Although the incidents took place in two different hotels – Andaman Phuket Hotel in Patong and the Simplitel at Karon Beach Phuket – details of the cases are almost identical.
The money was stolen from hotel room safe boxes while the owners were on one- or two-day trips, and all the victims were clients of the same tour company – Coral Travel.
Last weekend, the Russian tourists gathered in the lobby of the Simplitel to discuss the problem with hotel administration, tourist police volunteers and Coral Travel representatives.
The tourists were annoyed not only with the thefts, but also with their tour guides, who they said had failed to initially help them.
Viacheslav Kutikov, who stayed at the Simplitel, was sure his money had been stolen, and had not been lost when he had been outside the resort.
“I remember having left four brand new US$100 notes in the safe. But when I opened it on January 25 the cash had gone” he said.
Larisa Ivanova, also from Russia, told local Russian-language newspaper Novosti Phuketa that she had been robbed twice.
“First US $170 disappeared from my safe box. I was annoyed, but I didn’t want it to spoil my vacation, so I put the rest of the money into my bag. But after another day away from the hotel, I discovered that that cash had also been stolen”.
Another tourist, Alexander Yadovin, found US$2,000 stolen from his safe-box. He was also annoyed with his guide, who he said had failed to immediately help him.
Simplitel security and Coral representatives studied the hotel’s CCTV records, and soon realised the thief was a hotel staff member. She was fired, but avoided prosecution because of personal reasons.
Simplitel insurance covered compensation for the two groups.
The Andaman Phuket thief has not been identified yet, but the investigation is continuing.