Some places give you the option of having the maid come in and clean every day, or waiting until you leave. And the option of having your linens changed daily, which I don't do if we're just there overnight or for 2 or 3 days. I change the linen once a week at home, why should I have it changed daily when I'm at a hotel? And if there's a safe available in the room, I might use it. But my phone comes with me when I leave the room. Every time.

Or maybe the lesson is: Don't leave your expensive electronic equipment out in plain sight in a hotel? Mine is always stored -- in the safe, if there is one -- before we leave the room. Work laptop gets tethered if brought along (haven't in years). Non-safe storage won't stop a thief, of course, but most housekeepers aren't going to be big-time thieves because they'd 1) be obvious suspects and 2) lose their jobs. It's not good that she tried to use the equipment, of course, but when someone making a low wage cleaning rooms encounters a room with a lot of expensive, electronic equipment laid all out, then yes, curiosity may well get the better of her or him.

Who travels with a laptop, a tablet, *and* a chromebook?

If you leave your expensive electronics out when you know perfectly well a stranger (even one employed by the hotel) will be coming into the room, you're an idiot. Bring them with you. Put them in the safe. Lock them in your suitcase. I don't leave anything lying around in a hotel room when I'm not there.

Even if the hotel maid is honest, maids tend to leave the doors standing open while they clean, even if they step out of the room to get more supplies. It would be the easiest thing in the world for a thief to nip in ant take your things.

Take the maid service. Lock up your things.

Who travels with a laptop, a tablet, *and* a chromebook?

My husband and I have. He work on his laptop when he's away. He usually also packs his tablet for reading. I pack my tablet for reading and my Chromebook for web use, since it had a physical keyboard.

I agree with Gregg. When there was a death in the family my mom and I stayed at a nice hotel for a week at a time. My mom wanted the service while we were gone, but I didn't want to think about someone going through my stuff (to even try to find non-existent valuables) or stealing her medications. We just put the "do not disturb" on the door and traded out towels a few mornings with the laundry lady.

I've never refrained from using maid service out of fear that I'd be ripped off. I always take valuables (credit cards, cash, passport if abroad) and my phone with me when I leave the room, don't travel with electronics and lock up anything I'm concerned about in one of my bags. On a visit to Mexico City in the mid-90s with a former girlfriend, she had her camera stolen from our hotel room but she had neglected to lock it up in one of our bags. That was the only time I -- or someone I've been with -- has had something stolen.

That being said, I understand why others would choose differently. Maid service, especially for short stays, isn't exactly necessary.

I NEVER take maid service at hotels. I've been the victim of a criminal maid, and it was horrible. This was ten years ago, and I was only 19, and my college had put on a group trip for spring break to New Orleans, which I had always dreamed about visiting, so when I got to go for a week with friends for only $300, which included our hotel, bus travel and a bunch of touristy things, I was thrilled. I was also very nervous about carrying cash in New Orleans (with good reason, they totally know who's a tourist, and my friend was almost pick-pocketed in line at a drug store). I did not want to carry around any more than I planned to spend, and my parents had generously given me cash for my trip. Here's the stupid and embarrassing part, I cannot remember if it was $250 or $300, but after what happened I suspect it was $300. Our hotel room did not have a safe, so I put my extra spending money in an inside pocket, which was inside another zippered pocket on my backpack, which I left in the room. I only took out a bit each day we were there, and more or less depending on our activities, but no way did I want to carry it all on me in case something happened. Well, during the week, I thought that one of my $50 bills went missing, so I counted up what I had spent and what was left, but I couldn't remember if I brought $250 or $300 (because when my parents gave me the $300, I gave them $50 back and said I wouldn't need or want that much, but they insisted I take it "in case" and I couldn't remember exactly what I had ended up taking, stupid I know!) but I assumed I must have brought the smaller amount. The other shitty thing is that I had smaller bills in there, that I have no doubt were also taken, but I didn't count that at the beginning of my trip, since it was cash I had in my purse to begin with, and it wasn't big bills, so I was stupid and didn't keep a close eye on it. Anyway, what ended up happening was my friend and I decided on the night before we were to leave, we would go back to one store where we had found some things we liked, but weren't sure about, and so had put off buying anything at. We were going to go early in the morning before our bus was going to leave, and everything was going to be fine. Except in the morning, I went to get my last $100 bill out of my backpack and it wasn't there. It had been there the previous morning because I left it in there specifically when I took all the remaining cash out. I immediately suspected that the first $50 I thought was missing had also probably been taken, and I don't doubt that the maid started off smaller, waiting to see if I would notice, and yeah, I felt really stupid for not noticing quickly enough.

It really sucked to be a victim like that, but the worst part was knowing someone had dug through all of our stuff. I felt so violated and angry. The hotel did end up sending a $100 check, which was nice, but it was really shitty to go through that. Especially since I was a naïve 19 year old and had to be on a bus that morning, and couldn't do much about it other than make a report with the hotel and then leave.

I put everything that might tempt someone in my bag (if there's a safe, I use it, but there isn't always) and lock it. It's a bit more trouble than leaving everything lying around, but much safer. I've been to 6 continents, more than 30 countries, and most of the states, on both business and pleasure, and stayed at all levels of places, and I have never once had anything stolen from a hotel, bed and breakfast, motel, etc. While of course it could happen that someone would break into my bag, it's a lot less likely. The maids (or any other thief, but especially the maids) will probably move on to more low hanging fruit rather than risk getting caught breaking the lock.

And of course, it's easy for the hotel to say "oh, maybe you just lost/misplaced the valuable" than to explain a broken suitcase lock.

And did she put the pillows on the floor while she made the bed?