<p>I’m visiting colleges with my son and my laptop and his brand new camera were stolen out of my hotel room. My computer was equipped with lojack, but was never activated (as it now seems it needed to be?). I’ve reported it to hotel security and to the Rochester police. They’re basically telling me, “gosh, that sucks”. Any advice???</p>
<p>The police officer says my home owners insurance will not cover unless it were stolen from my home. Is this true? How about my credit card?</p>
<p>Your home policy should cover the cost. BUT you will be responsible for the deductible. (Our homeowner deductible is $1500.00 and that certainly would not be worth the claim unless the camera in question is a high dollar) Are you staying in a hotel that has a “card reader” entry system? If you do, the front office or security staff should be able to see who has entered the room at each and every entry. If you simply did not pull the door all the way closed, then that is an unfortunate error. I am sorry you are having to deal with this.</p>
<p>Are there any security cameras in the hallways or elevators?</p>
<p>If you purchased the Computer or camera by credit card in the past year, contact your card company as they may have theft protection. How did you make your reservations - I’m looking for ways for you to “communicate responsibility” to the hotel, a bit of leverage may help.</p>
<p>Oh that is really horrible! I never thought that a computer would be swiped from a hotel room. I always bring my laptop and leave it in the room (not hidden). I guess I won’t do that from now on. I’m so sorry for your troubles.</p>
<p>Did you talk to the hotel’s Mgr ? Regional Mgr ? — Almost always an “inside job” ask what they are doing about it. How long have you stayed? - If they comped your stay would it come close to paying for your loss???</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>Same with us! Sorry to hear about your troubles, Schoomcgoo. Police officer doesn’t seem to know much about insurance–wouldn’t take his advice.</p>
<p>Personally, I’d make a stink about it to hotel management and tell them you’ll go up the corporate chain if they don’t give you some kind of compensation. You could also threaten to post reviews on the travel websites.</p>
<p>You definitely need to contact your insurance company. Why would a Rochester cop know anything about your policy?</p>
<p>I’m really surprised to hear that it’s apparently common practice to leave laptops in unattended hotel rooms. Maybe I’m too suspicious, but I just assume that if strangers have free access to my room, sooner or later something valuable is going to disappear.</p>
<p>Housekeeping usually leaves the door open when they are working in a room.</p>
<p>If they are in the bathroom,
the door is open,
laptop in plain site on the desk,
- it only takes a second for anyone walking by to run in and take it. </p>
<p>No reason to tempt people by leaving valuable stuff in plain site.</p>
<p>+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My homeowners policy covered the theft of DS’s laptop from his College Fraternity house - No Deductible - they replaced it 
</p>
<p>Good Luck</p>
<p>Thanks for the input and comisseration folks.</p>
<p>DS and I checked in around 6pm. I did hide the laptop, sort of, because I had requested a rollaway bed and was headed out to dinner. I put the laptop behind the armoire, thinking at least it wouldn’t be in plain sight. Unbeknowst to me, DS did the same-ish with his camera bag–“hid” it behind his big luggage, so it wasn’t so obvious. We went to dinner and came back about 8 to the theft.</p>
<p>As for not pulling the door shut–that’s probably what happened. I discovered that, even though the door slams with a crash (the hotel gets complaints it’s so loud), it does not always latch. I found this out when I went to my next door neighbor’s room to ask if they had heard anyone announce “housekeeping” or some such, thinking perhaps the would-be bed delivery person decided to skip leaving the bed in favor of my electronics.</p>
<p>I will be reimbursed for the camera by Amex because it was purchased within their 90 day protection period. The computer, however, will not be covered that way. I will look into home owner’s insurance coverage–depreciation and deductible will probably make that a moot point though. It’s a very nice computer–$2Kish–but it’s almost two years old. It’s still under extended warranty though and it’s possible, if anyone is stupid enough to call the manufacturer, it can be traced by service tag, which I have record of.</p>
<p>I have also tape recorded the (mal)function of the door. I have copies of security and police reports.</p>
<p>All family pictures from the past two years are gone. Wish I’d backed up. 
:(</p>
<p>
OP, I’m so sorry about the thefts! </p>
<p>I like the idea above. No hotel needs bad publicity in these economic times.</p>
<p>I would guess someone who is familiar with the hotel and the malfunctioning doors is the thief. You should complain to the corporate level of the hotel, especially if it is a national chain. I stayed at a Courtyard Inn a few weeks ago and discovered the same door/lock malfunction. If you didnt manually pull the door shut it did not lock.</p>
<p>I was a hotel manager for a long time. It sounds like the door didn’t latch properly. I would absolutely complain to the hotel management and particularly if it is a chain I would write a letter.<br>
We were recently victims of theft in a condo we renting on vacation. One of the items was covered under Amex 90 day protection plan. My homeowners insurance would have covered the other items but they were just under the 1000 deductible we carry on our homeowners. Given that we have never used the insurance in the 19 years we have had it I guess our bet of keeping the deductible high probably worked out. Even though we didn’t have coverage for the 900 dollars worth of stuff we saved that much in premium over 19 years.</p>
<p>We had our car broken into two weeks ago coming back from vacation. Our laptop, camera and many more things were also stolen. We had a $500 deductible and replacement coverage, so should be able to replace most things. From what we found out, it’s worth using your insurance if your deductible is low enough.</p>
<p>schmoomcgoo, I’m sorry to hear about this. It’s so infuriating when people feel that they have the right to steal someone else’s belongings. Particularly disappointing that you lost all those photos.</p>
<p>I stay in Rochester often and would love to hear what hotel it was. If you could PM me the info, I’d appreciate it. Like many others here, I always set up my laptop and leave it for the duration of my stay. I, too, agree that you should make as big a stink as possible with hotel management and if you get no satisfaction locally, go higher up the chain. I’ve done that with other issues, not theft, and have had good success.</p>
<p>We also leave out computer on and in plan sight, but I will rethink that now. Someone had to know you were gone to be willing to go through your things to look for valuables. I would also suspect and inside job.</p>
<p>I’d post a review of this hotel on [Reviews</a> of vacations, hotels, resorts, vacation and travel packages - TripAdvisor](<a href=“http://www.tripadvisor.com%5DReviews”>http://www.tripadvisor.com). The hotel is at least partially responsible for this theft.</p>
<p>
Oh no! Forget the camera and laptop, this may be the biggest loss. </p>
<p>With memory cards these days capable of holding thousands of pictures that could actually end up to be years worth for some people, they need to be copied over to another system. And with so many people using a laptop as their backup point but taking their laptops with them on travel (and more subject to theft, loss, damage), the photos aren’t so safe. The other problem is when people save them on a single hard drive which, if it breaks, will result in the loss of all the photos.</p>
<p>I’m sorry all this happened to you. I’m in the habit of doing a quick test of hotel doors to make sure they’re really latched and locked because I’ve also found that some don’t latch so well even when they looked closed.</p>
<p>I try my hardest to never leave anything valuable in a hotel room after having been ripped off at one about 30 years ago (for $20 and a few clothing items) but this can be hard with laptops. Too many people have access to the rooms.</p>
<p>I am not sure it really helps, but I always leave the Do Not Disturb sign on the door when I leave a hotel room. My thought process is someone will think I am in the room, not that the room might be empty.</p>