A LoyaltyLobby reader sent me messages on Saturday regarding a serious incident that had taken place at the ANA Intercontinental hotel in Tokyo, Japan.
Remember that you can always email us, send a message via Facebook or use Twitter and include photos too. We’ll try to cover Reader Questions & Comments here several times a week.
Here’s the Facebook message from the reader on Saturday:
We are staying ANA Intercontinental Hotel Tokyo in Japan, someone was breaking in to my room when I and my wife were out.
My luggage locks was broken by the theft. The theft took everything out from my luggage, my iPad, bag, my wallet, cash, credit cards even one of my carry-on size Rimowa case gone.
The theft like crazy spending in Ginza Tokyo, spend $25,000 today. The police and hotel manager was helping me to do the report, took me 8 hours.
All my Disneyland schedule is ruined. Do you believe that?
The theft was calling pretend is me and said “My brother will visit hotel and pick up some stuff, please make a room key to him”. And an guy shows up said that is my brother, the front desk give the theft key without checking any ID and reconfirm with the my registered number at hotel. That is it, the guy was easy going to my room and full hand out of my room.
Just want to share this case with you, this hotel is not safe and always beware the housekeeping. I’m still in this hotel and check out tomorrow, the hotel management said will give me a official response.
Here’s what I believed to have happened based on the initial and further messages I exchanged with the reader:
– The reader has stayed at the ANA InterContinental hotel in Tokyo number of times and is a Spire Elite member.
– Someone had called the hotel switchboard a number of times trying to get the reader’s room number and the switchboard had become suspicious and had notified the front desk about this activity.
– Someone had called the hotel and had told them to give a key to supposedly to the reader’s “brother”.
– Hotel front desk gave a key to this person without checking any identification.
– A person or persons entered the reader’s room and stole plenty of items including credit cards.
– The credit cards were later used on a $25K USD shopping spree (easy to dispute these charges with the credit card company).
– Police were called and reports filed.
– Hotel has refused to show the video footage showing the person or persons entering the room claiming that showing these would be a “privacy” violation.
– The hotel is comping the nights stayed.
Here’s the statement I have received from the General Manager of the hotel Mr. Michel Chertouh:
On Friday 22 of September a guest reported that personal items were missing from their room. This was immediately reported to the police and they are currently investigating the incident. The safety and security of our guests is of paramount importance to us and we are very working closely with the local authorities to help them with their investigation. We are unable to comment further while the investigation is underway.
Conclusion
The reader is a well known figure in Taiwan (we have protected his identity) and it seems that someone was aware of his travel plans to Tokyo and where he always stays when visiting the city. This incident has already been covered in Taiwanese media (access here).
The switchboard had informed the front desk that someone had been on a fishing expedition but regardless someone had added the person as a second guest and handed the key without checking any form of ID. This is truly terrible.
I have added a second person to my room/suite in a hotel number of times. I have always either called from my room or stopped by the front desk. The person here must have either called outside of the hotel or at least used phone outside of the guest’s room.
Credit card charges are easy to dispute and the reader is not liable for them.
I would say that the hotel has been negligent here. Some random person had been fishing for the reader’s room number and later added an unrelated person as a second guest who stole a significant amount of items, cash and used credit cards to the tune of $25K.
Due to gross negligence, the hotel should be liable for all costs, not just the ones related to the travelers’s stay. There are so many ways in which this could have been prevented, and it all comes down to following common sense privacy rules. The hotel staff did not, they should pay for it.
I’m totally with Alex. Hotel screwed up, hotel has to pay for it.
The authorities should also look into charging the front desk agent whoever gave out the key without checking the reservation, ID, … for neglence which resulted into heavy theft (or maybe it was even an inside job from one of the staff members?)
A few questions thou:
By the number of cards we’re looking at, wouldn’t one assume that at least half of them were chip + pin enabled? If so, how did he use the cards then?
Or are cards in that region all swipe + signature cards?
And what about the switchboard? Didn’t understand that part since its not in the message the reader sent to LL.
his story has a thousand holes in it. What you have are claims by a guest. The hotel is not saying anything other than that the police are investigating. Which is the right thing to say.
Signature cards are fairly common still so merchants don’t think twice about it. Also as I noted in another post above, many Japanese people don’t know their PIN to their credit cards so merchants process it as signature anyway. There are no ID checks here either way.
I’d also agree that it sounds a bit like an inside job, but if so, then I’m not sure the thief would have called the switchboard repeatedly trying to get the room number as that’s a big red flag.
I had a chat with the reader after he sent the message on Facebook.
The hotel switchboard had become suspicious because someone had called so many times trying to get the readers room number that he/she had alerted the front desk that something was happening.
I believe that the reader may have cards from more than one country and one of them is definitely United States. US cards to my knowledge are all signature only.
US has started chip cards within the last few years, even on debit cards. Both of my USAA cards (debit and credit) for example are Chip and PIN. There is still a mix though of Chip and PIN cards and Chip and Signature cards in the US as the initial roll out was only for Chip and Signature. I have no idea how that was any more secure than a plain old signature card since they still had the magnetic strip, but the US credit card industry and merchant terminal industry wasn’t set up yet for full chip and pin in the early stages. Now all merchants are required to have Chip and PIN terminals, though even still many of the readers aren’t yet online, so they still swipe the magnetic strip in those stores.
Another interesting point that comes up several times in this thread is about credit card fraud protection. That’s not something that’s necessarily a given depending on the country of issue. It is very good in the US and of course any fraudulent transactions on those cards would be returned to the card holder immediately, however that’s not the case at all in every country. In Japan, many of the Japanese banks who issue cards will treat you as guilty until the investigation is over and you’re proven innocent. I’ve been through it before, fortunately it was only about 150 euros because I did not win the claim, they accused me of buying a train ticket for someone else in Europe online and lying to the card company about it being fraud.
Weird.
When I go out, I take my wallet and my phone. Yet, this guy and his wife left both his wallet and two phones in the room?
Hotel rooms have safes in them, for you to put your cash and valuables. Why is this guy leaving a pile of cash and his wallet and his phones sitting around like this?
I don’t want to “blame the victim” but this sounds extremely weird to me.
Especially walking around Tokyo without your wallet. I can understand leaving a phone behind by accident or on purpose… but your wallet? In Tokyo?
What are you going to do in Tokyo that is not going to require your wallet?
You’re going to be away from your room long enough for:
1. someone to call the hotel and fudge them into coughing up a key
2. make the trip to the hotel
3. ransack the room completely without anyone noticing
4. make a trip from Akasaka to Ginza with your stuff and your credit card and go on a spending spree
Meanwhile you’re walking around like a dotard with no money, no wallet, no phone for you or your wife and eventually wander back to find out that all this happened?
I say no way.
There are scams in Japan though where foreigners go to girly bars or hostess bars and rack up huge bills while getting drunk and/or drugged by the establishment. If they get drugged, their card can be taken and then bills run up on it, and the card is then returned and the person finds out about it later.
Anyway all of this is going to be on video: from the spending with the credit card to the entry and exit from the room to the handing over of the key at the front desk. Whatever happened is going to come out.
It’s not entirely fair to attack the InterContinental when this smells so fishy, until the facts come out.
If you are a frequent flyer, mileage collector or businessman, you will understand why they have multiple cell phones and credit cards in a suitcase. Like my situation, I will keep my primary credit cards for usual spending and leave the “benefit cards” for backup as well.
In the additional, this case should put the eyes on the hotel’s response to their mistake. Who cares about what the victim lost items, even he put a Dyson vacuums in the room, it still shouldn’t be breaking.
“why they have multiple cell phones and credit cards in a suitcase”
I can understand having a backup phone.
But sorry, no, I don’t understand having stacks of credit cards in a suitcase. Or cash laying around.
That’s just stupid. Sorry. If this is your modus operandi then eventually you will get your credit cards stolen.
If you lay cash around your hotel room out in the open, valuables, jewelry, expensive watches, eventually someone will steal it. In a five star hotel 9 times out of 10 you can get away with it.
But it is just dumb to tempt minimum wage employees with piles of cash and credit cards and jewellery. That’s why smart people don’t do it.
Hotels give you the room safe for this explicit reason. So that your stuff will not be stolen because that door can open to many people.
If you consider yourself smart, worldly, well traveled and a successful businessman and you spray your hotel room with cash and valuables out in the open, this here is a contradiction in terms.
It’s just a bad idea in general to tempt people with easily stolen things.
Anyway the point is that there is an investigation ongoing. This story sounds hilariously bad. The truth will come out. Judge after the investigation before getting your pitchforks.
I don’t think the victim lost items can fit the safe in room, lol
cash, wallet, and mobile phones won’t fit in the safe?
What is it, a safe for ants?
😂 😂😂
you seem pretty bright.
Easy man 😂😂😂
you seem pretty bright.
😉 One day user, I get it
I’m complimenting you on your well thought out responses. You seem pretty bright.
I stayed in the same room type at ANA last week. There is a huge safe in the drawer underneath the TV.
Would agree that the hotel has primary responsibility but find it interesting that they did not ask for ID since Intercons are generally very strict about asking for ID (especially when replacing a misplaced key, etc.), and the ANA is beyond strict with rule enforcement from the number of times I’ve stayed there over the years. I am particularly curious why someone would 1.) not use the in room safe or hotel safe, 2.) why would you not have your phones with you, 3.) why someone would leave their credit cards laying about in a suitcase locked or unlocked and finally 4.) I’m baffled at the lack of secondary ID/authorization required by the Ginza shopdealers for larger amounts with an overseas card. Odd indeed. Sad all around.
I can’t even get my own room key when I leave it behind without showing ID in a five star hotel.
There is never an ID check in Japan when using credit cards, even on larger purchases and cards without a chip are still a bit common here so no one bats an eye if its a signature card vs a chip & pin card. Actually I’ve been with a number of Japanese people who don’t know the PIN to their card so request it to be processed as signature anyway. So that part in itself isn’t overly suspicious, nor are the multiple charges at the same merchant since Japanese department stores are set up where you ring your purchases in each department or floor separately.
I am however shocked that any hotel in Japan gave someone a secondary key without checking first. That doesn’t make sense at all nor does having all of those things outside of the room safe. Even when we go to the lounge right down the hallway for breakfast in the morning we put stuff in the room safe. I can understand having 1 phone out to charge, but not every valuable possession they have.
I don’t advocate of not using the inroom safe, but I don’t. The only valuables I have are my electronics plus some currency inside my computer bag.
I have not stayed at this specific InterContinental hotel (have stayed at more than 100). I have certainly checked into some without showing any form of ID due to Royal Ambassador status.
Remember that there should never be an ID requirement when paying using credit cards. Only that the signature on the back of the card matches the one on the receipt.
In some countries it’s expected to show ID with a signature card, most notably the USA, so that’s why the reaction is the way it is in the posts. Although it’s against Visa/Mastercard terms of service for the merchant, many US states have enacted laws to override that now to prevent credit card fraud.
When checking into a hotel, as you mention, some chains don’t require ID from elite members of their loyalty program. Japan is a country that’s kind of iffy on that though, as only Japan residents are legally allowed to check in without a passport copy being made. I don’t know how chains get around this when elite members check in, because I’ve been in countries before where there is also a passport copy requirement but Hilton did not ask for it once they saw my reservation.
> I have not stayed at this specific InterContinental hotel (have stayed at more than 100). I have certainly checked into some without showing any form of ID due to Royal Ambassador status.
Identification requirements to check in are based on country’s laws. Some countries do not require it, others do.
> Remember that there should never be an ID requirement when paying using credit cards. Only that the signature on the back of the card matches the one on the receipt.
Actually no, not at all. Not sure what gives you this idea. The merchant does not have to take your credit card and can ask for identification to see if you are the signing authority on that credit card.
John, my comment refers to when asking for a replacement key, an ID is required. I agree, rarely at check in do they request an ID at Intercons with an RA card; however they generally do at HIES for some reason.
I have never used any in room safes while staying at a hotel in Japan… it goes contrary to my view of Japan. But perhaps times are changing and it’s time to start using it on future stays in Japan.
In this case, hotel is definitely negligent… whether the reader left the items in the open or not… the hotel fumbled on so many issues that got the thief into the room regardless.
Couldn’t concur more regarding safety in Japan. This story seems simply unbelievable.
It doesn’t sound like the thief was Japanese though if they were claiming to be the guest’s brother. We do have some Chinese crime rings in Tokyo. I’ve never heard of them getting involved in petty theft like pickpocketing, but they most definitely are responsible for a lot of burglaries that happen in the city.
Could be Chinese ring targeting well known Taiwanese/Taiwanese Americans.
That’s very well possible, though they have been known to burglarize western residents as well. Always higher income folks, never heard of foreign English teachers getting hit, lol.
“I have never used any in room safes while staying at a hotel in Japan… it goes contrary to my view of Japan”. That is absolutely puzzling to me! What do the 2 have to do with each other?
How come the phones were in the room ?
Since it usually involve an extra 30 seconds of my time to put cash, passports, and credit cards into a hotel safe, including figuring out the locking mechanism; I have NEVER not locked these items into a safe. It is possible this very rich and careless person who is very successful in life also is very trusting, has never traveled (but is a Spire at IHG) and has very marginal IQ? But I digress. For the Cartier Love bracelet, you need to INSTALL it or remove it with a SCREWDRIVER. I know because my wife has to talk to the airport security guard everytime about it. So, it is possible for her to intentionally travel with it, lug it around internationally to observe its beauty UNINSTALLED and laying around and not have it in a safe. Although I don’t know how you can impress other women with it in your hotel room. And if you believe that I have a bridge I wish to sell you. Let me give you a bank to wire funds to in Nigeria. I’m also pretty sure they have a big theft insurance policy. Just a coincidence, of course.
personally I think the guest was in on the scam and it’s to cover up something else they did.
There are too many holes in the story.
However, I’m finding out from this website that a lot of travellers are completely ignorant about how to protect themselves best. They will not use the tools the hotel gives them to protect themselves and then when the situation blows up they howl and scream and blame the hotel.
If travellers are going to take risks eventually the traveller will get burned. Period. Keep playing stupid games eventually you win a stupid prize.
Yes, I’m waiting for the “experienced traveler” posting here who gets drunk in a foreign country, talks loudly about how awesome their home country is and how the location they are in sucks (especially when they talk bad about the ruling party/monarch), then walks into a dark alley and then is surprised when something bad happens to them after the tenth time. Because, well, the last nine times they were fine. Of course, the story will be twisted so they will appear like a victim. My only solace in reading the other posters who find hotel safes are easy to break into so they are going to leave their cash lying around is that most thieves will go after them first (low hanging fruit). You should also never learn martial arts (self defense), you should never buy any sort of home/car/health insurance, at home you should never have back up batteries, never have back up gas canisters for the portable grill, extra cases of bottled water/rations at home, etc. because the world is just full of rainbows and unicorns, and nothing bad ever happens, whether it be from mother nature or fellow man. BTW, I live in a hurricane prone place and it never cease to amaze me the lines at the warehouse stores for bottled water and canned foods when a hurricane nears. The problem is people who don’t plan end up multiplying more often than the “planners” aka the movie “Idiocracy”.
Reader did not put valuable stuff out in the open.
“My luggage locks was broken by the theft. The theft took everything out from my luggage, my iPad, bag, my wallet, cash, credit cards even one of my carry-on size Rimowa case gone.”
I have also stored backup cash / cards in a locked luggage in case I “lost” my wallet / cash when out travelling. Similarly, I will not carry my laptop when outside but lock it inside one of the suitcase.
I do not see any issues with the story reported by reader although reader should not be carrying so many “spare” credit cards when travelling.
Hopefully, this should be a straight forward case as security cameras are prevalent nowadays.
luggage is not secure storage. Zippers can be opened with a pen. Luggage can be opened with master keys. Plastic locks can be forced with a screwdriver in seconds.
Leaving cash and jewellery in your luggage is leaving it around asking for it to be robbed.
The only thing this does is keep it out of sight so it won’t tempt the maid. It doesn’t stop someone who is trying to steal it as is obvious.
Anyone who does this is asking for this to happen. I have seen it happen to friends, I have had it happen to girlfriends traveling with me. I tell them to use the safe, they say they have nothing to go in the safe, we come back to the room and they tell me $300 is gone from their purse.
I say why didn’t you put it in the safe when I told you?
They tell me “I thought the hotel was a safe place and this wouldn’t happen.”
Then I go into the speech about why the room safe is there.
I am sure that every day or every week there is some guest getting burned in these hotels and they go all irate like some of the people in this thread because they believe that their room is secure and sacrosanct and walking in the front door of the hotel somehow magically suspends human nature.
It is human nature to be a sucker like half the people in this thread who don’t know how to protect themselves and will not take basic precautions. The same people thing “p@assword” is a secure password because it has a symbol in it. You tell them they need to do better so they come up with “p@assword123” and call it a day.
It has to drive hotel managers crazy when guests complain that their gold, diamonds, platinum, phone, and cash were stolen, and then say they didn’t use the room safe or go to the front desk to lock them up.
I swear I would be pounding my head on my desk all day long dealing with idiots like this.
Couldn’t agree more. Goes to show that one can not measure intelligence in money (or points for that matter… 😉 )
I know of a girl that was robbed this way at a sheraton, night before moving into dorm. Took her new macbook for college. $2000, TV, other new stuff they didnt want to leave in car. Sheraton hotel disavowed any responsibility. Search on interweb…indicated many complaints of theft at that hotel.
“Even one of my carry-on size Rimowa case gone” – well of course the thief would take this, how else is he/she going to carry all your valuables, cash and 12 credit cards out of the room?
I travel year round and stay in hotels 350 nights a year. When I am in a foreign place, which is most of the time, I sometimes take a bit of loose cash and a single credit card with me when I go out. I very rarely take a wallet with me. The one time I did do it, in Madrid, Spain in Feb 2016, I was pick-pocketed and lost it all. So it’s not unusual to leave a wallet in the room when one goes out.
The same with my phone. Quite often I am in a foreign place and I don’t have a local sim with local calls or local data, only wi-fi. So sometimes I just leave the phone in the room, especially when travelling alone. There is no need for it. Another lesson from Madrid incident.
And not sure why you think it “so interesting” they took their passports. It’s advised by not only local authorities, but by your own governments that we should carry our passports at all times. And most people do. I don’t though. I take a photocopy and carry that with me, or an outdated license. That way, if I do get robbed or lose them, there is minimal impact. I learnt my lesson real quick after Madrid. ( And that would be the one time I did take my wallet with me )!
The only part of this story I find unusual is why they would not have used the safe in the room. I assume there was one? There may not have been. But even so, they locked their possessions in their suitcases inside the room. You would think, and expect, it to be safe.
So it’s reasonable to believe this story and not be suspicious of everyone and everything all the time. It must be a sad state of affairs in America these days when everyone is so suspicious of each other.
But the bigger picture is about learning lessons. This has made me realise not to be so open with my personal details when meeting a stranger by revealing my last name or where I am staying. Maybe giving the name of a hotel is appropriate, but never revealing my last name, just in case, is not appropriate.
Thanks for bringing this story to our attention John.
Most countries, as you note are pretty loose on having your actual passport on you, however Japan isn’t a place to mess with that.
Here it’s absolutely required that a non-Japanese citizen always has a passport or resident card on them at all times. Police can and do detain people if they do a random check and the foreigner doesn’t have one or the other. As a tourist I don’t know how you’d get out, presumably someone from the embassy would have to come to get you. As a resident, you have to send your spouse or friend to your home to get the card and bring it back to the police station.
These random stops of foreigners don’t just happen in sketchy parts of town either, it can literally happen anywhere if the cops are bored enough (we no real crime usually to keep them occupied).
> Here it’s absolutely required that a non-Japanese citizen always has a passport or resident card on them at all times. Police can and do detain people if they do a random check and the foreigner doesn’t have one or the other.
Japanese police do not hassle tourists.
If you have a copy of your passport and show it to them, and tell them where you are living, and the passport is there at the hotel because you want it kept safe, that is going to be fine. If they need to get access to the passport they will go with you to the hotel and get it.
In 20 years of going to Japan, I have never seen or heard of the Japanese police doing random passport checks on tourists.
This is another reason to carry a phone because you can take photos of your passport and show them as copies.
The police only want to:
1. verify who you are
2. verify you are there legally
The only way not having your passport on you as a tourist is going to cause you a world of problems is if you’re visiting a place like North Korea or else you did something really, really stupid, like run over a local citizen with a motorbike while being drunk.
Believe what you wish on that front, Japanese police occasionally hassle foreigners. They don’t know who’s a tourist and who’s a resident until the check is already initiated. I’ve lived here for 9 years and I know several people who have been detained for not having their ID. Escorting them home to get the ID was not a given option.
When I was here as a tourist many years ago I had one random check in a train station and since I’ve lived here I’ve had 2 or 3 ID checks in really random places. Obviously it doesn’t happen frequently but they do occasionally do it. One time I gave them my Japanese drivers license instead of resident card just to see what he’d do and he accepted it. Officially that’s not accepted for foreigners since they can’t verify legal resident status, so with anything else in Japan YMMV, but if they want to stick to the letter of the law you won’t talk your way out of it by playing ignorant to the law. The police are very polite but firm once they’ve made up their mind.
People riding bicycles especially are likely to be stopped fairly frequently, depending on the route, I know some people who get stopped almost weekly. In that case they are checking for stolen bicycles, but an ID check is part of the process.
I was once with a Thai friend in Hong Kong and the police asked to see his passport.
BTW I have two passports. I have one with me and at the hotel.
> The one time I did do it, in Madrid, Spain in Feb 2016, I was pick-pocketed and lost it all. So it’s not unusual to leave a wallet in the room when one goes out.
Well your problem is you don’t know how to behave where you are.
If you’re going to go to Spain or Rome or Istanbul or anywhere else with huge crowds and basically an industry devoted to pickpocketing, you need to take some precautions against that.
This doesn’t mean the correct response is to leave your money and platinum jewellery lying around in your room. Because you’re trying to say at the same time, these countries are not safe, therefore don’t carry anything but suddenly your room is safe?
If the country has a high prevalence of tourist robberies you are equally risky leaving stuff around in the room for the maid to steal as you are carrying it around. In fact, you are taking more of a risk.
If you leave a wallet in a room with $2000 in it in Spain, what will happen is that the maid is going to take $300 from you. Unless you are constantly counting that money you may not even notice. These are not dumb people. If you try to challenge this with the hotel, you say I swear I had $2000 in my wallet and now only $1700, the hotel is going to say you probably spent it. You will say no, I know the maid stole it because I left my wallet sitting on my bed.
The hotel will say, why did you not put it in the safe?
You will not have a leg to stand on.
I am honestly really surprised at the number of people who consider themselves pro travellers but do not know the rudimentary basics of protecting themselves while away. The naivety is amazing.
If you have a super high value item the front desk can lock it up for you in a five star hotel.
Other than this, a child will understand you are better off leaving cash or jewellery in the safe than in your luggage or laying around your room.
> It’s advised by not only local authorities, but by your own governments that we should carry our passports at all times.
Actually the advice is to carry a copy of your passport and leave the passport locked up and safe. Because if you lose your original passport you’re in a world of hurt.
You are so worried about pickpockets and you are telling people to carry their passport? It makes no sense.
> So sometimes I just leave the phone in the room, especially when travelling alone. There is no need for it. Another lesson from Madrid incident.
This is so dumb.
1. your phone is your emergency access tool if you need help
2. your phone is your map and your way home or your way to a police station
3. your phone is your camera and your video evidence in case you encounter harassment
4. mostly your phone is a mobile swiss army knife of information processing and there is no point in buying one to put in your room, it’s made to go in your pocket because it is a useful thing to carry around
Because you were naive and got pick pocketed in one place is not a reason to say never carry a phone for the rest of your life. It means, protect yourself better and get your head out of your butt when you’re walking around pickpocket infested areas.
> It must be a sad state of affairs in America these days when everyone is so suspicious of each other.
And insert random OMG America sucks comment to close off this brilliant insightful post.
I find it laughable that those with 700+ days/yr in hotels think the in-room safe is the best place to put your items. Ladies & gentlemen, you have lived a wonderful life in not being targeted for theft. Anything you do short of not having belongings has only, at best, helped reduce your risk of being targeted.
That in room shoe box safe is easily opened. I can’t tell you how many times I have found them not even bolted down, or bolted down on a particle board shelf. This allows easy access to the areas for master key openings – just google it. This is assuming there is not a master code like 0000 still programmed. I had one jam once and the guys came and opened it in seconds.
I think that the suitcase takes a bit longer to open, either the lock or the zipper. But either way google that as well.
But you have less chance of being robbed in room than out in town. Many of us more experienced travellers that have experienced or know a friend (not a friend of a friend, but the actual person that had to file the police report) that has experienced theft on the road know the best method is to split up your items (per the Madrid visitor). Only carry what you need and leave the rest in the room. Pickpockets, losing items. are more common than room burglaries.
And when travelling, many times you need your passport. Purchase VAT refund items – need your passport. Pickup prepaid/online tickets – need your passport. Go to some controlled access buildings – need to show your passport. So it is not uncommon to be forced to carry your passport.
My question is how much did the front desk guy get paid to give out the room key? I had to show passports for all guests staying in my rooms (our family) at check-in. How does some random person just get a key? It is obvious this person was targeted between this move and the previous reported phishing calls.
> That in room shoe box safe is easily opened.
Go there and open it.
> I can’t tell you how many times I have found them not even bolted down, or bolted down on a particle board shelf.
Sounds like you stay at motels.
> This is assuming there is not a master code like 0000 still programmed.
Sounds like you stay at motels.
> I had one jam once and the guys came and opened it in seconds.
Wait, you’re saying these safes are so insecure and easily opened BUT you couldn’t open yours and needed to get the security team to help you? lol, I mean, pick an argument. Are they hard to open or easy to open? If they are easy to open, what’s your malfunction that you can’t get it open?
Also: it is no shock that the hotel security team can open a safe. When they come, they come in pairs, the manager signs off on it then they have to sign off that they opened it and they are supposed to make you sign to show that you know they opened it.
For the rest: honestly this is like saying someone died in a car accident once not wearing a seatbelt THEREFORE NOBODY SHOULD WEAR SEATBELTS.
After this: what’s your suggestion? Leave your cash laying around in the room because you don’t trust the safe?
Why are you even using the room safe when you don’t trust them?
> My question is how much did the front desk guy get paid to give out the room key?
Nice conclusion. You think that a Japanese person in a five star hotel with video on him is going to take a couple hundred bucks to break the law and help a thief steal from a guest.
> How does some random person just get a key?
Plus:
> It is obvious this person was targeted between this move and the previous reported phishing calls.
Or they were in on it.
Last hotel using the safe was a JW Marriott. The Safe was Jammed and giving an error code, so I needed their help on opening it.
I have stayed at Motels before and they typically do not have safe’s. The Courtyard Marriott I just stayed at in the city did not have one.
You use the safe for insurance purposes. If you don’t then they will ask why not with a crooked eye and wonder if it was a set-up. Plus if you use the safe then a good chance the hotel will cover it (yes not policy but they also do not like the bad press). Otherwise it will be noted in the police report for your insurance claim.
Oh, a little assumption on the process at the hotel. Maybe you read the procedure manual but did not see how things really work (just like the front desk is supposed to check ids before giving a relative a key). It was just one guy. He asked to see id and I said “it’s in the safe” to see his response. He opened it without checking. So I could have broken into the room and then had hotel security open the safe for me.
Yes reality is much different than what some people guess/think will happen.
But of course you know it all and so I must have been dreaming this all up.
The thief stole cosmetics and some shoes, too? I don’t believe this at all.
I had a theft while travelling once.
I had them steal my dirty underwear. That’s because they took what was there rather than picking through what they wanted – grabbed my entire bag. Probably assumed it was of some value and can always check later.
In this instance, judging by the photos supplied, the culprit had time to sift through and pick and choose what he/she wanted to take.
who leaves credit cards and cash in their luggage????
Who even carries significant cash?
Every hotel has a disclaimer that they are not responsible for theft. And that includes when they let people into your room. This happens all the time, its a common scam. I couldnt count the number of times I have gone to front desk and said my key didnt work, and they ask room # and make new ones without checking ID at all.
I travel 100-150 nights per year. I would never leave anything in room not locked up in safe. Except work computer because thats not my problem if it goes missing.
Your employer is reading this.
Not to mention that the key card door locks are battery operated wireless devices. They are not exactly fort knox secure.
I have sympathy for the traveller robbed at the ANA Hotel; btu who in their right mind travels overseas with 12 credit cards in their wallet? When travelling I cut my credit cards down to 2 – one for business use, and one for personal stuff.
Some people live in more than one country and you need to have multiple cards because they can get cloned in your travels likes the other year I had both one Visa and MasterCard compromised in Brazil.
There’s no doubt that the hotel clerk was negligent (probably naive); Tokyo is not a destination rife with theft. I’ve stayed at this hotel many times and they know me by face. But the first time I stayed there I had to show a passport. And when I forget my keycard in the room, I have to show ID. So shame on them.
I do share some of the same head-scratching at the alleged victim’s circumstances, as well.
I’ve been to 201 countries and never walk around with a passport; I do keep a color photocopy of the passport page and my driver’s license just in case I need ID. The downside of losing a passport is high.
I am careful where I carry my wallet — but Tokyo is a place where one does carry a wallet and you don’t worry about pickpocketing (except for some foreigners in Roppongi perhaps). Tokyo is a place where if you leave your wallet in a taxi it gets returned to you, including the cash.
If I did travel with that many valuables, I would use the hotel safe, though in a safe place like Tokyo, I’d probably not be on my guard as much. But then I would probably not travel with that much in valuables.
It does seem like this person is known to the thief, and that this was far from a random event.
It does seem as if the “victim” brought literally ALL of his valuables on this trip. The inventory reads like some kind of tech/luxury brand wish list. 12 credit cards? Who has 12 credit cards? Someone trying, and struggling to maintain a certain lifestyle. This is a scam.
Could be an unplanned inside job… The guy calls the hotel to let his brother into the room. His brother calls him and says “they didn’t even ask me for an ID! I mean, I could be a total stranger”, “okay, they’re asking for it. let’s rough up the place a little and make up a list of all the valuables you have bought within the last two years…”
They usually have cameras in the lobby though, don’t they? So it should be fairly easy to get the face of the person who collected the key card from the time the card was issued at the front desk.
And, in my humble opinion, this guy had too much useless stuff anyway and probably has a lot more at home…