Wedding ring missing from Animal Kingdom Lodge Kidani Villa

[Club Cooloholic]

There's a big difference between finding something on the street and finding something in a hotel room as an employee of that establishment. In both cases, the right thing to do is to take whatever steps are reasonable to help try to reunite the item with its owner, but what's reasonable is very different in each case.

It's pretty astonishing that there are people here arguing there's nothing wrong with housekeeping stealing guest's belongings that they accidentally forgot in their room after they checked out.

Nobody said it was ok, just that to call it absolute theft, is maybe not right term. And honestly what kind of investigation should be done, should the house keeper be strip searched, the police go in to their house and turn over the the place to look? Can you say for sure the housekeeper didn't just throw it out or have it go down a drain?

 

[Chi84]

People misplace or leave things behind all the time. Obviously, if someone finds something of value they should turn it in. On the other hand, there is no right to have someone else's world upended to accommodate your act of carelessness. This is a life lesson that doesn't seem to be learned until it happens to the individual person.

 

[Skibum1970]

Nobody said it was ok, just that to call it absolute theft, is maybe not right term. And honestly what kind of investigation should be done, should the house keeper be strip searched, she police go in to their house and turn over the the place to look? Can you say for sure the housekeeper didn't just throw it out or have it go down a drain?

How do we know which housekeeping staff it was or did someone wander into the room while it was being cleaned? Short of video evidence, it would be a flimsy case. Not that I'm doubting the OG at all but purely talking hypothetically, how can a person prove that they lost an expensive ring? Insurance fraud happens all the time regarding "lost jewelry/stuff". If it was that expensive, how could someone leave it behind? Was it the staff that kept it or did they turn it into lost/found who conveniently lost it (although, my guess is that they have procedures/paperwork to prevent Lost/Found thefts. Again, I'm not saying this is what happened in any way, shape, or form. Just speaking to a general circumstance.

I do think that staff should do the ethical thing and turn lost items, particularly expensive items, to the correct person/department so that the item can be returned to its owner.

 

[Dead2009]

That makes no sense. Case in point if a guest left a wad of bills like $2K on the dresser and checked out then made a police and Disney report, then Disney mgt won't question staff who entered the room?

This also makes no sense because what guest is going to be stupid enough to leave that much money on a dresser before they check out? Especially if there's more than one person in the room. Thats just negligence at that point.

 

[Lilofan]

Nobody said it was ok, just that to call it absolute theft, is maybe not right term. And honestly what kind of investigation should be done, should the house keeper be strip searched, she police go in to their house and turn over the the place to look? Can you say for sure the housekeeper didn't just throw it out or have it go down a drain?

Back in the day I worked in a hotel. We were only allowed to enter exit through the staff door. One afternoon the security team with managers did a surprise bag check inspection to include emptying our pockets prior to leaving the building. One fellow staff member produced food items from the kitchen in his knapsack. We found out the next day he was fired for theft. Private property their rules. If Disney wanted to search cast they have every right too.

 

[flynnibus]

How many folks got arrested for not reporting jewelry they found? I am not saying it isn't a law, but, how enforceable is this?

Enforcable and 'worth enforcing' are different things.

To the letter of the law - it's highly enforceable. The reality is no prosecutor is going to spend the time and resources to pursue this in trivial scenarios. Instead one hopes the presence of LEO would encourage someone to turn in abandoned property when reminded by LEO they are obligated to.

It would probably have to be egregious, or repeat behavior to get actual resources focused on such a topic.

 

[GigglesMcSnort]

This also makes no sense because what guest is going to be stupid enough to leave that much money on a dresser before they check out? Especially if there's more than one person in the room. Thats just negligence at that point.

Agree the scenario is unrealistic, but have you never forgot something important somewhere before? Most of us aren't Mr. or Mrs. Perfect. We're human and occasionally do stupid things.

 

[Ayla]

Are people in this thread SERIOUSLY debating whether keeping something that doesn't belong to you is stealing??

Good god, people suck.

 

[GigglesMcSnort]

Nobody said it was ok, just that to call it absolute theft, is maybe not right term. And honestly what kind of investigation should be done, should the house keeper be strip searched, she police go in to their house and turn over the the place to look? Can you say for sure the housekeeper didn't just throw it out or have it go down a drain?

I don't think anybody is saying that if housekeeping accidentally knock something valuable off the table and it gets brushed in with the trash that's anything other than an unfortunate accident. The point is that if someone purposefully pockets the item and doesn't hand it in, then that's theft.

It's absolutely the right term to use, there's no nuance about it, and whether the customer has checked out or not does not change anything about it. Just because someone accidentally left something behind does not mean housekeeping is now entitled to swipe it without consequence!

If you read through the thread, there are people are actually arguing that it's somehow fine if it was left behind after checkout.

 

[Dead2009]

Agree the scenario is unrealistic, but have you never forgot something important somewhere before? Most of us aren't Mr. or Mrs. Perfect. We're human and occasionally do stupid things.

Well of course people are forgetful of things, but when it comes to money the first thing im checking is my wallet to make sure nothing is missing

 

[Bullseye1967]

How many folks got arrested for not reporting jewelry they found? I am not saying it isn't a law, but, how enforceable is this?

I was just stating the law, but what @GigglesMcSnort said.

There's a big difference between finding something on the street and finding something in a hotel room as an employee of that establishment. In both cases, the right thing to do is to take whatever steps are reasonable to help try to reunite the item with its owner, but what's reasonable is very different in each case (and depending on the value of the item).

It's pretty astonishing that there are people here arguing there's nothing wrong with housekeeping stealing guest's belongings that they accidentally forgot in their room after checking out. Can we assume people saying this would be perfectly happy forgetting a credit card or passport or treasured possession in your room and never seeing it again because, hey you checked out, so you're not going to expect anybody to report it, are you.

 

[Lilofan]

I don't think anybody is saying that if housekeeping accidentally knock something valuable off the table and it gets brushed in with the trash that's anything other than an unfortunate accident. The point is that if someone purposefully pockets the item and doesn't hand it in, then that's theft. It's absolutely the right term to use and there's no nuance about it.

If you read through the thread, there are people are actually arguing that it's somehow fine if it was left behind after checkout.

It Lol, that some think the cast should not be asked by mgt on the missing item reported by the guest. Heck ya, if it was my business I would be calling that staff member into my office for a discussion into the matter.