Luxury Hotel Heist During Coachella At Hilton’s La Quinta Resort
There appears to have been a luxury goods heist at Hilton’s La Quinta Resort (Curio Collection) in California during the Coachella music festival. Several guests at the hotel had their hotel room burglarized, likely using a “misplaced” master key, and valuable designer goods were stolen, […]
There appears to have been a luxury goods heist at Hilton’s La Quinta Resort (Curio Collection) in California during the Coachella music festival.
Several guests at the hotel had their hotel room burglarized, likely using a “misplaced” master key, and valuable designer goods were stolen, while electronics were left behind.
You can access La Quinta Resort’s page here.
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Here’s an excerpt from the SF Gate that reported on this crime:
On returning to the hotel on Friday, several groups of guests found their rooms meticulously ransacked. The thieves ignored easily traceable items like laptops in favor of designer handbags, sunglasses, perfume and clothing.
When reached for comment, a representative from La Quinta sent the following statement: “The safety and security of our hotel guests and team members is our top priority. As soon as we were made aware of claims of theft at the resort, we immediately engaged local law enforcement. At this time, we are unable to provide further information on the ongoing investigation, but are actively working on a swift resolution for all that may be impacted.”
Security took a couple of hours to arrive at the room, he said, and a police officer told him that they were the fifth room that had reported a theft so far that night.
When a security guard inspected the lock on Brownridge and King’s room, the pair said that the guard mentioned that there was a “misplaced” housekeeping key that appeared to have been used. La Quinta did not confirm to SFGATE that a hotel key was used to access the rooms.
None of the three people interviewed felt pleased with the response from La Quinta management.
“They just kept on deflecting us to security. There’s no action from them,” Velasquez said. “They didn’t even offer any compensation or something. They offered to move us to another room, but what’s the point? We already lost our stuff.”
When hotels get hit with an inside heist, they defer, delay, obfuscate, and eventually wash their hands.
Here’s what you need to do:
1. File a police report
Nothing will happen unless you file a police report because the hotel certainly doesn’t want to internally investigate anything, as if their lax policies that led to the heist, they might be liable for the losses.
You also need the police report for the potential insurance claim.
2. Insurance coverage
Check if your homeowner’s insurance or possible credit card coverage might cover, at least partially, the losses incurred.
3. Push for resolution
You may need to open a case with the corporate so that they know what is taking place at one of their affiliated hotels.
4. Depreciated value
Remember that you will never get the purchase price reimbursed by the property or insurance, but the depreciated value.
5. Receipts
You need to back up the items and values of the stolen goods, and receipts would be the perfect way for this.
Nowadays, I take photos of the purchase receipts of items that I travel with and upload them to a cloud service whenever I am on WiFi. I can easily prove what I have purchased, when, and how much I paid. These come very handy if you ever need to file a claim.
6. In-room safes
These are not really safe, as opening them only takes a second or two.
Conclusion
It is unfortunate that hotel rooms are not that safe, and I have had cash stolen from my bags a few times over the years, usually by housekeeping employees, but it is impossible to say who did it.
I had someone lift three crisp $100 bills from my travel wallet at Fairmont Rio de Janeiro Copacabana (back then, it was Sofitel).
Four employees entered the room/suite during the six-hour period (housekeeping, housekeeping supervisor, welcome amenity, and turndown service), and all were long-term employees (10+ years each at this property). I reported the theft, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the person who stole the cash is still working there, performing their “duties” and boosting their salary.
My advice would be not to travel with very expensive stuff and, if you do, only stay at truly luxury properties that are better equipped to ensure that master keys are not lost and vet their employees more thoroughly.
I stayed at this hotel once or twice a while back (15 to 20 years ago) and liked the casitas and rather lovely grounds.
