Free or not?

[Russell]

Couple arrested for stealing hotel amenities

One of my favorite things about staying at a hotel is all the complimentary stuff they let you take home. From toiletries to beverages, bathrobes to coffee makers, each visit to a hotel is like a smorgasbord of free everyday items—the only limit is your suitcase!

Some people claim that not everything in the hotel is free. That aside the cheap toiletries everything in the room is hotel property and taking it home is “stealing.”

Yeah, sure. Even if that is true, what are they going to do, call the Hotel Gestapo?

No, but they will call the police, as one Japanese couple found out after being arrested for stealing nearly $300 worth of hotel amenities.

Police arrested the couple, a 21-year-old male college student and his 22-year-old girlfriend, earlier this month on suspicion of theft after a hotel in Ehime prefecture reported that nine items totaling 22,700 yen ($288) had gone missing from a room the two had stayed in back in March.

The girl was arrested on October 1 after police found a bath towel and face towel belonging to the hotel in her home. The police hit the motherload three days later when they uncovered two bathrobes, an ashtray, an accessory case and more from the boyfriend’s home.

The couple admitted to the charges, the boyfriend explaining, “The bathrobe was stylish and looked really good on me so I took it home” and “I took them as mementos from time together with my girlfriend.”

One person involved in the investigation comments that while many people believe snatching good from hotel rooms is harmless, it should be realized that it is indeed a full-fledged crime.

While this Japanese Bonnie and Clyde will probably think twice before exercising the five-finger discount during their next night out, they did prove that it is indeed possible to “make your money back” in hotel amenities—if you can get away with it.

[matsuki]

I've always wondered how they went after thieves like this here. Most US hotels require a cash deposit (and ID check) or a credit card to rent a room whereas here, you can come and go with nothing more than a cash payment at many hotels.

[gaijinpunch]

If you're going to steal you should do it off of the cart in the hallway, duh.

[Shit_Jappens]

If you're going to steal you should do it off of the cart in the hallway, duh.

ha ha ha, got some experience with it, do ya?