Hotel heist
Couple loses money, passports, credit cards during Las Vegas holiday
Las Vegas trips can be known to be over the top when it comes to fun times and entertainment, but for a Benoit’s Cove couple a week in the popular resort city turned into a two-week nightmare.
Amanda Hackett and her husband, Shawn, travelled to Las Vegas on Aug. 29 to celebrate their 23rd wedding anniversary with her sister and brother-inlaw.
The two couples had rooms next to each other at the Circus Circus hotel.
On Aug. 31 the couples visited the Hoover Dam and after a late dinner hit Freemont Street to check out the entertainment.
Around 1:50 a.m. they went back to the hotel and had a drink in Hackett’s room.
Her sister and brother-in-law left at about 3 a.m. and Hackett remembers walking them to the door and shutting it behind them, but not putting the deadbolt across.
“It never even came to me,” she said. “Me and my husband were secure in our hotel room, I assumed.”
When she woke the next morning at 8:36 a.m. and went to the bathroom she noticed the door to the room was not shut and the dead bolt was across.
She went back to the bedroom and her purse was gone. After coming back from checking their rental car, Shawn realized his wallet was also missing.
Sometime during the night, while they slept, someone entered their room and took the purse and wallet, which contained about $550 in cash, their driver’s licences, passports, and bank and credit cards.
“We were left with 76 cents,” said Hackett.
She called hotel security, but now thinks her first call should have been to the police, as she feels the hotel didn’t provide her with much help.
“Every time I went down to that front desk I had to explain the situation all over again.”
She said the hotel took no responsibility for the theft because they did not deadbolt the door. The hotel did provide them with $100 to use for cabs to go to the police station, some free buffet meals for a couple of days, refunded the $157 they paid for Internet service and gave them a free night when they couldn’t get on their flight home.
The couple had travel insurance through Expedia, but they could only get compensation if terrorism was involved.
As if the theft and wondering what would have happened if they woke up while the thief was in their room wasn’t enough, the Hacketts’ troubles had only just begun.
Without identification, they encountered problems at the hotel with getting key cards for their room, couldn’t get on their flight home, couldn’t get a temporary passport or even pick up money they were going to have wired to them.
Luckily, her sister could help them with money.
After a few days, the two couples rented a vehicle and drove for five days to get to Canada. They were told they should have no problem getting back into the country as long as they had the police report and her sister and brother-in-law had their passports.
After crossing the border in Alberta, they spent a night in Calgary and then went to Edmonton. But without identification they still couldn’t get on a flight home.
They contacted MHA Eddie Joyce and with his help were told their passports were on the way. Unfortunately, they weren’t shipped by air and the couple was looking at a longer wait.
In the end, Hackett was able to get their birth certificates sent via air cargo.
On Sept. 12 — nine days later than planned — they arrived home safely, but less about $8,000.
Hackett said she is not sure when she’ll take another trip, but if she does she’ll be sure to deadbolt the door in the next hotel room she stays in.
She’ll also leave more of her picture IDS home and spread around the ones she does carry with her, so they’re not all in one place.