20-year-old woman demands full refund from hotel over teddy bear, ‘I’m CONVINCED it was stolen.’ AITA?
Your (20F) stepdad gave you the bear when you were younger, so it is a something you hold dearly to your heart and brought him on vacation with you. After you had left for the day, housekeeping had gone through your hotel room, and your bear was gone. The herculean effort involved checking the same room several times over, with the possibility of contacting the staff at the front desk all coming up short and thus failing to locate the bear who left for the day minus the cleaning.
You feel that the hotel should, in fact, be responsible for your missing item and you are now seeking a full refund for your stay. Now, some of your friends are saying that you are blowing this out of proportion, making you wonder if your asking for too much.
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Hotels generally operate under limited liability policies when it comes to guest belongings. Most establishments explicitly state in their terms and conditions that they are not responsible for lost or stolen personal items unless those items were stored in a hotel safe. The logic here is that hotels host numerous guests daily, and ensuring the safety of personal belongings inside individual rooms is difficult.
However, the circumstances surrounding your missing bear are different from, say, misplacing an expensive watch or a laptop. Sentimental value isn’t something most hotel policies account for, but there have been cases where hotels took responsibility for items that went missing under suspicious circumstances.
Key Considerations:
- Housekeeping Involvement:
- If the bear disappeared after housekeeping cleaned the room, then one of three things likely happened: it was thrown away, misplaced, or taken. If it was discarded, that would be negligence on the part of the cleaner. If it was stolen, that could warrant further investigation.
- Precedent for Compensation:
- In some cases, hotels have compensated guests when staff negligence led to the loss of personal items. While a full refund may not be common, partial compensation or a goodwill gesture (like a discount, a voucher, or a refund for one night) is sometimes offered.
- Legal Standing:
- Legally, most hotels protect themselves with clauses stating that they are not responsible for lost items unless stored in a designated safe. However, if your bear was accidentally discarded by housekeeping, that could be seen as negligence, giving you more leverage to request compensation.
Here’s what top commenters had to say about this one:
It would not be unreasonable to request a form of compensation, although perhaps a full refund is asking too much. If their staff was negligent then the hotel should accept responsibility, but you probably stand a better chance of requesting only a partial refund or some other form of compensation than your entire stay.
On the other hand, your feelings are totally valid—losing a sentimental object can be heartbreaking—but policy-wise, your appeal for a reimbursement is probably weak unless you could prove there was wrongdoing. So if you remain calm and assertive and ratchet it up to the next level, you may be able to get something back — maybe not a full refund but at least something.
