My spouse and I stayed at a Bed and Breakfast in Montreal (Alacoque BB Revolution) and had several items stolen from our room. Most notably, we had a laptop stolen with irreplaceable information.

Without getting into too many details (unless they would be helpful) - we approached the owner and he let us view the security tape.

The security tape clearly shows the owner leaving the building for the afternoon (since he lived there it was then empty) and the intruder walked through the unlocked front door several minutes later. No disputes by anyone that the building was unattended and unlocked (we were given front door keys).

While the theft was upsetting, even more upsetting may have been the owner's reaction to the incident.

Basically he explained that since no break-in (since it was unlocked) there was no fault. He refused to call the police, saying they would never come over in such a case. Instead he gave us a map and circled the local precinct (we had to walk there, filed a case, and they came over and obtained a copy of the video).

The next day we mentioned compensation and the owner said we were "menacing him" in his home and basically kicked us out. No discounts/refunds/further communication, etc.

We have recontacted the owner - maybe he was having other issues (???) and he will be more reasonable.

We sure have learned a tough lesson, but obviously, we're interested in next steps.

Any ideas or feedback? Should we expect more from a Bed and Breakfast owner?

I am shocked. I have never heard of a property owner having such an attitude.

At least you reported the incident to the police. If you had travel insurance, I'm hoping that the fact that you reported the incident to the police will help you in submitting an insurance claim.

About the laptop with the irreplaceable information on it, that's probably a valuable lesson learned for the future. The information on the laptop could have been lost in other ways. For example, your laptop's hard drive could have just crashed for no reason. Computers sometimes do that.

It would be a good idea to back up the contents of your laptop or PC onto a CD or memory stick or whatever from time to time.

I know that's easy for me to say. I'm just as guilty of negligence in this area as many other people are. I don't back up my computer nearly as often as I should.

But still, I'm really sorry for you that this most unpleasant thing happened to you.

Front door unlocked, what more could be said. I am assuming your bedroom door did not lock either.

I see the yellow flags on the outdoor pictures of the b&b, the owner must be part of a recognized b&b circuit, possibly report them to that organization.

What good are security tapes if the front door is left unlocked.
This is such a hard lesson to learn, trust no one.

Thank you for the feedback. Obviously the lesson is to lock up anything valuable.

We assumed it would be safe because it was his personal home, we were given keys for the front/room door, and we know the only other couple staying at the time (we stayed during the week - very slow).

The feedback is helpful because the owner's reaction was so far from what we expected - we're not sure if we were completely off in feeling a little bitter!

We're sitting here feeling totally horrible about the incident and the owner is telling us that since there was not obvious break-in the incident is entirely our fault (i.e. "no obvious forced entry - you we must have left your door unlocked&quot.

We feel completely different - that if the place was unlocked he should hold some liability. The feedback makes us feel a little less crazy.

We will contact him once again to see if he still feels the same way.

We do have homeowner's insurance - the claim is delayed because we are still waiting for the report from the Montreal Police.

I'll keep you posted.

Yikes! That's terrible - I'm really sorry to hear about that. I too am shocked by the owner's reaction to it. If the B&B was empty and he left it unlocked as he walked away, doesn't he have some sort of liability to his guests? Even out of respect for his guests, wouldn't he consider locking the door? That would make me furious, as you left your items in your room under the assumption that the place would be locked up while vacant.

I too would consider reporting the B&B to the organization. It doesn't seem right at all. Unlike that Michael Moore movie where he went to a home in Toronto and opened up, thus proclaiming that "Canadians don't lock their doors" - this isn't the case in large cities, where 80% of Canadians live.

... which astounds me why he left his B&B unlocked. The nonchalance of his reaction makes me wonder if this has happened in the past there. If so, perhaps the Montreal Police Dept would have records on how frequent this happens.

For the offense of "break and enter" to be committed, forced entry is not required, instead the "entry" must be unauthorized and with the intent of unlawful purpose, so based on your version of the facts a crime was committed. As the front door was not locked the owner should be liable for your loss.

If you paid for the room with a credit card you may be insured by the credit card company. Also if you own a home, your homeowner's policy may cover the loss.

It's possible that your insurance company will go after his insurance company - he's to blame, IMHO.

Miniapple1, if you have not already done so, I believe you would perform a service for future travellers if you submitted a review of this establishment to Tripadvisor:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/UserReview?pid=140

He would probably have to be licensed by some government body to run a legal B&B. I'm pretty sure he won't give you his license number but you should report him immediately BECAUSE how do we know that he didn't leave the premises and leave the door unlocked purposely so that the theft could take place. He's got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy!

>>>>>>how do we know that he didn't leave the premises and leave the door unlocked purposely so that the theft could take place. He's got some 'splainin' to do, Lucy!<<<<<<

I heartily agree with you, hdm. The entire business sounds very dodgy indeed.

Judy - Thank you for the tip on providing a review of our experience at alacoque / bbrevolution on traveladvisor. Our review is here:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserR...al_Quebec.html

Are there other recommended travel sites for leaving reviews?

The circumstances of this experiences - and the owner's reaction afterward (we just heard back from him after writing to ask him what was up) - seem very strange.

We'd like to let other people know about our experience so they can make the best choice for their needs.

Alacoque may or may not be the best place for other travelers to stay, but I guess I would want to know about this experience prior to booking there.

Alacoque B&B Revolution, is a member of BBCanada. I would go directly to their website, and email the operators with your story. Although, they are really FOR the owner rather than the consumer of B&B services and assume no liability, it is my feeling that they would not be thrilled to have the reputation of listing B&B's that are so disreputable.

We wrote to the owner of Alacoque and said we were not satisfied with our visit and were strongly considering contacting the local associations / tourism ministries BUT we wanted to provide him with another opportunity to reconsider his liability, actions, and responsibility with regards to our theft.

His response is as follows [minor grammatical changes/corrections are in brackets]

"Madame, Monsieur,

We provide a safety drawer in each room and propose clearly to our customers to ask for the keys at the reception. You [didn't] use it, you room door was not locked, it was your responsibility.

Unfortunately [the] police department do[es] not come to the place when they are no [infractions] or emergency situations. This is not my fault: You should complain to the city of Montreal about this fact.

You can complain to Tourism Quebec and tourism Montreal, but by the law they can't oblige us to get any insurance. They just ask us to provide rooms wich lock and keys wich was the case."

His message continued and said we should contact the insurance company. We wrote to once again tell him that we had, in fact, locked the room door that morning. His reply was short:

"If the door was lock[ed] how come the door was not broken? Can you answer to this question please?"

It looks like the owner is... well... I don't see a lot of value dignifying his question with a direct reply. However, these alternate suggesitons are really appreciated. We will followup on them. Thank you for the support. The whole event has been sort of difficult.

My guess is that he's scared that his Insurance rates will skyrocket if he's found to be in any way at fault-is leaving the front door unlocked '<i>at fault</i>'?

Could be-Insurance works in strange ways.....amp;

This is of particular interest to me as we are owners of a rental property in another Canadian province.(I won't say where as I do not wish to appear to be touting for business on Fodors as I love it far too much to risk being thrown out!).

Ours is is NOT a B&amp;B, but weekly and monthly rentals. There are VERY strict rules for offering out space, one of which is that we must be insured (and rental insurance is not cheap).There are rules about locks on all doors and maps of fire exits, smoke detectors, bathroom safety features, lighting etc. There are annual inspections. Although this is a provinical and not a federal law, I suspect that the Quebec tourist authorities are no less strict and that this guy is somehow flying under their radar.

I am embarrassed that this happened to you in my country.

So mini, have you reported this to the licensing body for B&amp;Bs in Quebec? I'm very suspicious of this man's motives.

Thanks everyone for the input.

We have not contacted the local licensing agencies yet because we are awaiting delivery of the police report from Montreal Police (we requested about 2 weeks ago).

Our insurance requires the report before making a determination on the claim. It seemed to make sense to present all of this information at once to the tourism ministry / licensing agencies (what happened, what he did, compensation we've received to date, and what we would like to receive).

Then again, it probably can't hurt to report the incident. This is good advice. We will prepare our letters.

I was speaking to some co-workers today (savvy New Yorkers) and they suggested having the credit card company reverse the charge (charge the room payment back to the owner). Anyone have success trying to this.

Thanks for bearing with us - I know this is venturing a bit from being a travel review!

This site is for more than reviews! Tip and experiences good or bad help us all in our future travels. I wish you the best of luck in pursuing this matter and hope it all works out favorably. My gut tells me something seems to be amiss with this B&amp;B owner and his reactions. I might check with the authorities and find out if any other reports on thefts have happened recently at this particular B&amp;B. Good luck! H

My intuition (as naive as it may be) is that the owner is not directly involved. Yes, we thought the same thing initially - that all of this was just a little too fishy.

I was more strongly inclined to suspect one of his employees (each morning an employee - seemed like local university students - would cook / clean). They seemed to be the ones that would have access to rooms (perhaps handed key off to friend / accomplice to come later)?

As we thought through it - would an owner really be so dumb to have their own place burglarized? How would that impact the place's reputation.

As we were trying to recount the day's events the owner was certain that someone probably walked in from the street. He suggested we would see it on the tape (he even mentioned it had happened about a year ago - someone walked in when he left). And sure enough, he was completely right.

And that seems to be driving his reaction to the events. The owner made it clear to us that since there was no visible break-in (since the building was left unlocked) there is no crime. And since there is no crime he is not responsible. And since our room door was not broken down we must have left the room door unlocked.

And that's where the conversation has pretty much stopped - we could (and have tried to) convince him that that's not exactly what happened or what we believe to be true - but we have not been move him past his notion that the lack of a break-in removes any liability.