A couple of months ago I spent a 3-day weekend with my daughter at the Sheraton Manhattan. Because we arrived too early to check in, we checked our suitcase at their luggage storage, received a receipt, and headed downtown. About 3 hours later when we finally checked in, they couldn't find our suitcase; we searched their locked storage room but couldn't find it either. They figured that they must have given the suitcase to some other guest by mistake, who would return it once they open it. Well, by 10 p.m. that still hadn't happened. All I had in my hands was my purse, so they gave us $ 50.00 to buy some tootpaste, underwear, contact lens rinser, etc. Next morning, still no luggage; they gave us $200.00 to buy some clothing (not that I cared since I still had my credit card). So, we spent a couple of hours getting some clothes and other necessary items. By then, I was mighty annoyed since I hate to shop and had anticipated other things to do than get undies, a swim suit for my daughter (no way was I going to go through that traumatic exerience), some decent clothes/shoes for our broadway show, etc.
Anyways, our luggage never showed up, the security chief insinuated that I had made up the long list of items that were all in our suitcase. However, he realized that if I had wanted to cheat, I would have made up some valuable camera, jewelry, the broadway tickets and train tickets I fortunately had kept in my purse, instead of listing every single sock and T-shirt. He also said that they would not pay the full cost of our clothes and asked for receipts! Fortunately, some of the items were brandnew, so I did find price tags in my trash can upon my return andn sent them everything I still had.
In the end, their insurance paid for our clothes etc. but told us that under NY law they are only required to pay $ 100.00. The claims adjuster was very sympathetic and never doubted my claim; there were no extremely expensive items, but still it adds up for two people.
They finally located the film on their security camera and saw that they had loaded our suitcase with three others into a cab. They called the cab companies, the airports, train station, but the suitcase never showed up again.
All in all, the Sheraton gave us a breakfast and dinner and apologies for our hassles. My main problem is that I don't even know what to do in the future to avoid something like this.

A breakfast and a dinner for loading your luggage into the wrong car ... after they had accused you of lying about what was in it? Boy, I don't think I would have been nearly as calm about it as you are. That's ridiculous.

Yikes! That's horrible.

I'm not sure it's worth worrying about for the future, though. Seems unlikely to happen often. Maybe make sure you luggage doesn't look like everyone else's (i.e. NOT black).

Liz, not sure how your advice would help avoid situations like Annette's. Sounds to me like the hotel's problem is not that they can't tell colors, but rather than they can't count to 3 accurately.

Since there's nothing Annette could do to fix the stupidity of the hotel staff, perhaps if the staff found 3 black suitcases and one orange, they'd think twice before loading them all in one taxi. There just isn't much you COULD do.

Annette: She - it! The Sheraton should have comped your entire bill, food, lodging, the whole enchilada.
I guess the only thing you can do in the future is not check in early or schlepp your bags with you.
That story is an eye-opener!!!!!

What you could try doing is following them into the storage room and using a cable lock (found in any travel store, luggage store, and catalog) and cable locking the 3 suitcases together. I found that it gave me a bit more piece of mind when I did that, especially on the trains in Italy where the luggage is on racks in one place and you are sitting in another place. With 3 suitcases bound together, it is harder for someone to take one by mistake, and a deterant against theft. Of course they could cut the cable, but they would be more apt to go for an easier target. And, I agree with the above posters that the compensation you received was inadequate. I would write to the Sheraton HQ immediately.

As has been posted elsewhere...go to the top:

http://www.starwood.com/corporate/profile_overview.html

Minimum, you should get your money back.

Ellen, I think it's an exellent advice to use cable locks! Thank you for sharing!

While I agree that Ellen's advice about using cable locks is good, it wouldn't have helped in Annette's case. It sounds like she only had one suitcase. Maybe she could try attaching it to something in the locker room, such as a pole, chair, etc. for next time.

Well, I could have chained myself to my suitcase....

They paid for all my lost luggage, but I agree, they should have waived the hotel fee (and upgraded us). I didn't want to make a super fuss because the trip was a birthday present for my daughter, and she was already upset enough about having lost her favorite clothes. I told the manager that if I had been by myself, I would have left right aways.
Actually, it's funny. This is the second time I had a bad experience with Sheraton (not counting when they tried to charge me twice the amount of the rate I had reservations). Looks like I won't stay at a Sheraton anymore.

The insurance claims adjuster said that these things don't happen that often but warned not to leave anything of value in checked luggage. If something is stolen, they are only liable for $100.00. In our case, it was obvious that the hotel was at fault, so they paid "out of the goodness of their hearts"....
Maybe I'll take you guys up and send a letter to the Sheraton HQ, although I have to say I'm through with Sheraton.

I'm through with Sheratons as well, for reasons too numerous to mention. Things happen at Sheratons that are inexcusable and don't happen elsehwhere. I would guess that the overwhelming cavalier of their staff members is why these things happen in the first place, and continue to happen.

To avoid the situation, don't go to the hotel until you're able to check in. Then your luggage can go to your room.

An inconvenience? Sure. But not as much as the aggravation that annette went through.