We stayed at the Hotel Expres in Prague from Sept. 28 to Oct. 2. Someone broke into our room (we think the maid as there was no forced entry) and stole 2 cell phones, costume jewelry, and a watch. One of the suitcases was locked and the zipper was pulled apart to gain access. We callled the police, they came, went to the station, and we filed a report for insurance purposes. The hotel took $10 a night off the bill for our problem. They said this was happening a lot in the Old Town-that night 9 hotels had doors kicked in and people's things stolen. The thieves know which rooms to enter-2 Aussies had $5000 worth of camera equipment stolen from the same Hotel Expres. Perhaps the maids tell their boyfriends who has good things to steal. Be very wary in Prague. There was a lot of purse snatchings and pickpocketing going on too.

Wow!

I dream of the day I'm so rich I can leave $5,000 laying about as if it means nothing to me.

Until then I guess I'll keep using my moneybelt and not leaving valuables in hotel rooms. Better yet I won't have any valuables with me at all.

Although this may be a helpful warning to some people going to Prague who normally travel with expensive items...

Wouldn't it be easier and smarter to not travel with expensive electronics or jewelry? And certainly don't leave them in an empty hotel room? This would have easily prevented an unfortunate incident.

I am sorry to hear that. I must say that over the last 3 years my company has done over 17,000 transfers and not one person has told us that their hotel room was robbed nor that they were mugged. I might add that, to my knowledge, only three have been pickpocketed. We take a fair few people the the hotel Expres and have never heard about any robberies. I might add that we refer to this hotel as hotel Sexpress as it is across from a sex shop, there is a peep show to the right and a strip bar to the left...

indytravel, it wasn't $5000. It was $5000 worth of camera gear. And suze, if you are a serious photographer, you don't leave your good cameras at home. I sympathize, although if you can afford that much gear, you ought to be staying in a little better hotel where perhaps your chances of getting robbed are lower.

Anyway, Phil Flash takes most of his sixty million dollars worth of camera gear with him every time he leave the hotel, day or night. Sigh.

Marilyn, I understand that and agree. But it seems often the great number of folks toting fancy camera equipment can't possibly all be professional photographers. Separately why would a person leave a (I assume expensive since they bothered to mention it) watch in their room?

If you do need to travel with expensive items, perhaps a less seedy neighborhood might be a good idea?

If the items were insured then there's no problem.

Although it is foolhardy to leave any valuables on display in the room, put them in a safe or if they won't fit, then ask the hotel to put them in their vault. However, if things like that are insured, it's just an hassle with paperwork, and in the longrun you do benefit.

Exactly, suze. (So glad our unbroken record of always agreeing remains intact!)

m_kingdom, if you lose your camera gear while on an extended trip, insurance does not make up for the hassle or the lack of gear for the remainder of the trip. Expensive gear can not always be replaced at the local camera store.

susiesan I am truly sorry about your loss. At least you're misfortune cost you less than the boys from Oz, eh?

5,000 in cash or 5,000 in camera equipment. If the equipment is uninsured I'm out 5,000 either way. To me that's a lot of money.

If the equipment is insured then it's just a claim/replacement hassle. Though I'm probably out a deductible and get slapped with a higher insurance premium.

Susiesan, this was not a robbery, it was a theft.
Thank goodness it was not a robbery, as that means someone had a weapon (i.e. gun) and threatened you with it to get your valuables.
Burglary means that there was a forced entry to take items (i.e. broke lock, broke window/door etc).
Shoplifting of course means items "stolen" from a store etc.
Theft is when items are available to be stolen but there is no physical violence threatened, no forced entry etc.
As many here have stated, not a good idea, obviously to leave valuables and important items in an unoccupied hotel room.
And in my experience hotels take no responsibility for theft.
Of course the 9 hotels that had doors kicked in and items taken falls under the category of a burglary.
At least this is the insurance companies definitions in the USA.

Susie, my sympathies. Sorry you were robbed. Unlike most of the other posters here, I don't subscribe to the "blame the victim" creed, where YOU are the one at fault for being robbed. You should NOT feel ashamed for being the victim of a crime, despite the best efforts of several posters here to make you feel that way.
Most hotel room safes are very small and really aren't that secure. We often leave laptops and other expensive electronic equipment in the room while traveling on business. I would not think it was OUR fault if someone came into our locked hotel room and stole our personal things, especially items kept in a locked suitcase. Fortunately, this has never happened.

So sorry for that loss while on vacation, but all I can say is please, never, never leave anything of value(financial or sentimental) in your room.

Sure sounds like an inside job.
The hotel took $10 a night off your bill? Bless 'em.

BTilke, I didn't read any of the post and come to the conclusion that anyone was blaming the victims. Not at all.
I just read that post were reminding all of us that it is not safe to leave valuables in an unoccupied hotel room, even if the items are locked in a suitcase.
And obviously it isn't.
That is not blaming the victim. Just warning all of us (and for sure I have been guilty of "hiding" things in a locked suitcase also) that it is not the best idea.
I just pack less and less but could still do a better job (I keep reminding myself).
Airport employees found guilty of stealing items is one good reason.
Even if items are insured the hassle of filing insurance claims, backing up value of taken items, perhaps losing sentimental items and so forth and USA insurance companies refusing to renew policies that have too many claims just isn't worth it in my opinion.
Hope all of us have safe and sane trips.

I don't think I "blamed the victim" in my posts.

But I do feel it is unwise to tempt fate by leaving expensive items unattended in a hotel room in what was described in a way that sounds like a questionable part of town. Isn't that common sense?

If I choose to walk alone after dark in a rough neighborhood, is it my fault if someone bothers me? What if I carry alot of cash in a flimsy purse that I sling over a chair back in a bar and am pickpocketed?

Unfortunate circumstances, but in my opinion, the blame does fall at least partially on me for being careless or putting myself in a dangerous situation. You've got to use your head.

Someone posted on the Rick Steves board about multiple thefts from their Prague hotel rooms (I think it was a school trip). It was a different hotel.

Intuitively it seems safer to trust that your stuff is safer at a Marriott or similar chain than it is at a no-name budget hotel, but does anyone actually have statistics on thefts or burglaries from hotel rooms?

This subject has been harped on a bit by now, but if there were copies of keys from this hotel floating around, it would be easy to have a non-forced entry from someone who wasn't the maid.

Since the subject came up, I'm going to be pedantic for a minute on the definition of the crime. If you don't care about such legalisms, you'd better stop reading now.

I don't know what insurance companies use as definitions, but I do know the US common law definitions, and the normal statutory definitions (which vary slightly by state). Under those definitions, this was burglary, which is a type of theft.

Theft is the general term for the illegal taking and removing of the personal property of another persion with the intent to deprive the true owner.

Robbery is theft of property from a person's self or immediate presence by force or fear/intimidation. There needn't be any actual weapon or violence, if the victim is put in fear (for example, by someone who pretends to have a gun). The crime against the OP wasn't robbery, because the OP wasn't present.

Burglary is theft from a building or room (it used to be only from a dwelling, but most statutes broaden the definition) when the doors are locked. There has to be "breaking and entering" but that means entering without permission, which would include improper use of an access key, not necessarily forced entry.

In any case, this couldn't have been fun for the OP.

Sorry, I'll go back to work now.

KT, thank you for your definitions. I'm sure you would never ever ever use in a conversational sense a word that wasn't EXACTLY the correct meaning.
Suze, I re-read your post. You didn't express the slightest bit of sympathy for Susie, just a bunch of accusing questions. As for "seedy neighborhoods," here in Brussels, even the Sheraton is down the street from several sex shops. So if someone is the victim of a theft at the Brussels Sheraton, it's their fault for staying in a "seedy neighborhood"?
We have to travel frequently throughout Europe on business. And that means taking two laptops, peripheral devices, cameras (my job requires it), and various other electronic devices. Not to mention some fairly expensive clothes (again, job requires it). We are supposed to pack up everything and cart it with us every time we leave the room? Take all our necessary gear with us when we go for dinner? Ask the hotel to store everything in its vault when we go out for coffee? Or go down to the dining room for breakfast?
It seems that every time someone reports an unfortunate incident here--theft, pickpocketing etc.--there is an immediate jump to the bandwagon of "it's your fault for bringing anything of any value with you."
No wonder criminals feel free to steal things from hotel rooms...all blame will be shifted from them to the victim!

BTilke, I hope you don't think that I was criticizing another poster. I truly wasn't. It's just that another poster had offered definitions that weren't exactly the legal definitions, so I thought that if anybody cared I'd clarify them.

For the record, I do feel bad for susiesan or anyone else having a bad experience or having something stolen from them on vacation. The point I was attempting to make is there are ways to minimize the likelyhood of this happening.