Tag Archives: Video

by | May 1, 2013 · 6:33 am

Hospitality Industry Privacy Risks: Texas Hotel Employee Arrested For “Attempted Improper Photography And Visual Recording”; Cell Phone Placed In Ceiling Above Guest Room Shower

“…Police say a guest reported hearing an alarm-type sound coming from the bathroom area of her hotel room while she was in the shower…she hotel room privacyfound a small pinhole with a camera lens behind it in the ceiling. After moving the tiles, she discovered the cell phone…Hotel security removed the camera from the ceiling and noted that it was powered on…The room’s electric lock showed that (the defendant) had entered the room the day prior with the key assigned to him….”

A housekeeper at the Hyatt Regency hotel located at 208 Barton Springs is charged with misdemeanor attempted improper photography and visual recording. Blue Moo Too, 30, is charged after his cell phone was found hidden in a ceiling tile above the shower of one of the hotel rooms.

Video on the phone showed a man placing it in the bathroom ceiling and wiping away his footprints from the bathtub. The hotel’s executive housekeeper identified the man as her employee, Too, a housekeeper at the hotel.

Too was booked into Travis County Jail on April 12 with a $25,000 bail. He has since bonded out. Police say they didn’t find evidence of any other victims on his cell phone. His computer is still being looked at. At this time, the former housekeeper is facing up to one year in jail and a fine of no more than $4,000.

For more: http://www.kvue.com/news/Hyatt-hotel-worker-charged-with-improper-photography-203045331.html

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by | July 8, 2012 · 10:13 am

Hospitality Industry Property Risks: Thieves Steal Florida Restaurant's Air Conditioning Units During Night As Video Surveillance Documents Theft

“…the surveillance system was rolling as the thieves committed the crime, at around 11 p.m…one suspect can be seen on surveillance unscrewing the AC units. Some time later, a black truck is seen driving by the business…they stole the two air conditioning units, probably for the copper coils…”

Crooks remain at large after stealing the air conditioning units from a South Florida business. The thieves stole two AC units from CafeSolé, located at 711 NW 27 Ave. in Miami.

Delemar believes the truck was involved in the thefts, and said the crooks responsible did their homework. “They pretended that they were cleaning up, that they were some kind of gardening service or something,” said Delemar. “They went ahead and cased the place first, and then, about half an hour later, they showed up, and they took the two units.”

No AC means no business for the restaurant. “Naturally, this is going to affect my business, because I cannot open up with the heat. I don’t have air conditioning inside, so that does affect the business,” Delemar said. “It’s disruptive, it’s disheartening.”

Read more: http://www.wsvn.com/news/articles/local/21007939691030/crooks-steal-ac-units-from-miami-restaurant/#ixzz203VFKKoz

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by | May 3, 2012 · 8:02 am

Hospitality Industry Security Risks: Tennessee Motel Surveillance Video Identifies Suspects In Front Desk Register Theft

“…The clerk noticed the money missing, called police and a quick check of the surveillance video showed the two suspects running back to their room in the very same hotel…”

Cookeville Police said two men were arrested after burglarizing the motel where they were staying. Surveillance video led police to the men who robbed the motel on Interstate Drive on Wednesday night.

The desk clerk left the front office to begin preparing breakfast for guests. That’s when one suspect kept an eye on him, while the other cleaned out the register of more than $200.

Both men, whose identities were not released, were booked Thursday morning on theft charges.

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by | December 29, 2011 · 6:21 am

Hospitality Industry Employee Risks: Texas Hotel Uses Video Cameras To Identify Housekeeper Who Used "Portable Electronic Skimmer" To "Steal Guest Credit Card Numbers"

“…a number of guests who suspected someone had entered their rooms and stolen their credit card information, even though they were still in possession of their credit cards. Charges usually were applied to the credit cards several days after the guests had departed the hotel…”

“…While monitoring the hidden camera’s video feed real-time from the hotel security office, Jose Ramirez observed Margarita Fernandez Abreu remove a small device from her pants pocket and then slide approximately three of the debit cards through the device…”

The Stephen F Austin set up an elaborate ruse to trick a hotel maid into revealing she had stolen the credit and debit card numbers of hotel guests.

 Possible suspects in the case were narrowed down to maid Margarita Abreu, the only employee who had entered the room with an electronic key card. Knowing that, the hotel managers set up a hotel room that appeared to be occupied but wasn’t. A hidden camera was placed in the room that focused on the coffee table and debit cards.

 “Margarita also looked through the purse that was on the table as well. Margarita then concealed the device back in her pocket and continued cleaning the room.” After two detectives viewed the video and identified the object as a “card skimmer” that captured and saved the data. That data could be later downloaded and re-encoded to create “clone” credit cards.

Abreu was arrested on charges of credit card abuse, a state jail felony. Her bail was set at $15,000.

For more:  http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/crime/video-shows-credit-card-theft

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by | June 30, 2011 · 8:16 am

Hospitality Industry Theft Risks: New York Hotel Has Valuable Painting Stolen From Lobby As "Surveillance System" Identifies Man Walking Out With Covered Object

“…A video surveillance shows a man walking into the swanky building then coming out a short time later with a bag not visible in the first clip”…

An art thief made off with a painting worth a reported $350,000 from the Upper East Side’s posh Carlyle Hotel early Tuesday morning. The Fernand Leger painting, which went missing from the lobby hallway, was on loan from the Helly Nahmad Gallery located inside the hotel’s swanky Madison Avenue building.

“The Carlyle’s security personnel reported the painting missing at 3:30 a.m. to the 19th Precinct as well as the gallery owner,” a hotel spokeswoman said. “A complete investigation is now in process.”

The 1917 ink-on-linen by Leger — a French artist who was part of the Cubism movement — was apparently only 10-inches-by-8-inches. The Madison Avenue landmark, a favorite for presidents and prime ministers, boasts of itself as “a showcase great art, a purveyor of privacy and a sanctuary of luxury and refined taste,” on its website.

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110629/upper-east-side/art-thief-swipes-fernand-leger-painting-at-carlyle-hotel#ixzz1QmBxtyM0

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by | June 16, 2011 · 5:42 am

Hospitality Industry Theft Risks: Surveillance Video Shows Man Stealing Flat Screen TV From Washington Hotel Conference Room

“…Surveillance video from the waterfront Homewood Suites by Hilton hotel in Vancouver, Wash., shows a man last week carting out a 42-inch TV set – at 6 p.m. in the evening, according to The Colombian…”

“…The stolen TVs are valued at about $1,000 each. TVs stolen from guest rooms won’t work outside the hotel, but the TV from the conference room will, the story says…”

And the same man is believed to have stolen TV sets from a Staybridge Suites hotel and a Country Inn and Suites hotel near the Portland, Oregon, airport. It’s not clear whether others are involved in the scam.

This particular thief can be seen in the Homewood Suites hotel’s video using a hand truck to haul the TV wrapped in yellow hotel linens into a green Ford Escort wagon, the Colombian reports. He then returned the hand truck to the hotel and drove away.

The items came from the hotel’s conference room, where a meeting was held earlier that day, hotel general manager Kari Jonassen told the Colombian.

“This just makes me so mad that somebody has the gall to do this,” Jonassen told the paper.

For more:  http://travel.usatoday.com/hotels/post/2011/06/vancouver-washington-thief-steals-tv-sets-from-hotels-homewood-suites/174274/1?csp=34travel&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+hotelcheckincommunityfeed+%28Hotel+Check-in%3A+A+road+warrior%27s+guide+to+the+lodging+landscape+-+USATODAY.com%29&utm_content=Yahoo%21+Mail

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by | January 27, 2011 · 7:16 pm

Hospitality Industry Technology Issues: Hotel Managers Must Recognize The Importance Of Video For Marketing, Information Sharing, Communication And Education

“… innovation is going to be led by video and many companies are not prepared to capitalize on its power.  Everywhere around you people have smart phones and they do something with it that has an element of video. That is very different than we did a couple of years ago.”

(As) video becomes integrated in many different business models and sooner or later all companies, regardless of industry, will need to find creative ways to incorporate video into marketing, sharing of information, communication, and learning. Those companies that are unable to cater to different audiences via various media will suffer.

“It’s not just the phone industry or the media industry. It is going to be incorporated into every business model you find around the globe.”

Verwaayen says the U.S. and Europe have embraced different content formats and that Asia is catching on. ” The world is going to be a place where applications are going to cater to the taste of consumers and from that perspective consumers have all the power.”

For more:  http://blogs.forbes.com/miasaini/2011/01/26/davos-explosion-of-video-is-next-technological-innovation/

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