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The Top Items Americans Steal From U.S. Hotels

a hand holding a door handle

Remember the lady who stole the vase from that hotel and the story had that twist that no one every imaged would happen?

She’s not the only one

According to the American Hotel & Lodging Association, theft costs hotel brands approximately $1 million dollars every year. It’s gotten to the point where hotels sometimes use anti-theft devices such as this, to catch patrons who have stolen their items. One hotel even made past hotel room thefts the basis of a contest to win a week in their Presidential Suite!

In late 2019, Wellness Heaven, a Germany-based luxury and spa hotel guide, posted the results of a survey of what was most stolen from 4- and 5-star hotel rooms. The survey also included the differences between what people from different countries tended to steal from said rooms. We wrote a piece about it, that you can read here.

The study was interesting but since they asked hoteliers from around the world, it was, of course, very far-reaching. I wished there was a survey that was more focused on the U.S., to get a better idea of what we stole “from our own.”

And then there was one.

Passport-photo.online is a website and app that offers a service for people who need to get photos for their passports. Here’s how they describe themselves:

Passport-photo.online is a website and app that works like a passport photo booth in your pocket. The site provides the perfect solution when you decide: “I want to take passport photos near me”. It is a fully automatic passport photo maker – it allows you to quickly, simply and easily take pictures for any official document, such as an ID card photo, passport photo or visa photo (all biometric photos) without leaving home. On our website, in addition to a photo tool that helps you take professional passport photos, you will also find current requirements, guidelines, sizes and useful tips on how to easily take various document photos: e.g. how to save 10$ buying a Walgreens passport photo at Walgreens. There is also an app for making passport photo with iPhone.

Anyway, this was their methodology:

“We conducted an online survey of 1,051 US respondents via a bespoke online polling tool in January 2023.

The respondents were 74.4% male and 25.6% female. 8.7% of respondents were 25 or younger, 66.4% were aged 26–38, 21.8% were aged 39–54, and 3.2% were 55 or older.

This survey has a confidence level of 95% and a margin of error of 3%. Given the gender and age makeup of our sample size, the study’s findings are statistically significant for the population at large.

This study was created through multiple research steps, crowdsourcing, and surveying. Data scientists reviewed all survey participants’ responses for quality control. ​​The survey also had an attention-check question.”

Key Takeaways

The survey from 2019 and this one looked at different aspects of theft:

And yet, the most stolen bathroom accessory on both surveys was…towels. Color me surprised, right?

Passport-photo.online went into more detail on their survey than what we listed here – you can see more of their findings on this page of their website.

Oh, and if you ever take something form a hotel by mistake? We’ve got you covered! 😉

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