A Taiwanese tourist visiting Singapore was shocked when a cash bag containing 3,000 SGD (approximately RM10,600) went missing from his room at a luxury Sentosa hotel. Initially, the hotel manager stood by the staff and even asked the guest to search through the trash, but police later found the bag in a housekeeping staff member’s locker, prompting the visitor to say the incident “completely changed my impression of Singapore’s safety.”
According to Singaporean media AsiaOne, the 28-year-old Taiwanese man, surnamed Zhang, checked into the Far East Hospitality Group’s Sofitel Sentosa Resort & Spa on October 16. He placed the cash inside a plastic bag from another hotel, Marina Bay Sands, and left it on the table in his room before heading out to Universal Studios’ Halloween event.
The next day, Zhang returned to find the cash bag missing. While reporting the incident to hotel staff and authorities, he posted on Threads that the hotel manager insisted the staff were trustworthy and told him to search the trash himself. Zhang could not locate the bag until police arrived and discovered it in a female housekeeping employee’s locker. The manager was reportedly stunned, noting that the plastic bag was not even the hotel’s own.
However, the cash had already been removed from the bag. The housekeeping staff denied wrongdoing, and police took her in for investigation and fingerprint testing. Local media reported that she is now being investigated for suspected theft.
Zhang said the hotel has yet to offer compensation and only contacted him with an email after the incident. “This completely changed my impression of Singapore’s safety… it’s the first time I’ve had money stolen in a luxury hotel abroad,” he said, urging travelers to exercise caution when visiting Singapore.
