A survey by website hotels.com has found that Singaporean hotel guests are among the most likely in the world to pinch something from their hotel rooms.
In a survey of 5,000 travellers, the result of which was released in early May 2015, it found that only 29 per cent of Singaporeans surveyed answered with “nothing” when asked if they had taken anything from their hotel room upon checking out.
This means that a whopping 71 per cent did resort to theivery.
But Singapore did not score top points in the survey.
That honour belongs to Argentina which tipped Singapore for top spot by 2 points.
In third place were the Spaniards.
At the other end of the honesty spectrum are the 69 percent of Colombians and 67 percent of Norwegians, Koreans, Hongkongers and Danes who indicated they have never stolen from a hotel.
“Only 47 percent of U.S. travelers are able to rest with a clear conscience,” the survey said.
So, what actually do these people steal?
The most taken item is stationery at 20 percent, yet only one percent of respondents say it’s a simple amenity they’d like to see in their rooms more often.
Slippers are in second (12 percent) and key cards are third (10 percent). Stationery (28 percent), room keys (24 percent) and magazines (10 percent) were the most taken items among U.S. travelers.
On the bright side, at least Singaporeans can be proud that their fellow traveller countrymen and countrywomen are honest enough to admit they steal!
And some words of comfort so thieves don’t feel too bad: according to the traveller.com website, Jacob Tomsky, author of the best-selling Heads in Beds, a memoir of ten years spent in the hotel industry, explains:
“No respectable hotelier is going to want to pry open your luggage and search for shampoo. We hope you take the amenities. We want you to use them later and think of us.”
Right.
The above article was first published on Public Opinion.
