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How A £1 Million Emerald Ring Went 'Missing' At the Four Seasons Hong Kong

Where: 8 Finance Street, Hong Kong

Though it goes completely against the sense of security that hotels want you to feel, jewelry and fancy hotel suites are a prime target for thieves. Especially jewelry inside a fancy hotel suite.

So we're not entirely sure what crossed the mind of Swiss jeweler Caroline Gruosi-Scheufele when she absentmindedly left her £1 million emerald ring in a bathroom at Four Seasons Hong Kong last week. According to the Daily Mail, Gruosi-Scheufele left the ring, which was bought by her parents in 1963, in the bathroom at the hotel's fourth-floor ballroom during an event. A busy, busy event, with lots of people rushing in and out of the bathroom. By the time she raced back to the bathroom (six minutes later), the ring was nowhere to be found. Quick work!

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Hotel Woes / Hotel Art / Manhattan Hotels / Hotel Theft / → All Tags

While The Carlyle Wasn't Looking...

Where: 35 EAST 76TH ST [map], New York, NY, United States, 10021

2011 hasn't been a good year for California-based wine steward Mark Lugo. After serving four months for robbing a $275,000 Picasso off the walls of a San Francisco art gallery, Lugo now has been caught stealing yet more art out of two Manhattan hotels: the Carlyle and the Chambers.

Throwing caution to the wind, Lugo apparently walked straight out of the buildings with the artworks in hand—and in broad daylight, according to District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. When police finally tracked him down at his house, they turned up nineteen total pieces, including another Picasso. What we wanna know is, what were those hotel doormen up to when all this was happening? Walking into a gallery is one thing (those places can be deader than graveyards sometimes), but a hotel? It's not like Lugo was robbing the Chelsea Hotel.

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Celebrity Scoop / Michaele Salahi / Tareq Salahi / Real Houswives Hotels / Hotel Bathrobes / Hotel Theft / → All Tags

'Real' Housewife is a Total Hotel Bathrobe Klepto

Hey Hotels, if you've been noticing that your hotel robe supply has been dwindling you might want to look into the closet of "Real Housewives of D.C." star Michaele Salahi.

The White House Crasher turned Journey groupie is apparently a major klepto when it comes to hotel bathrobes...according to her soon-to-be ex-husband, Tareq.

Tareq told TMZ.com that he's auctioning off all her belongings now that she's ditched him for the Journey guitarist and among her precious wares are OVER 50 HOTEL ROBES. How does one woman possibly snatch up that many hotel robes? Well, there was a diabolical sort of madness to her crimes. Tareq said:

As soon as we arrived [at the hotels], Michaele would call housekeeping and demand a bath gown saying that there was one missing. So when we checked out we would not be charged for taking it." Tareq adds, "Looking back I know realize this is indicative of our relationship together, full of deceit, lies ... and bathrobes."

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Hotel Theft / Marriott Hotels / Hotel News / Hotel Fraud / Hotel Employees / → All Tags

Meet The Woman Who Tried To Bamboozle A Renaissance Hotel

Where: 500 Stevens Drive [map], Philadelphia, PA, United States, 19113

With all the perks available to hotel workers (free rooms, free food, celebrity sightings on the reg), you'd think they'd be content with their lot. But Tia McNeill, a Pennsylvania sales manager has proven us wrong. The suspect, who has now been taken into custody, was apparently leveraging her position in the hotel to pocket thousands of rewards points, which she then used to purchase items from a Skymall catalog. The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

"McNeill worked at the Renaissance Hotel, part of the Marriott chain, in Tinicum Township as a sales manager until Nov. 24, according to court papers. According to court documents, McNeill allegedly created six fictitious accounts in Marriott's rewards program and logged points into the system. Purchases using those accounts were made between October and December of last year."

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Hotel Theft / Hotel Towels / Hotel Technology / → All Tags

Bad Guest, Whatcha Gonna Do When The Towel Tracker Comes For You?

Look at all those towels for the taking!

We freely admit to stealing hotel toiletries, stationery, pencils, pads and monogrammed slippers but we've yet to cop a towel or a pillowcase. Yet apparently, that's a big problem for hotels.

So big that there's a company, Linen Technology Tracking, hawking small, waterproof chips that can be implanted in hotels towels, bedsheets and robes to prevent guests from stealing them.

The New York Times reports that three hotels in Honolulu, Miami and Manhattan are using the chips. (But they wouldn't divulge their identities.) The Honolulu hotel has managed to reduce theft in their pool towels from 4,000 a month to just 750, which in turn saves the hotel cash in replacement costs.

But we aren't quite sure how these chips work.

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Hotel Theft / Hotel Crime / Real Housewives Hotels / Lisa Vanderpump / Manhattan Hotels / Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags

Someone at the Soho Grand Really Likes Expensive Handbags

Update: The Soho Grand has given HotelChatter a statement regarding the incident below.

Remember way back when in 2007 when Kirsten Dunst had her suite broken into and her handbag stolen at the Soho Grand? Well, a few years later they finally punished the guy for the crime but it turns out the hotel is still a favorite for thieves with expensive handbag tastes.

Our fairy godmother Lisa Vanderpump of the "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" had several of her own to-die-for handbags stolen during a recent stay at the hotel. She tells gossip site Radar Online:

"I had four purses valued at just over $8,000 including two Christian Louboutins, one Louis Vuitton and one Channel. Those were my signature bags. Boy do I feel violated," Lisa tells us.

Lisa, known as "Pinky" to close friends, was staying at the hotel while filming scenes for RHOBH. The reality star says she complained to management but feels she is getting the run around.

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Hotel Pets / Hotel Mascots / Hotel Theft / Airport Hotels / Los Angeles Hotels / → All Tags

Saddies! Little Pepper at The Custom Hotel Has Gone Missing!

Where: 8639 Lincoln Blvd [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90045

The Custom Hotel near LAX is one of our favorite airport hotels not just because it's close to the airport but also because it's stylish, comfortable and totally affordable. So why would someone want to steal something so important from a good-hearted hotel like the Custom?

We don't have that answer but we do know that the hotel's little "mascot", a (not real) black sheep by the name of Little Pepper has gone missing and the hotel wants it back. Check out these missing posters they've circulated for Lil' Pep. Now, this might sound a tad excessive on the hotel's part, especially for a stuffed animal but when someone stole our dog statue the other month, um, well, we had "Missing" flyers too. (Don't judge!)

If anyone's seen Lil' Pep the hotel would be grateful for your information. And if you're the person who stole Lil' Pep--shame on you! But the Custom is willing to take it back, No Questions Asked.

Hotel Crime / Miami Hotel Mambo / Hotel Security / Hotel Theft / Hotel News / → All Tags

Lock Up Your Belongings in Miami, There's a Hotel Thief on the Loose

It looks like there's a serial hotel robber on the loose in Miami and he's brazen enough to break into the guest rooms while the guests are in there. NBC reports that the thief recently struck The Chesterfield Hotel on 8th and Collins Avenue last Saturday:

The thief struck during the early morning hours, while the guest were asleep, breaking in through a window in a room and going through the victims' belongings. He made off with $5,000, an iPhone and credit cards.

This thief is believed to be the same person who's been robbing guests at other smaller hotels in Miami like the Catalina Hotel, The Shelly Hotel, The Dorchester, National and Avalon. Police also believe he's been doing it since 2006.

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World Cup Hotels / Hotel Theft / Hotel Crime / South Africa Hotels / → All Tags

England Gets Cleaned Out in South Africa, In More Ways Than One

Where: PO Box 1, Phokeng, South Africa, 0335

Before the World Cup started, Team England was full of optimism but firmly dedicated to the task at hand.

No-nonsense coach Fabio Capello banned WAGS from attending the group stage games and even promised to spy on his players to make sure they were not goofing off in their hotel rooms. Injury forced David Beckham off the pitch and onto the sidelines in a three-piece suit but there was still plenty of faith in Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard.

Unfortunately, nothing really went well for England. There was that unfortunate goal their keeper let slip through against USA (yay!), the embarrassing nil-nil score against Algeria and the final exit by German who defeated them 4-1.

Making matters worse, the staff at their hotel, Royal Marang Hotel allegedly filched some items from the players room.

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Hotel Security / Hotel Crime / Hotel Theft / → All Tags

Five Ways Your Safety at Hotels Can Be Compromised

There are certain, reasonable expectations we have when paying for a hotel room, such as a good night's sleep, clean sheets, decent water pressure and the assurance that no one is going to break into our hotel room and make off with our iPods, laptops, wallets or jewelry. But we've seen Ocean's 11 and 12 and we know how crafty thieves can be when they want something from your hotel room.

Recently, we've noticed a rash of hotel security breakdowns from thieves robbing sugar barons in Los Angeles to hackers stealing guests' personal information to someone making off with one of our iPods in Vegas. This is all unsettling because hotel rooms are supposed to be your sanctuary and also because, um, you're paying for that room.

Now, we're not saying that you will be a victim of crime whenever you stay at a hotel but it can happen whether you're in a roadside hotel or a five-start hotel in Beverly Hills. Here are Five Ways Your Safety at Hotels Can Be Compromised and five things you can do to protect yourself. Got your own hotel safety tips? Put 'em in comments below.

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Hotel Crime / Oscar Hotels / Four Seasons Hotels / Hotel Theft / → All Tags

A Robber Makes Off With His Own Oscar Swag in Beverly Hills

We thought security was supposed to be heightened around Los Angeles hotels during Oscar season but with the likes of Katie Price running in and out of the Chateau Marmont and this new report of a burglary at the Four Seasons Beverly Hills, things must have been a little off.

According to Page Six, Pepe Fanjul, the Cuban-born sugar baron who is one of the world's richest men was staying at the hotel in a suite with his wife. But on Friday night, a robber posing as a hotel worker entered their suite and stole the wife's bank account precious jewelry.

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Hotel Theft / Hotel Crime / Sardinia Hotels / Iti Hotels / → All Tags

Hotel Safe Crime Wave Targets Italian Resorts, Saudi Princess

Watch you put in your hotel room safe in Italy this summer as a wave of high-profile robberies have taken place, with one becoming a diplomatic incident.

This weekend, an unidentified Saudi princess—perhaps the same who defaulted on all those shopping bills in London—had 15.6 million dollars worth of jewelry stolen from her hotel room safe. They actually took the whole safe, as it was only affixed to the wall with silicon, and they managed to do it in a period of ten minutes while everyone was at dinner.

Although the hotel has been identified as the Colonna Hotel in Porto Cervo, one of the many Iti Resorts on Sardinia's Costa Smeralda, we'd continue to be careful as this seems to be not only an inside job (they used a master key), but also a crime wave.

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