Thief fees tons of to couple’s London lodge invoice

After your last hotel stay, did you stop by the front desk and let reception know you were leaving? If you didn’t, you’re certainly not alone. In today’s digital world, many travelers find the formal checkout process unnecessary.

But I guarantee you’ll rethink that point of view once you read about Nathan and Eleni Weisser’s recent hotel experience.

The couple’s troubling story started with a surprise upgrade to a fantastic suite at the London Hilton on Park Lane. It should have ended with the Weissers informally checking out by dropping their keycards in a box in the lobby. They headed to the airport for a flight to Greece, unaware that a bad actor had been watching them. That thief slipped into the unoccupied hotel room and called down to the front desk to extend the stay.

During the next two days, the imposter ordered room service, slept comfortably in the king-size bed and enjoyed the panoramic views of London. After the interloper suspected that the hotel was about to expose his scam, he quietly hit the road, but the hotel charged his $800 stay to the Weissers’ credit card.

When the couple returned home from their vacation, they found the unexpected charge. Assuming the hotel had made a simple billing error, Eleni called to have the charge removed. That’s when a hotel manager gave her the unexpected news that it was not, in fact, a mistake. He told Eleni that her husband had extended their reservation over the phone and the $800 charge would stand.

Weeks later, the London Hilton on Park Lane was still unwilling to consider that it had been duped by a grifter, and the $800 remained on the couple’s credit card statement. At her wit’s end, a frustrated Eleni turned to TPG for help.

Here is the rest of this couple’s unusual tale, what TPG did to help them and what you can do to protect yourself from surprise post-checkout hotel charges.

Early this year, the Weissers, who are avid TPG readers and enthusiastic points chasers, were planning their summer vacation to Greece. They intended to spend one night in London on their way to the Greek islands.

Eleni was pleased to see that she could book a standard king room at the London Hilton on Park Lane for 80,000 Hilton Honors points per night.

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“We love to play the points game,” Eleni told me. “This really was a fabulous way to spend our points.”

According to TPG’s August 2024 valuations, Hilton Honors points are valued at 0.6 cents each. So, Weisser figured the room was “costing” her about $480 … as opposed to the $720 nightly cash rates the hotel was charging for the same room.

But even better news was in store for the couple.

A surprise upgrade at the London Hilton on Park Lane

On the day the couple arrived in England, they were tired and looking forward to checking into their room. They would get a little rest and then go sightseeing around London.

“The reception told us that they had upgraded us,” Eleni recalled. “I thought it was a little odd since we had paid with points, but we assumed it was because of Nathan’s Gold status with Hilton Honors.”

The couple wasn’t expecting much of an upgrade but certainly appreciated the hotel’s gesture.

Gold elite members of Hilton Honors are eligible for room upgrades at check-in when available. These upgrades typically are not in the suite category, so the Weissers were shocked when they opened the door to their room on the 27th floor.

The hotel had assigned them to a giant suite. The accommodations were impressive, with a living room, a dining area, a bedroom, a marble bathroom and sweeping views over London.

It was the perfect way to kick off their summer vacation.

Around 1 p.m., they called an Uber to take them to London Stansted Airport (STN), about 40 miles outside the city. When the car arrived, the couple gathered their belongings and went to the lobby. Bypassing the line at the reception desk, they dropped their keycards in a key-return box and headed out the door.

Uber records show the Weissers were picked up at the London Hilton on Park Lane at 1:48 p.m. and arrived at the airport at 3:33 p.m. They boarded a Ryanair flight to Preveza at 5 p.m.

By then, the thief had already extended their hotel stay at the hotel. That scammer was fully ensconced in the suite on the 27th floor of the hotel, having easily convinced the front desk over the phone that he was Nathan Weisser. When the staff asked him to come downstairs to complete a new registration for the additional night, the imposter said he was unwell and would come down the next day.

Then, the grifter ordered over $100 of room service and settled in for the evening in the luxury suite overlooking the city.

The thief tries to extend his hotel stay for another night 

The next day, it appears the imposter was encouraged by his successful one-night stay and wasn’t in a hurry to vacate the premises. He called the front desk again and explained that his illness had not subsided. In response, the staff offered to call a doctor, which the scammer declined. However, he said he would like to spend one more night before continuing his travels.

The hotel staff agreed to extend his stay for another night, but they required that he come to the front desk. The swindler said he would pop down shortly, but he never did. Instead, it seems he realized the staff were becoming suspicious and abandoned his plans to spend an additional night in the suite.

When he did not appear at the front desk as promised, the hotel sent someone to the suite to check on “Nathan.” They found the room empty.

The London Hilton on Park Lane closed the reservation, but not before charging the Weissers’ credit card a no-show fee for the second additional night the thief had requested. Now, nearly $1,500 in excess charges were billed to the unaware couple who, at that moment, were relaxing on a Greek beach over 1,000 miles away.

Noticing a suspicious charge

It was weeks later when Eleni Weisser contacted TPG for help via email. By then, she said she had spoken to and emailed the London Hilton on Park Lane “at least 20 times” in a futile attempt to get the fraudulent charges removed from her card.

Her email correspondence with the hotel that she shared with TPG is quite odd. After the multiple hotel representatives insisted that it was Nathan who had extended and stayed in the room, Eleni pieced together that the actual occupant had to be an imposter. She repeated that suspicion over and over in her correspondence, but none of the hotel representatives, including the property manager, acknowledged Eleni’s accusation that the hotel had hosted a fraudster and billed her for his stay.

This was true even after Eleni provided a notification from Ryanair that showed both Nathan and Eleni boarded the flight to Greece on the date in question.

Instead of addressing the problem, the hotel offered to waive the one-night no-show fee as a compromise, but it would not back down on the first night’s extension and the pricey room service charge. That was a fraudulent $800 fee the couple had no intention of paying.

Looking through the strange paper trail, I wondered why the hotel had allowed this situation to escalate the way it had. After all, Eleni’s documents included irrefutable evidence that the couple was not in England on the dates someone pretending to be Nathan was in their former room.

I hoped to end this highly unusual and anxiety-provoking situation for the couple quickly. They had had such a wonderful stay at the London Hilton on Park Lane and had touted it to all their friends and family. It was truly unfortunate that the hotel had not quickly acknowledged and fixed this blunder.

It was time for me to contact our executive contact at Hilton and see what his team could make of this.

Tips: How to avoid surprise post-stay charges

As a frequent traveler, I admit that I often have the impulse to bypass reception when I’m checking out of a hotel. That’s especially true if I am in a hurry or there is a long line at the front desk. But as a consumer advocate, I know how easily this practice can expose a traveler to unnecessary problems.

Here’s how to ensure you’re not leaving yourself vulnerable to being hit with surprise post-stay charges.

Don’t use the hotel’s key box. Always check out at the front desk

Of course, this may add a few minutes to your travel plans for the day, but I guarantee that it will save you hours of frustration if, for whatever reason, you have a problem later.

Remember, until your reservation is formally closed, anything that happens in your hotel room is your responsibility. If you did not check out in person and someone slips into your room after you’ve left, eats everything in your minibar and damages something, you will be on the hook for the bill.

It’s always wise to skip the keycard box and formally end your stay at the front desk.

Document the condition of the room at check-in and checkout

Many hotels today are franchised, meaning they are independently owned and operated. The owner or employees of the hotel you’re staying at may not have the same ethics and reputation you associate with the brand name.

Unfortunately, my case files show that some unscrupulous property owners actually target guests who don’t formally check out. These travelers may find additional charges on their final bill long after leaving the hotel.

Common post-stay bills I’ve seen travelers hit with cover damage to the TV, mirrors and furniture, as well as carpet stains and charges for pricey liquor and snacks from the minibar.

To protect yourself against these types of surprise charges, I recommend that you:

• Take a few photographs or videos of the condition of the room when you arrive and when you’re leaving. If you’re not already, you should do the same with a rental car.
• As you’re checking out, always close the door behind you to avoid someone sneaking in after you’re gone.
• Review your final invoice at the front desk before you go. Remember, it’s always easier to correct billing issues while you’re still at the hotel.
• Always pay with a credit card so that you have the protection of the Fair Credit Billing Act against fraudulent charges that could appear later.

After checking out, keep an eye on your credit card statement

Even if you’ve formally checked out of the hotel and reviewed your invoice, that doesn’t always protect you from getting slammed with post-stay charges. As Erica Silverstein, managing editor of TPG’s cruise team, advises, you must keep an eye on your credit card bill after checking out of your hotel.

Surprise post-stay hotel charges are not typically as astonishing as the Weissers’, but I know that smaller billing errors are common. While some are the result of a simple data entry mistake, others are not.

In fact, in my mediation work over the years, I have seen a distinct pattern of these types of extra charges spinning out regularly from franchised hotels, making it appear as if bill-padding is standard business practice at some properties to increase revenue. That was obviously not the case in the Weissers’ situation, though, where both the hotel and the couple were defrauded.

Still, it is up to you to be vigilant before, during and after your hotel stay to protect yourself from billing errors, both unintentional and intentional.

It is important to note that guests who pay with a debit card are more often targeted for this type of scheme. That is likely because the person padding the bill is aware the consumer will not be able to formally dispute the charge. Travelers should never use a debit card to pay their hotel bill, as this gives the hotel access to the entire balance of their bank account, unlike a credit card, which might have more robust purchase and fraud protections.

I have covered many cases in which unscrupulous franchise hotel owners helped themselves to their former guests’ cash under the guise that something outrageously large, like a stove, went missing from the room. Some of the cash-grab stories are a bit funny, but for the hotel guest who has had their bank account drained in this way, it most certainly is not.

It’s worth saying again: Never pay your hotel bill with a debit card that is tied to your primary bank account.

If you find yourself in this unusual situation with a hotel, cruise line, airline, credit card company or vacation rental, TPG is here for you. Send your email to [email protected], and I’ll be happy to investigate and help you, too.