeless man who lived for free in a five-star hotel for four days, while owing more than two thousand euros. As the 61-year-old man stated during interrogation, he “wanted to do something nice for himself and not spend the night on the street.”. The homeless man provided his documents and checked into the hotel, saying that he would pay later because he had been robbed. The man was detained when he wanted to check out and told hotel staff that he had no money because someone had stolen his personal belongings. At the same time, the man promised the hotel employees to transfer money through the bank.

Tatiana Poddubskaya

Their main loot was 14 rolls of toilet paper and dug up flowers.

In general, Russians are not assholes. Or rather, they are no more assholes than all other nations and peoples. But how can we prove this to the world now? After the couple Russian tourists from Nefteyugansk caught in Turkey stealing 14 rolls of toilet paper from a hotel room? And the news about this spread across many news resources. Moreover, the vacationers - a businessman and his girlfriend - apparently committed little thefts throughout their week-long vacation. Pocketing a couple of rolls a day. What will people in other countries think about us now?

Our tourists, of course, stole more. Along with the paper, they wanted to steal hotel robes and five liters of Baileys.

They also found hotel slippers in their luggage. And also local flowers, which our vacationers dug up by the roots under the hotel windows. But somehow all this can be, if not understood with the mind, then at least measured with a common yardstick. Slippers are generally a thing for individual use; they had the right to take them, and many do so. And tourists from all countries are caught trying to steal bathrobes, because it is not without reason that this is not a gift, but an item belonging to the hotel, given to the tourist for temporary use, is written in the rooms in three languages at once: English, French and German. With Baileys you can also somehow get into the situation. People were supposed to have free alcohol, but they didn’t drink it, they took it from the bar to their room and poured it into plastic bottles. In reserve. Apparently, in order to leave, give a good rubbish at the doorstep of the hotel. It’s not that it’s utter beauty, but you can understand the situation. Who hasn’t grabbed an apple or an orange when leaving a restaurant after breakfast included in the price? Not five liters of Baileys. I agree. But the same train of thought can be traced in the heads of the first and second. As for plants, sharing plantings for free is in the Russian mentality. Pinch off a shoot, plant it - that’s everything for us. So people did it out of habit. They are guilty, but they deserve leniency. But toilet paper! How could they?! So disgrace the country!

The Turks, of course, are also money-seekers. Maybe people haven't... how to put it mildly... haven't relieved themselves in a big way all week - they've been saving paper! What they saved, they ended up taking for themselves. They are entitled to it. And from them - 213 dollars 43 cents. It's not worth it! Toilet paper, it’s generally available in stores at a fixed price: eight rolls - 100 rubles. That is, 14 rolls cost three dollars! So they disgraced us for pennies...

People in Russia are used to learning about major thefts from the news. There they cut down the budget, there they took money offshore, then they deceived shareholders, then benefactors, and stole, stole, stole. But we are always talking about millions! It’s not a shame to look foreigners in the eyes on such a grand scale. And then... Fourteen rolls of toilet paper! It's such a shame...

I wish I could give them a good sentence at home for this! You may ask: for what exactly? And because they don’t know how to steal gracefully. In our country, this is basically why people are imprisoned, isn’t it?

And, of course, for ruining everyone’s reputation. Expressed in the fact that Russians today, it seems, are no longer the same. They used to walk so hard that Türkiye was shaking, but now? They're stealing toilet paper! Shredded. Deflated. They escaped by the fact that they do not drown either in water or in Baileys.