A woman’s dream holiday turned into a nightmare when an intruder reportedly swiped “irreplaceable” £9,000 rings from her hotel room as she slept. Vicki Pike forked out just over £4,000 for the Loveholidays package trip to Tenerife with husband Mark, 56, and three other family members in August.
Ms Pike, 51, from Nottingham, claims she paid for a hotel room safe to put passports and valuables as soon as the group arrived at their hotel. But on discovering the safe was faulty, she alerted reception, who reportedly said they would fix it straightaway. The mum-of-three alleges the safe wasn’t fixed for the whole of the seven-night stay, leaving her nowhere secure to leave her personal documents and jewellery. She claimed that, instead, she was forced to hide the passports in her room and every night would leave her rings on a kitchenette worktop.
As the couple slept on August 18, the grandmother-of-two claims her wedding, engagement and birthday rings were stolen from the room. The seamstress said she woke up “heartbroken” at the discovery and has now been left “grieving” the loss of her valuables, which she said are valued at £9,000.
She believes an intruder broke into the hotel over her balcony, entered her room in the dead of night and swiped the rings as she and her husband slept. The couple said they were left terrified at the thought of a stranger in their room while they were sleeping and what could have happened if they had woken up.
Ms Pike claims hotel staff told them there had been “more than 20” balcony burglaries at the hotel and another guest was allegedly burgled on the same night.
On the night the rings were allegedly stolen, Ms Pike said the pair did leave their balcony door ajar as the “scorching” hot room had no air conditioning. She claims to have found her bag open on the table outside in the morning.
Ms Pike said she wanted to speak out about the alleged incident to warn other holidaymakers to make sure they protect their valuables at all times while away. She said: “In the morning, I went to put my watch on and then I couldn’t find my rings. I then spotted my handbag on the balcony and my stomach started turning as I knew something was wrong.
“I knew something was wrong and I burst out crying and I was shaking. I started panicking. I thought through the night I had had a dream and I thought Mark was on the balcony with my bag. I realised then that I must have seen the person as I was half asleep.
“All the fear then came over me as I thought about if we had woken up what would have happened. It was an awful feeling to think how close they were to us as they literally walked past us [in our sleep].”
She also said: “The first two rings are absolutely irreplaceable. The first is my engagement ring and the second is my wedding ring. The last ring my husband Mark bought me for my 50th birthday. I know this sounds really weird but I think I’m grieving because they meant so much to us.”
Ms Pike said she now takes prescribed medication to help her sleep at night. Besides the cost of replacing the three rings, she said she will also have to fork out more for a vow renewal ceremony as she wants her new rings blessed.
She said: “I’m completely lost without my rings. My husband struggles to look at my hand at the moment [because they’re not there]. Mark is even bothered about putting his own wedding ring on as he feels it’s not right as he’s got his but I haven’t got mine… It’s just a kick in the gut and it’s heartbreaking. Now we’ve got to think about raising finances that we haven’t got to replace them.”
Ms Pike said after the alleged incident she has reached out to Loveholidays via email but claims they won’t take responsibility for what happened. Loveholidays pointed out that they were an online travel agent and do not own or operate the hotel.
They said they were not aware of any other similar complaints from their own customers – but are not the only operator using the hotel. A Loveholidays spokesperson said: “We are very sorry to hear of Ms Pike’s experience and have investigated her complaint as a matter of urgency with the hotel involved.
“Our support teams have also been in touch with Ms Pike to offer advice on making a claim with her travel insurance provider.”
The hotel said they did not wish to comment any further beyond what Loveholidays had said.