Top 10 items stolen from hotels revealed

RESEARCH has revealed the top ten most commonly stolen items from hotels by Brits abroad: holidaymakers are most likely to help themselves to towels, soft furnishings, batteries, and cutlery/crockery.

In the survey by www.sunshine.co.uk, 2,623 people aged 18 and over from around the UK were asked to answer honestly questions about items they’d taken from hotels in the past … if any. 

When asked ‘Have you ever stolen anything, however small, from a hotel during a holiday abroad?’ 56% said ‘yes’. A further 14% of the respondents confessed that they had been caught in the act of taking something that wasn’t theirs from a hotel abroad. Anyone who had stolen a hotel item in the past was asked to name everything they had taken in this manner in the past, which revealed the following top 10 answers:

1. Pool towel(s) – 31% 
2. Room towel(s) – 27% 
3. Soft furnishing (e.g. cushions) – 22% 
4. Batteries – 20% 
5. Cutlery/crockery/glassware – 18% 
6. Slippers – 12% 
7. Robe – 9% 
8. Light bulbs – 8% 
9. Bedding (duvet cover, pillow cases, blankets) – 4% 
10. Decorative accessories (e.g. a vase) – 2% 

1% of the hotel thieves said that they had taken electrical items (such as alarm clocks, music players or remote controls). Two respondents admitted they had previously taken a television from a hotel on holiday abroad. Another admitted to stealing a bible from their hotel room.

When respondents were asked why they had stolen items from hotels, 47% said the ‘hotel would have plenty more spare’ and 28% said it was in order to get 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 there for the taking, but are there to enjoy during their stay.’

Go Holiday news : www.govillasandcottages.co.uk

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