$5,000 theft at Ramada, Dover

[rosey1946]

I booked this hotel for a pre-cruise visit. This Ramada is horrendously lacking security protection. Since this became apparent as soon as the police began their investigation, the hotel manager became very concerned. He said that he would attempt to get reimbursement for me through the hotel's insurance. If he follows through on his word, I will update you on the matter. In the meantime, book at this hotel at your own risk.

[lisiamc]

Can you give us any details? Was this cash you were carrying? Was it in the safe, or on the desk, or in your suitcase? Were you mugged?

 

It's hard to be sympathetic or helpful if we don't have a little more to go on.

 

Lisa

[phabric]

I would be interested also about what happen. We will not be staying a the Ramada but other Dover hotel on July 30.

[aquilegia]

This an extremely vague post and unless the matter is sorted to the OP's satisfaction we presumably won't hear from him/her again. Wonder if the $5,000 dollars refers to cash or valuables. Would it be normal for folks to bring $5,000 dollars cash over with them? It seems an awful lot to me, particularly in these days of credit cards and ATMs.

[rosey1946]

We had booked a private tour for my family in Russia and the tour owner wanted "clean, new money" for the excursion. That is typical for Russia. That was the reason I had that amount of cash with me.

Just curious, Aquilegia. Why would you think I wouldn't be heard from again. I'm a regular cruise critic and have been since I retired in 2008.

Linda

[aquilegia]

He said that he would attempt to get reimbursement for me through the hotel's insurance. If he follows through on his word, I will update you on the matter.

 

That is why I thought we wouldn't hear from you again (on this thread) unless the matter was sorted.

 

I understand now why you had such a large amount of dollars with you and wish you luck.

[rosey1946]

Aquilegia-Thanks for the good wishes. I'm going to contact the Ramada in a few days to see what's happening.

It's really good to be able to communicate with cruise critics because all of you know about cruising and are always so supportive.

Linda

[John Bull]

Aquilegia-Thanks for the good wishes. I'm going to contact the Ramada in a few days to see what's happening.

It's really good to be able to communicate with cruise critics because all of you know about cruising and are always so supportive.

Linda

 

I wish you the best of luck Linda, but sorry to say I'm not optimistic.

I suspect the hotel manager took a positive line in your presence - much easier to let you down gently later, and from a great distance. Though depending on the circumstances, were I the manager I just might have defended by going on the attack - by suggesting that you should have lodged that kind of sum in the hotel safe.

 

You don't say where the cash was or how it was stolen.

Left in your room? I'd say no chance of decent recompense, even if the room door was forced.

$5000 is a lot of cash, even for a room safe. So unless the room safe was patently forced I suspect that the hotel, and their insurers, may have a cash limit quite a lot lower than $5000. Just like personal travel insurance.

 

Bear in mind, there are folk who try to scam hotels & insurers for non-existant thefts or inflated losses. So you may be faced with an impossible burden of proof, unless the Old Bill come up with a culprit and/or the proceeds.

 

Or was it left in the care of Reception, to be put in the hotel safe? Then I guess you're fully-covered by the hotel & their insurers.

 

Do please keep us in the loop, and again, best of luck.

John Bull

[phabric]

Out of curiosity, so no one does the same, did you leave the money in your hotel room while you were out. I also like to take cash when I travel but it is always with me in a money belt.

[paws10]

I'm so sorry for your loss. I hope you will be successful in making a claim. Was there a safe in your room or did you leave the cash in a locked suitcase?

You should check to see if the hotel had any cameras working.

 

I don't usually travel with lots of cash, but if I have something valuable, I just hang the DO NOT DISTURB sign on my door. I'd rather have a messy room than something missing. Or, I take it with me.

 

On a side note to phabric: were you the poster who booked a room with Best Western in Dover and unable to secure a refund when they closed? If you are, were you successful in getting your money back? I'm just back from Dover, and the BW is empty. We stayed at the Premiere Inn in Dover and was satisfied with our accommodations. We could walk to Dover Castle and one evening, we walked to the pier where our ship was going to dock the next morning. Very convenient. National Express took us to the cruise terminal and we grabbed a cab to the hotel. Had a slight problem with Just Airports because of a new driver. Have a good trip!

[srpilo]

We had booked a private tour for my family in Russia and the tour owner wanted "clean, new money" for the excursion. That is typical for Russia. That was the reason I had that amount of cash with me.

Just curious, Aquilegia. Why would you think I wouldn't be heard from again. I'm a regular cruise critic and have been since I retired in 2008.

Linda

 

I understand you're a previous CC poster, but simply don't understand why you bother to post in your thread title that you were a victim of a theft, and then give absolutely no details.. Whats the point ??

 

If you're sincerly interested and asking for fellow traveler's opinions or advice, but wish to be mysterious or are intenionally omitting details, I personally think that this thread is just a waste of time.

 

If you're serious, show it with details, if not I think you should just move on.

 

IMHO Srpilo

[phabric]

 

On a side note to phabric: were you the poster who booked a room with Best Western in Dover and unable to secure a refund when they closed? If you are, were you successful in getting your money back? I'm just back from Dover, and the BW is empty. We stayed at the Premiere Inn in Dover and was satisfied with our accommodations. We could walk to Dover Castle and one evening, we walked to the pier where our ship was going to dock the next morning. Very convenient. National Express took us to the cruise terminal and we grabbed a cab to the hotel. Had a slight problem with Just Airports because of a new driver. Have a good trip!

 

It was frustrating dealing with Visa. Since I had prepaid for a room, they believed that another hotel would replace the Best Western and I would have a room with the new hotel. They kept telling go to Dover and if there was not a replaced hotel then I would get a refund. How can you go there and not know if you have a hotel for the night? I had to sent a letter to legal firm in England and they emailed a 30 page document which I had to fax to Visa. I finally got a refund.

 

I have the Premier Inn booked for July 30. Where did you eat? We have preorder breakfast at the hotel and plan on eating dinner elsewhere. Plan to go to castle in the afternoon.

 

We are taking the National Express. Did you ask to be dropped off at the cruise terminal? How much was the cab? We are going on the 9:30am bus on Friday, the bus might not be full of cruisers. Did you walk to cruise terminal in the morning or take a cab? How much was it? We will only have 1 bag each + each a carryon. If by cab, did you preorder cab for the morning?

 

We used Just Airports, last year from hotel to Heathrow. We are using them again Heathrow to hotel. They said to meet at Hertz counter in Terminal 4. Hope they are there as we won't have a cell phone in England.

[paws10]

phabric,

 

I'm glad you persisted and got your money back. How ridiculous to tell you to go to Dover and see if there was a replacement hotel! The BW is a huge hotel and is empty.

 

We ate dinner and breakfast at Premiere. We walked around the town and didn't see any place that interested us. The town was dead. After dinner, we took a walk to the pier and met a man walking his dog. He recommended a place locals go to for drinks/dinner, but unfortunately, we had already eaten. There is a nearby strip mall (first store sold Denby) and at the very end of it was the restaurant (also had seating outdoors). Sorry, I don't know the name of it, but it shouldn't be hard to find.

 

National Express dropped us off at the cruise terminal. We took the 830am bus and it wasn't full. I was happy with that because I've seen pictures of the bus stop and didn't know if we could catch a cab or not. The cab ride to Premiere was short and cost about 5 pounds. We were lucky to get a cab large enough for 4 people and 6 large bags. We left our bags at the hotel and walked to Dover Castle.

 

We ordered a cab from the front desk to the pier the next morning. They give your room number. There were lots of people wanting a cab the next morning so I suggest you order a cab or you might be standing there for a long time. The cab comes up and calls out your room number so you can't take someone else's cab. Cab from hotel to pier where our ship was docked was 8 pounds.

 

We also used Just Airports and the guy was there. Just know the address code of your hotel. Our guy was new and kept asking me for the code so he could put it in his GPS! He didn't know London very well. I've read that many on cc are satisfied with their service and their price is good, but we had an unusual experience. After searching in my suitcase for a code (like SW1 or whatever) we finally took off. As we neared the hotel, we were told that the street to our hotel was closed due to a fatal accident earlier in the morning. Traffic was congested. If the driver had been familiar with London, he should have known there was another entrance to the hotel which was the front entrance. Then, our taxi got hit by a garbage truck! It wasn't bad, he just knocked off the mirror on the left side of the car. Well, now, our driver was looking for a place to pull over to exchange information. He told us to get out of the cab since he couldn't get to the hotel and walk! I was not expecting to walk with each of us pulling two suitcases (50 pounds each). We asked a local policeman on the street where to go as we couldn't see the hotel. Of course, he directed us in the wrong direction. After he thought about it, he told us to go the other way, saving us about 2 blocks of additional walking. Tired from a long flight, hot from pulling 100 pounds of luggage (crossing streets and maneuvering through people on the sidewalks) we finally arrive at our hotel. Our room wasn't ready and we had to sit and wait in the lobby. Our friends who flew separately and also took Just Airports, were dropped off at the front of the hotel, checked in and got a room before us!

 

I'm sure our experience was out of the norm, but I do think their drivers should be somewhat familiar with London and not have to totally rely on a GPS and code provided by the customer. Hope you don't get our driver!

[Sauer-kraut]

An object lesson to pack and bring only what is comfortable to carry/roll yourself. :)

[Cruise NH]

So we're off topic here but for Paws10...

 

We're staying at the Premier in Dover too. What did you think of the walk up to the castle? We want to do that but have been warned it's to steep!

[phabric]

I know how it feels about drivers that gets lost. Last year, we did National Express Southampton to Victoria station. Our driver was a relief driver who has done the London ride before. There were a lot of road closures in London. The driver was trying to get to the station and he was asking passengers (Londoners) for help with directions, I even gave him a map. One passenger asked to be let off as she was late for an appointment. We finally arrived about 1 hour late. We saw different parts of London, we would not have seen if it was not for the driver. We felt so bad for him as passengers were complaining.

[dog]

I'm still wondering if the money was stolen off the person, out of a safe, suitcase or dressser drawer?

 

If you need to carry cash divide it up between those in your party to carry in a money pouch you wear under your shirt.

 

Sorry this happened to you. Please let us know more details and what happens.

[PennyAgain]

The walk up to Dover Castle is steep. I took a taxi up and back down.

[paws10]

Cruise NH,

 

I wrote a reply but it disappeared! The walk is steep and has several stairs.

The walk back down was much easier. If you have any problems walking, I'd take a cab. You still have lots of walking to do in the castle. There are lots of stairs inside!

 

paws10

[Budget Queen]

Still, no answer on the location of this money when stolen??? Certainly makes a LOT of difference, in any claim about the hotel security?

[Globaliser]

Still, no answer on the location of this money when stolen??? Certainly makes a LOT of difference, in any claim about the hotel security?

Absolutely! I think the absence of this information is very striking. I can't imagine carrying such a humungous amount of cash and not putting it into one of the hotel safes.

[rosey1946]

Sorry to not getting back sooner, but I was off traveling again. The money was in our room. I left it with family members and they forgot, told me literally a minute later, I ran back and the thieves were in the room and ran out. Yes, I should have done a lot of things, but if the money was not there, they still would have stolen all our cameras, computer, etc.

I just posted to warn about lack of security as well as Ramada having none, and not being responsive. We still have heard nothing from them after we have contacted them several times.

The York police did e-mail us that these were professional criminals. They haven't gotten the results of DNA that they took on the scene.

I'm still busy traveling and have another NCL cruise reserved, so this hasn't slowed me down. I was carrying so much money due to Russia-we had a private tour scheduled and they wanted "clean, new" American dollars. Would I carry cash again? No way.

Thanks for the responses.