My wife and I were married on July 10, 2010 and chose Italy for our honeymoon, which began on July 13, 2010. I was very impressed with the Ambra Palace Best Western Hotel on the internet, and chose that as our first honeymoon hotel. Upon arrival, I was somewhat surprised at the appearance of the surroundings outside the hotel, and that hotel parking was 5 blocks away. This became a problem during our checking-out process. When we checked in, with our 9 bags, we were informed by the manager and porter that we could leave the bags in the area of the hotel, past the lobby, and they would be brought up by the porter. I was a little hesitant about this, but was told they would be safe. All of the bags made it up to our room safely. However, when we were checking out, after our three night stay, we brought the bags back down to the exact same location. The lobby was not busy because it was Noon, and most of the guests had probably checked out earlier. The staff knew I was leaving the bags there because I had to walk 5 blocks to get the car (not stated on Best Western.com.) My new wife was sitting near the bags, in the area provided by the hotel. However, with all of that being said, during the 15 minutes it took for me to get the car and return, my camera bag, containing my camera, camcorder, copies of all of our credit card and passport information and 3 days of honeymoon pictures was stolen; right from the exact same spot in the hotel that was supposedly safe during our check in. We spoke to the manager who told us we should have watched the bags better, and that it was our fault. That confused me because the bags were safe in that same area while we were checking IN, and neither my wife nor I were with them because we were being escorted up to our room by the porter. After I scoured the entire bottom floor of the hotel, frantically searching for the camera bag, we were told by the hotel staff to go to the American Embassy and the police station to report the theft. Upon our arrival back to the hotel, several hours later, after reporting the theft and canceling all of our credit cards, I asked if we could view the hotel's security camera tape, which showed the coming and going of people in and out of the hotel. We watched it with the manager, from the time I left to go get the car, till the time we left to go to the US Embassy and police station. Most curiously, no one was seen leaving with the bag. The bag is quite large, and would have been easily recognizable on video. It leads to the obvious conclusion that whoever lifted the bag was quite familiar with the hotel's operations, thus avoiding the security camera. It stretches the imagination that no hotel employee witnessed anything unusual, given the low amount of lobby traffic at the time we were checking out. I was also told by the manager that there was no other way out of the hotel, except for the front door. The hotel manager, realizing our situation, offered us an additional night’s stay for free. He also assisted us with adjusting a few of our subsequent Best Western hotel reservations at other locations in Italy. Despite his gestures, my memories of our stay at the Ambra Palace hotel are as follows: We were violated at a time we thought we were secure at the Ambra Palace. We lost over $1300.00 US of photographic and related equipment during our stay at that 4-star "luxury" hotel. We lost 3 days of photos (perhaps 500+) and videos which are frankly not replaceable. We lost an entire day of our honeymoon, spending it instead at the US Embassy, on the phone canceling our credit cards and arranging for replacements, and at the police station. We had to cancel our Best Western Credit Card, which would have allowed us to receive points toward future hotel stays. We were unable to visit 2 destinations we had planned for our trip. Due to cancellation of our credit cards, and the resulting lack of available finances, we were unable to purchase souvenir gifts both in Rome and Venice, as we had planned, for our bridal party back home. We had no finances until we received a new credit card in Florence, 4 days later. In addition, canceling our credit cards and securing new credit cards with my cell phone cost over $110.00 Finally, we came away from our experience with a destroyed opinion of personal safety and security at Best Western Hotels. Over the past 12 years, we have visited Europe and had always chosen Best Western Hotels. Up until July 16, 2010 I had a very favorable opinion of Best Western Hotels. That being said, however, the events surrounding July 16, 2010 at your hotel were indefensible.
As I stated on the phone, and in the email I sent to Best Western International, explaining my story in greater detail, the bags were not left alone. My wife was seated in the next room, with view of the luggage. It is correct that she was not sitting with the luggage, but there were no seats for her to sit on while she waited 15 minutes for me to get the car; the seats were in the next room. The luggage was placed in the exact spot that we placed it in upon check-in, when the porter took us up to the room, and no one was with the luggage, and it was safe. Had I known that there was no parking area at the hotel, I would not have chosen that place. The Best Western website states the Ambra Palace has a nearby garage. That garage is an 8-10 minute walk from the hotel.
After reportedly looking into this sad situation, Best Western and the hotel itself refused to accept responsibility for what happened within their hotel to a customer. Either there are unscrupulous visitors to the hotel, or some individual who frequently is present in the hotel was involved in this theft. The hotel and their management effectively look the other direction in not taking responsibility for crimes within their walls.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC
