NYE in Vegas/Caesar's Palace - thief went in our room while we slept and took $460

[Burlington]

Originally Posted by MSchu

You know... I hear about these middle of the night while sleeping robberies more often than I should. It appears that access to rooms isn't really as secure as they should be.

Hotel rooms are not secure at all

[JETFIRE714]

First and foremost, I just want everyone to be aware and be careful the next time you travel to Vegas or stay at any hotel. Use your deadbolt, we started using ours after the incident and valid key cards will bink yellow or red if the deadbolt is on.

As for my family, I traveled with my retired parents, my wife and my kids (elementary-aged and down). I'm going to give my parents the benefit of the doubt since I've been taking Vegas trips with them since I was a kid (over 30+ years). We've been to trips to the East Coast, WDW, Bahamas and so on and no cash has ever gone missing as it did this past Tuesday. Some people may have parents that are shady and take their cash, not mine.

If Caesar's security report had been clean and concluded that all the doors were locked, then there would have been a higher probability that one of the family members did it. However, their investigation was completed and they concluded that our door was left ajar from 3 AM to 7 AM. This tells me there was an opportunity for someone to make entry and empty the cash from my wife's wallet.

Why not take the other stuff? If the perp was caught with my wife's cards or my dad's iPhone, those would have been easier to trace back to us than a wad of $20s.

The room was dark but with the bathroom lights and bathroom door slightly on, you could. My wife and I think that the perp probably expected just 1 or 2 retired people sleeping in the room. Not a whole family. So they quickly saw the wallet, took the cash and left.

LOCK INTERROGATION REPORT - I dealt with Caesar's Security and they were very vague and did not want to talk about security procedures as it was proprietary. A lot of I can't tell you if there were cameras there or what the lock log says. Upon completion of their report, the would not talk to me and that I would have to talk with the Front Desk. The Front Desk told me that the lock interrogation report would take 72 hours to obtain. I kept complaining and I got a call from one of the Managers, she said she spoke with the investigator and was willing to go over the log but I could not get a copy of it. It would have to be subpoenaed by law enforcement. I had to take her word at face value as they would not share the report with me.

Per the Manager, there were no logs between 3 am and 7 am. If the lock says the door is ajar, why doesn't security do a welfare check? If it was ajar then why was it closed when I woke up at 6 am and when my mom entered the room at 6:46 am. Say if it were ajar and then closed, there should have been an entry in the log. I don't know if I will ever find out. Caesar's Palace doesn't want to talk with me.

The room - It was in the Julius tower, second to the last room next to the exit. If I went into through the exit doors, it looked like some sort of service corridor and emergency stairwell, going through the second set of exit doors took us to the Forum Tower elevator bank. After the incident, we were moved to the Palace Tower, one of the newer rooms and I noticed more cameras.

The bellhop - When I deal with bellhops I just have them put the bags towards the entrance/bathroom area and get out. My dad let this guy in and he moved quickly and put some of our bags next to the TV which is in the middle / the space between the 2 queen beds. I just don't want them to see our stuff. He made small talk with my dad.. mentioned he was part-time.. after my Dad mentioned that the rooms were far from the elevator, he says I'll show you a trick, go through the exit, pass the stairs and corridor and it will take you to the Forum Tower elevator bank..he saw us get the tip from my wife's wallet, from his view is it a wad of $20s or could it be $100s?

We suspect he may have had something to do with it and I was hoping there would be something in the log but I may not know. I talked to an officer on the strip as we waited for a countdown, he mentioned that Security may want to keep it in-house.

In the grand scheme of things, $460 is nothing to Caesar's Security or Metro PD. What pisses me off the most is the thought that someone went into our room, while we slept and stole from us. I've been going to Vegas for over 30 years and this is the first time I've had cash stolen.

We could have been assaulted or worse. The loss could have been more significant. Perhaps if we did get assaulted or maybe if we lost $25k then Security and Metro PD would have been more proactive.

In the end, we are safe, only down $460 in cash. They moved us to a better/safer tower for the remainder of the trip and added $100 in food/beverage credits to the room.

Luckily he didn't get my wife's ring or these:

rol by jetfire714, on Flickr
Be safe and have a Happy New Year...

JP

[nick c]

Wow that’s crazy, I’m also in Las Vegas for 5 days, but I always locking all doors to make sure no one is coming, I’m also sleeping with my watch.

[RyanO]

Very sorry to hear this. Glad to gear nothing more serious happened but I would not be too pleased either. I visit a Vegas a few times a year, thanks for sharing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[MSchu]

A stack of 460 isn't really exciting anybody here in town if it's scene... everyone's walking around with 2-3 grand all the time.

I am sorry once again for your loss, Vegas is really a great town outside the strip area...

[watchmework]

Terrible to hear JP but like you said, all things considered...I’d say you got out of what could have been a much worse situation.

[Jabbo84]

...it’s been 3 days, did your dad come down with anything?

[Yoda_Eating_Pizza]

Wow, scary. Glad nobody was hurt.

Coincidentally, I will be buying a bulk pack of these. A thousand different uses for them: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XaQq2otgKH4
If family members will be entering the room, make sure they know where to look to unhook the tripwire before fully opening the door. Put a post-it on the room keycard as a reminder.

[maylebox]

If I was a thief and I broke into an occupied hotel room to steal something then I'm taking the entire wallet. Doesn't make sense for a burglar to risk entering someone's room and ignore other items of value only to remove cash from a wallet.

Maybe the guy was hammered, stumbled into the wrong room, grabbed the cash from what he thought was "his" wallet, and proceeded back downstairs to blow anther $460. Strange stuff happens in Vegas.

[cruise_bone]

I think it was your father, in the bedroom, with a candlestick.

He probably thought he was taking it from your mother's wallet.

[walds11]

OP, any updates?

Glad you and family are safe, and no jewelry or watches were stolen.

[SilverKast]

LOL, I initially read the title as $460k!! I was wondering to myself who would ever keep that kind of cash in a hotel room...