MAJOR SECURITY BREACH: Theft, Unexplained Housekeeper Resignation, and Denial of Responsibility
Do NOT stay at Hotel Indigo London - 1 Leicester Square if you travel with high-value personal items. In March, three expensive luxury watches were stolen directly from our room.
The hotel openly acknowledged that an unauthorized housekeeper entered our room outside of her scheduled duties. Immediately following this unauthorized entry, the housekeeper left her shift early, quit her job on the spot, and blocked all phone numbers associated with her employer (Omni Facilities Management).
To make matters worse, there was an attempted middle-of-the-night break-in by an unknown individual while we were sleeping inside the room. Only the physical security latch prevented them from entering. Adding to the danger, our room did not have an in-room safe, despite the corporate claims that they provide them.
For over three months, IHG, Hotel Indigo management, and Omni played corporate hot-potato. We complied with every single documentation request, providing police reports, bank statements, and PayPal receipts.
They repeatedly ignored our questions, only to have their third-party insurance company deny the claim on a pathetic technicality: because we were severely sleep-deprived due to jetlag and traumatized, our initial estimate of when we last saw the watches was off by a mere 2 hours.
They are using a minor timeline discrepancy from an exhausted victim to shield themselves from the clear criminal behavior of their own staff. We are pursuing formal legal counsel. Save your money, protect your safety, and stay at the W London or any other property that takes basic security seriously.
The trauma of this breach was so severe that when our travel group booked this exact hotel the following month, we had to stay at a completely different hotel away from our group for two days before our cruise just to feel safe. IHG's complete refusal to take accountability has cost us thousands of dollars in stolen goods and emergency alternative travel expenses.
We have been told by a reputable source (a hotel manager) in the area that there is ring of thieves that get hired on as housekeepers and maintenance in some less than desirable 3rd party companies that work at these hotels which are expensive, but don't use their in house people for these jobs. They will take your valuables and run. read more