To feel uneasy now

[Katieandmikeysittinginatree]

So we are in Spain in a lovely hotel that has these cute separate bungalows. We are here with our 7yo daughter. Initially we had a flight delayed by four hours and they then gave our hire car to someone else and charged us so we need to claim money back when home. Leaving us at the airport at 4am and paying for a €100 taxi!
Today we went to our safe and all our money is gone. As in the money for food/activities for the next week 😔 as well as my watch worth £1500.

We immediately reported it to the management who have said they’ll investigate and came to check if the safe had been tampered with which they said it hadn’t. They’ve been very helpful but I am so upset as we now have to use our card (which we should have initially we now know!! So please don’t berate us for having cash!) but also we can only claim back £300 on insurance (this was around £900 stolen) plus I am hoping I can claim on house insurance for watch. Most of all I feel uneasy here now.. we don’t know if it was cleaners or another person staying here or a random that came in. There is a dent on the door like someone may have tried to get in but who knows.

We have asked to change rooms but just wondering if anyone has experienced this? How you felt and what you did?! You save all year for a holiday and it feels ruined now 😔 we haven’t told my daughter as don’t want her to feel uneasy and I’ve slept terribly tonight feeling super anxious.

Did they call the police?

What an absolutely appalling thing to happen., I really am sorry.
I hope you can salvage something for your holiday.

Thinking of you.you u

I’m not berating you for having for this but I am curious: why did you have £900 in cash? Most people use a card to make payments for almost everything both in the UK and abroad.

We always take cash when we go away and I don’t really know why! Yes 900 euros in separate piles for each days allowance! My DH sorted it and I didn’t even question it! Obviously we will never bring cash away again as it was bloody stupid but it’s beside the point now!

They said they did last night and we will check this morning as I need a crime reference number for watch anyway. I really hope they did! We wonder if it’s an inside job.. if the cleaners alert someone when they know we aren’t in and then the dent in the door is to make it seem like someone broke in!

Oh dear really feel for you 🙁

Try to rest now, even though you're shaken. They do need to call the police

Whilst it’s awful for you I don’t think changing rooms is a good idea. Your room has already been targeted so if it is an inside job then you risk the same problem in another room as they won’t necessarily know that you’ve already been robbed once.

So how did it happen then?

Was the safe unlocked?

Sounds very dodgy.

I’d be asking to speak with the hotel manager and requesting them to meet the police with me to report. I’d then make it absolutely clear that if they say the safe hasn’t been tampered with then it must be an inside job and what are their next steps.

their response is completely lacking

Hi Op, this happened to me in Greece a couple of years ago. One thing I would advise is don’t rely on the hotel to have called the police - we did this but to claim on our insurance we needed a crime reference number. Turned out the hotel didn’t actually report this properly so no crime reference number. Sorry this happened - hopefully you manage to enjoy the rest of your holiday

Sorry this happened to you.

people are truly despicable

Oh that’s awful. It’s irrelevant whether you had cash in the safe or not, you expect it to be - well ‘safe’!
I’d definitely be pushing for the police to come out and I’d be asking how it could have happened in the first place. Hope your holiday improves

We don’t know! We assume we locked it as usual but can’t be 100% certain and they’ll say we left it open? Even so, someone got in the room so we assume cleaners.

They said they called police but the person who did it isn’t back until latwr so we are getting the number from him. Then ringing our insurance. I can only get £400 back for a £1500 watch and £300 for the £900!

In a crazy turn of events the police called the hotel and my watch has been found on two men arrested with lots of other items and cash who is known to them! We have collected my watch from 1.5 hours away at the police station. It’s crazy! They said they have the cash too but it needs to go to a hearing before we will get that back. It’s worrying how the person got into our room and safe. Also why just us? We suspect the cleaners tip them off as to which rooms they’ll leave open or which safe’s aren’t locked as we can’t 100% guarantee it was.

Spanish police are pretty good! Still surprised the hotel haven’t done anything in the meantime to check we are ok and feel safe and also have enough money! You’d think they’d offer us a meal etc!

I'm so glad that they were caught and you got your watch back.

Going forward I'd get a Starling/Chase a count, or a Barclaycard Rewards credit card as they all have good rates and no fees. We took a whole €8 in cash to Spain this year (leftover from a previous year) and take out cash if we need it. Also, I don't ever travel with good jewellery. Not worth the risk.

I'd also check your insurance meets your needs - if you could only get £400 for a £1500 watch and 2/3 of your cash wasn't covered you were under insured.

I don’t think there is anything wrong with bringing cash. I like to bring a mixture of cash and cards to have options. You’d feel just as silly if something happened to your cards and you didn’t have cash.

So my suggestion for next time is to bring both and not be reliant on either exclusively.

Glad to hear that you got your watch back! Hopefully you’ll get your cash back too.