Islander fights for compensation after £2,000 luggage stolen from hotel ‘safe room’

Friday 05 October 2018

What should have been an enjoyable Belgian family getaway ended in every traveller’s worst nightmare for one islander after her suitcase with belongings worth £2,000 were stolen – despite being kept in the hotel’s ‘secure’ left luggage room.

As if having her luggage containing formal dresses and her laptop stolen wasn’t difficult enough, travel website employee Sophie Rabet (24) also struggled to get help from the hotel it was stolen from.

She received few responses to her numerous messages, and, when she did, they were unclear and error-ridden, with many getting her name wrong altogether and calling her “Mrs Irapet.” 

It all started as a girls’ trip to Bruges with her mum and sister in August. The trio travelled on the Eurostar from London, spending the night in Brussels in the Mercure Centre-Midi Hotel next to the train station on the last night of their trip.

Pictured: Sophie spent three days in Bruges with her mum and sister. 

The morning after, as their train was leaving at 17:00, the trio decided to spend the day exploring Brussels. They left the hotel around 11:00 and asked to leave their suitcases in the hotel’s ‘left luggage’ room. Sophie says that an employee unlocked the door for them but didn't take note of what items they left in the room.

When they returned, they were in for a shock.

“I actually told my sister at the time that that was terrible security as we'd never seen the man who was at the desk before, so he couldn't have known we were definitely guests! As soon as he opened the door for the room I saw my luggage was missing,” Sophie recalled to Express. 

Sophie says that luckily nothing belonging to her sister or her mum was taken. “I think because my suitcase was new and had a lock on it, it looked more valuable!,” she explained. It was certainly valuable to her as it contained a Macbook pro she uses for work, a valuable watch, her make-up, as well as clothes and her phone chargers.

Pictured: The hotel where Sophie's bag was stolen.

“It was standard thing for a holiday really!” she said. “Luckily we'd only been away three nights so it wasn't too much, but I had taken a few nice dresses with me to go out for dinner.”

When she reported her luggage had been stolen to the hotel, Sophie found out her bag had not been the only one taken away by a mystery thief. But despite the multiple bag losses, the manager was apparently unaware of any incident.

She explained: “The hotel manager looked on the CCTV trying to find any footage. Then the man who was there when we left the luggage came down and told him what timestamp to look for on the CCTV.

“It turned out someone else had also had their luggage stolen earlier that day, but it was pretty odd that the manager didn't already know about this too! On the CCTV, we saw a woman in a blue raincoat walk in and then walk out again two minutes later with two black carry-on style suitcases.”

Pictured: Sophie says a woman was caught on CCTV taking away her suitcase and another guest's.

As Sophie and her family had to catch their train, they couldn’t wait for the police to come to the hotel. Sophie agreed to send a list of the contents of the suitcase and the hotel promised to keep in touch with the police report number and any information they might get. 

However, Sophie says that after sending her list and the approximate value of her belongings, she didn’t hear anything back for a couple of days. When she finally did, the hotel asked for the list of contents again and asked her to send a copy to the Belgian police.

She followed up near daily with the hotel, but was disappointed that they “took ages” to respond to anything. At the height of her frustration, she took to social media to denounce her treatment, but simply received a “generic email” saying the hotel was already working with her. 

“I also tried ringing up the customer service but they were very rude and said that the hotel had asked them 'not to interfere', so they couldn't get involved.”

Luckily, Sophie found the Belgian Police more helpful. While it was initially difficult to speak to them due to the language barrier, her brother who speaks fluent French was able to get more information and confirm what was the normal procedure to follow.

But after the month-long ordeal, there might finally be hope on the horizon. The hotel has at last hinted that she might receive some compensation, but she’s still waiting for concrete details. “It will be interesting to see what they say.” 

“I'm hoping to get some compensation, especially as under Belgium law it is the hotel's responsibility to look after anything left with them as in this scenario. They can't just put 'leave luggage at your own risk' like you could in other countries.”

In the meantime, she hopes that her case will serve as a cautionary tale that, even at a reputable hotel in a place where laws suggest better protection for clients, problems can still emerge.