Tenerife holiday turns into nightmare as thieves steal £8,000 of items

British family’s luxury holiday in Tenerife turns into nightmare after ‘thieves break into their room at five-star Hard Rock Hotel and steal £8,000 worth of items including designer handbags, sunglasses and headphones’

• James Dobson and his wife Jayne were staying at the Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife
• They say ten items worth around £8,000 were stolen from their hotel room

A British family’s luxury holiday in Tenerife turned into a nightmare after they say thieves broke into their room at the five-star Hard Rock Hotel and stole £8,000 worth of items.

James Dobson, 40, and his wife Jayne, 39, had been staying at the £1,300 a night hotel with their two children for three days when they say the items were stolen. 

These included two designer handbags, three pairs of designer sunglasses, a Nintendo Switch, Bose Bluetooth headphones and Mr Dobson’s electric toothbrush.

The thieves even managed to get into the room’s locked safe and steal €800 (£710) from Mr Dobson’s wallet while the family were relaxing by the pool, the couple said.  

‘When we returned to the room, although there was no physical evidence of a break-in, we noticed straight away that things were missing,’ said Mr Dobson. 

James Dobson, 40, and his wife Jayne, 39, were staying at the £1,300 a night Hard Rock Hotel in Tenerife when ten items worth around £8,000 were stolen from them, they say 

The couple said staff at the Hard Rock Hotel were unsympathetic when they reported the theft

‘These were obviously not opportunists. They knew exactly what to take.

‘They left items like airpods and iPads because they knew they could be tracked.

‘They also took an Adidas rucksack, which I assume they used to carry the stolen items.

‘It looks like the thieves cut the power using the fuse box in the room in order to reset and open the safe.

‘We had a child’s clock with us that flashes the time when it loses mains power – and it was showing the time when we were out of the room.’

Mr Dobson, the co-founder of a tech company, immediately reported the incident to the police and when he returned, told the hotel staff what had happened. The hotel said they had found no evidence of wrongdoing. 

But he said none of them ‘apologised’ or ‘showed any empathy’ about what had happened.

‘Surely there was someone on the staff other than the hotel manager who could have helped us?,’ he said. 

Mr Dobson said: ‘It was beyond frustrating. Not once did anyone at the hotel apologise or show any empathy. ‘Our holiday was ruined’ 

Mr Dobson said the couple’s children were so traumatised by the theft ‘that my wife had to sleep with them’ 

‘I went to the police station as soon as possible and submitted a full report.

‘When I got back to the hotel, staff… said that they couldn’t talk about it as it was now a police matter.

‘It was beyond frustrating. Not once did anyone at the hotel apologise or show any empathy.

‘Our holiday was ruined.

‘My young children were so traumatised by the theft that they spent the rest of the holiday worried that someone would come back into the room.

‘So much so that my wife had to sleep with them.’

Three days after the incident, Mr Dobson was finally able to talk to the hotel manager and ask if they had done or found any of the stolen goods.

But he said she ‘laughed in me and my wife’s face’ when he ‘suggested that a crime had taken place’. 

Mr Dobson, of Leeds, West Yorkshire, said: ‘I was chasing the hotel every day to try to find out if they’d done or found anything.

‘I eventually managed to talk to the hotel manager after literally refusing to leave reception until she came to speak to me.

‘When I suggested that a crime had taken place, she laughed in me and my wife’s face.

‘In our experience, the hotel is neither safe nor secure.

‘And when something goes wrong, they will ignore you and hope you go away.’

A Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife spokesperson said: ‘The safety and security of our guests is our top priority, and we take allegations of theft very seriously.

‘Hard Rock Tenerife fully cooperated with local authorities on this matter and defer any further questions to them.’

MailOnline has approached Hard Rock Hotel Tenerife for further comment.  

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