A cautionary tale, especially for returners

Sadiekat I am so sorry for this happening to you. It should not have. We've stayed at this hotel several times and it's also one of our favorites. Being candid it's flat out the properties responsibility to ensure their guests safety, certainly this would include room invasions, whether the door or window is accidentally left unlocked. From our brief contact with management, owners I know they have very honorable intentions concerning their reputation as well as their guests safety and enjoyment of their property.

Something just doesn't seem right here, if I read this correctly the time elapsed on the tape for the bad guy & gal being on the property is 20 minutes? Ok, now their nervous as hell, supposedly going from door to door and also floor to floor or even tougher yet balcony to balcony at a property they would hopefully be unfamiliar with, and lets not forget how dark it is? Factor in tourists leave stuff on porches, like shoes, flip flops, beer cans, stuff that makes noise if you trip over it or step on it, chairs left out to move around and possibly brush up against?? Follow me? Basically it's an obstacle course, except in pitch black. All that being said they magically punched their version of a lottery ticket on the 1st or 2nd try by pure random luck?? Come on, sorry not buying it at all, smells bad, real bad to me, like something that's rotting from the inside out in this case. Knowing this place I absolutely do not question the hotel it's self as they have a well deserved good reputation, but this was no random act. The only random part was that particular door being left unlocked on that night but the bad guy on the property was not random at all.

Not up to me to figure out, but let me ask you this, don't you think the really good ones at this vile profession reach out to security, and employees of these properties that are potential targets to "look the other way", provide inside info, be allowed to have a few practice runs or walk thru's to size up everything. Unfortunately it does happen, but also here in states only on a much bigger scale. Trust me when I say dumb luck for these idiots when they are committing these crimes rarely happens. The ones that rely on random dumb luck are the ones that are caught very quickly, again this was well thought out and probably performed several times at different spots both tourist and local, sooner or later he'll slip and hopefully he's the one that's hurt and not a tourist, resident or law enforcement official or innocent staff member.

I'm sorry but if I were a property owner looking to protect my revenue stream I'd be all over the local law enforcement for increased patrols, and also just a greater physical police presence, and if they cant do the job, besides on site security at my property I might be reaching out to my colleagues who rely on the same revenue to hire our own patrols. That's been done with great success in my area at a couple of popular well known shopping and bar and rest. scenes when the police were not getting the job done.

As a soon come tourist I do believe this will be the 1st time I use the pac safe, door and window alarms as well as a little thicker envelope to security at the end of our stay if all is as irie with us as when we arrived.

Once again Sadiekat I am so sorry you had to go thru this.

Events like these if unchecked will cost anywhere they occur untold amounts of future business possibly even mine.

All of this is my opinion only.

Jamb, frequent visitor since 1997

I cannot count how many times I have read or heard that Jamaicans despise thieves. Sure.....

Funny thing thing is most security guards I have come across are little guys or are old and probably couldn't handle most of the punks thieving. Places need to take Chris' lead at Seastar and hire some muscle. I pity the fool who gets caught by Rambo stealing. And the man handling daytime duties is no slouch either. Another great reason to stay at Seastar.

I agree that the hotels need to be called out, and this is coming from a business man who hates the bad press, however it drives action and change. The sad thing is it will never happen because many tourist make up stories of thievery or are victims of booty calls ripping them off.

Sorry to hear what you had to endure Sadiekat. Glad you were not harmed in any way.

Something I take every time I go on vacation. Or one like it.

http://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-RSHS-...vel+door+alarm

Sadiekat I'm glad you were not harmed!Went thru a similar thing years back and we weren't harmed either. Sure taught us to recheck the locks and put things away when not in use during the day.

Well, a gal goes to work and see what happens! I'm glad you're all paying attention and discussing reasonable (and often funny steps) you can take to assure your safety. Thanks for taking the time to read this, and enjoy your travels- JA is still a lovely country.

Not another disturbing post about someone being robbed in Negril?
Its never good when a thread starts out with "I wasnt sure if I should post this or not".

So very sorry to hear about your unfortunate incident and I am glad you were not hurt.....or worse.
It sure seems like this problem with thievery in Negril is not going away any time soon. :mad:

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Originally Posted by booger

I cannot count how many times I have read or heard that Jamaicans despise thieves. Sure.....

Funny thing thing is most security guards I have come across are little guys or are old and probably couldn't handle most of the punks thieving. Places need to take Chris' lead at Seastar and hire some muscle. I pity the fool who gets caught by Rambo stealing. And the man handling daytime duties is no slouch either. Another great reason to stay at Seastar.

I agree that the hotels need to be called out, and this is coming from a business man who hates the bad press, however it drives action and change. The sad thing is it will never happen because many tourist make up stories of thievery or are victims of booty calls ripping them off.

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Oh my,you would defend yourself? Such a brute !!!!

One questions,,,one Big question........Show me an article in the Gleaner,the local paper where ANYONE was Ever arrested for robbing a tourist??

Your'e on your own folks. Yes there is crime everywhere,more crime actually in US but UM Lots more police.Lots more actual Arrests?

Hey they caught the guy who robbed Hussyband last month,right? OOPPSS still working on that case too,right?

It helps no one to hide the name of this hotel. In fact, it sets the rest of us up for the same problem, and the ONLY way these problems get fixed is when concerned groups - like on this site - demand better. That happens with either a change of policy by management driven by customer concern, or by groups such as this preparing, looking out for, and protecting each other. I understand you do not want to harm the hotel, but the greater responsibility is to fellow people who you may be able to spare the same material loss, or worse, the bodily harm so many here have been thankful you were not inflicted, simply by letting other guests know where you were staying and what to watch out for. What about the next couple who are gravely harmed because nobody said anything? If the same thing happened in your home, the city where you live, with any significant purchase you made such as car, appliance, etc. you would demand better and likely be vocal about telling others, which in fact better informs and protects them from similar problems. To hide the name of the hotel is a little like sitting in the dark hoping the problem goes away on it's own, and how many times does that happen?. At worse it's setting fellow travelers up for the same unfortunate experience, or far, far worse. As one post already stated, unfortunately you can expect no help from local law enforcement, and all we've got as tourists are each other. I will look out for you, but will you do the same for me?

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Originally Posted by jar77

I would think that a reference to "occasional" here would be to Negril in general and the hundered of thousands of people visting versus incidents of theft per year not "occasional" to one particular property.

Not knowing the full story regarding personal responsibility, security staffing and procedure on site, hotel staff response, police response etc I would be hesitant to name the hotel if I felt all was done in my best interest. Could be wrong and it won't be the last time either.

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How would you ever know the full story? How do you this is not the full story? Let me ask you,do you think there are more robberies at a Sandals where they have More guests? A Sandals can have 200 guest and Zero robberies,,while a small hotel on the cliffs with 50 guest can have More victims.

Why ?? Because Sandals has TONS of guards,so therefore the "occasional theory" does not wash. Why try to dilute a crime by saying,,oh well,it's just occasional?