Top 10 Items Stolen from Hotels
A new piece of research by a UK based online travel agency has looked at the top 10 items that British holiday makers would steal from hotels abroad. It seems that a number of British holiday makers feel quite comfortable taking items away with them from their hotels when on holiday. The study demonstrated the variety of items that holiday makers would take with them, including such things as soft furnishings, towels, cutlery, crockery, batteries, bedding, light bulbs, and decorative items found in the hotel room as a souvenir.. It was also demonstrated that 14% of those who did take items had been caught in the act.
The travel agency, Sunshine.co.uk, has been engaged in an ongoing piece of research into how British holiday makers behave when they are abroad. For this element of their study, they spoke to 2,623 individuals, all of whom were over the age of 18 and from a cross geographical section of the country. All participants had been on six or more holidays abroad since reaching adulthood. The study was anonymous to encourage people to answer the questions honestly. The research focused specifically on items that people had took with them out of hotels.
The first question that participants were asked to answer was: ‘Have you ever stolen anything, however small, from a hotel during a holiday abroad?’ 56% of respondents admitted that they had. Furthermore, 14% admitted that they had not only taken things with them that didn’t belong to them from the hotel, but that they had been caught doing so as well.
Those who did admit to stealing anything were then asked to provide a list of items they had taken with them. This revealed the top 10 most popular stolen souvenirs as being:
- Pool towels, taken by 31% of respondents.
- Room towels, taken by 27% of respondents.
- Soft furnishings like cushions, taken by 22% of respondents.
- Batteries, taken by 20% of respondents.
- Glassware, crockery, and cutlery, taken by 18% of respondents.
- Slippers, taken by 12% of respondents.
- Robes, taken by 9% of respondents.
- Light bulbs, taken by 8% of respondents.
- Bedding such as blankets, pillow cases, and duvet covers, taken by 4% of respondents.
- Decorative accessories like vases, taken by 2% of respondents.
Additionally, 1% of those taking part in the survey who admitted to taking things with them stated that they had stolen electrical items, including remote controls, music players, and alarm clock. Two people who took part in the survey stated that they had taken a television with them. A single respondent stated that they had taken a bible with them.
Respondents were then asked to give a reason for their theft. 47% of them stated that they believed the ‘hotel would have plenty more spare’. A further 28% stated that they wanted to make sure they got their ‘money’s worth’.
Chris Clarkson, Managing Director of sunshine.co.uk, said: “Stealing is wrong on many levels and unfortunately I think many people don’t consider taking from hotels to be theft. The truth of the matter is that taking anything that doesn’t belong to you is stealing. Hotel guests need to respect the fact that the items in rooms they stay in aren’t just there for the taking, but rather are there to enjoy during their stay.”
About the Author
Andrea Guerriero Hi, I'm Andrea, a travel blogger, web programmer, seo apprentice and amateur photographer based in Milan. I love reading, I love music. I love to travel but only if I leave on a mission! I've been traveling through most of Europe and I love writing about it. I love photography, especially as a way to document experiences, places, events. My Nikon D300 camera is always with me, and it helps me in sharing my life with the rest of the world. Getting in touch with new people, different life styles and foreign traditions, and write about it, is all I can ask for.
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