Upon checking out of a hotel room suite, I found a large black knife and an unopened condom underneath the sofa cushion. I was totally shocked and in disbelief. My friend opened the knife and the blade was razor sharp. We couldn’t figure out how to close it so we panicked and left it on the dining room table over a white hand towel with a note to housekeeping.
I was thinking to myself what if this knife was used to commit a crime and could be potential evidence. I proceeded to go to the front desk to check out and notified the front desk agent about the discovery. I told them the knife was razor sharp and should be handled with care. I advised him that it could have been used in crime or a lost and found item. The front desk agent didn’t seem to worry one bit as if this was a regular occurrence and told me that they would take care of it.
I went on my merry way to the airport to catch a flight. A week later, I received a hotel survey and filled it out accordingly noting my discoveries and that housekeeping should look more carefully when cleaning the rooms. I was not looking for any compensation or anything since I had a pleasant stay despite the last minute discovery while checking out.
The General Manager contacted me and told me he would take care of the issue and compensate me with some Starpoints. Here’s how our correspondence went:
“I wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for your recent stay and for completing the guest survey. We are a new management team to the property and appreciate you letting us know of your experience. I am completing embarrassed to read about your recent stay and this has been addressed with our housekeeping department and the inspectors. I apologize that the Front Desk staff did NOT resolve your issue and I will investigate this. They as a team are completely empowered to resolve our guests issue and apologize this did not occur during your stay. I reviewed you are a SPG Platinum member and will be extending additional points to your account due to the experience you had. Again, please accept my apology regarding the experienced issues. ”
“Thank you for responding to the survey. Upon checkout, I was trying to look for stuff left behind so I lifted up the sofa cushions and I found a large black knife! In addition was a condom right next to it. I was shocked, went to the front desk to check out and mentioned to them what happened. Front desk male agent didn’t seem to care as if it this might be a common thing. I didn’t know how to handle the large knife situation so I put it on a towel in the dining table. I don’t know what housekeeping did with it but please follow up… It could be a murder weapon, lost and found item? I was very shocked.”
In this last correspondence, the General Manager said “Again, I appreciate you bringing the situation to my attention and I want to assure it was addressed with our Rooms Director, Inspector and Room attendant. Changes have been made in regards to that area of employment. In addition, we have hired additional inspectors to help reduce the number of rooms being inspected to ensure better accuracy in our Rooms Department. These type of situations are UNACCEPTABLE and should not occur in a hotel. I also reviewed security reports and did not review any guest incidents prior to your arrival. “
I was shocked by his response “Changes have been made in regards to that area of employment.”
What does this mean? Changes such as additional training or termination? I certainly hope no one got fired from this ordeal and I feel really bad about it. The last thing I want to do is get a service employee fired from a job.
Who overreacted? Did I overreact or did the General Manager overreact?
I think you overreacted. Granted I don’t know how big of a knife it was but if I found one I wouldn’t automatically think it was used for a crime unless it was covered in blood. As for a condom, seems like a common thing to find in a hotel room. As for the sharpness, why would someone carry around a dull knife? It defeats the purpose. The fact that it was a folding knife leads me to believe it was nothing extreme. I often carry one myself when I travel.
The large knife with a combination of a condom ringed kidnapping/rape in my head. I agree, I probably overreacted.
No. No. No. You didn’t over-react. That reads crime scene to me as well (this from the girl whose Dad spent a career in drug enforcement in Latin America).
A condom equals a crime scene? Pretty dull life you people have.
Of course you overreacted…and you created a post full of typos and errors as well.
Don’t think you over reacted.. but your description of the front desk’s attitude as “Front desk male agent didn’t seem to care as if it this might be a common thing.” seems a little harsh and that might have led to some action on their part.. It’s a fair assumption that the front desk guy may have lost his job, but I hope not and I think that is an extreme step for such a thing.
You might want to write in again and ask directly.
My theory: knife + condom = escort who requests this specific room. Possibly a former girl scout. “Be prepared.” lol
Any chance you were in an area where hunting/fishing is common? I don’t know what might be legally hunted this time of year, but perhaps an out-of-towner anticipated a fishing trip with local friends/family. My dad used to travel out of state to hunt with my uncles (deer, in the fall), and he would have carried a large knife for field dressing.
Either way, it’s smart you reported it. *If* a crime is reported at a later date, your report will help the survivor prosecute the assailant.
I think you overreacted. The person who suggested an escort who believed in being prepared is a good guess. Could also be a customer who is wary of the escort. Sounds like you don’t get out much. Why think that a knife and a condom means a crime? And OMG the knife is sharp! You got some compensation out of it so your post makes me feel like taking a knife and a condom on my next Starwood stay. LOL. OMG, look what I found!
I really don’t think you got anybody fired. The manager may have fussed a bit at them, but I doubt if anybody got fired just or that. “Changes in that department” is far to vague a statement to presume he fired someone. And besides, consider this: Nobody knows how long the knife was there, so it’d be pretty hard to pin not discovering it upon any one guilty party.
I really don’t think anyone got fired as well. Thanks for the insight.