Grandmother wakes up to her Nashville Marriott room door open and her purse gone, and it turns up in a stairwell $300 lighter

Parker Maddock (parkermaddock) said in a TikTok video that her family was staying at the Nashville Marriott at Vanderbilt University when her grandmother woke up one morning to find her purse missing and their hotel room door open. Maddock said she had locked the door and engaged the deadbolt the previous night, which left the family suspecting that someone had entered their room overnight.

After searching the room without finding the purse, Maddock said she went to the front desk while contacting police. She said a hotel staff member showed her a purse that a security guard had reportedly found in an 11th-floor stairwell around 2 a.m. When her family inspected it, Maddock said they discovered that approximately $300 in cash was missing along with other items, including makeup.

Maddock said hotel staff told her they could check the room’s key card access records to determine when someone had used a key card to enter. However, she said she had not received the records when she posted her TikTok video. Without that information, the family was left with unanswered questions about when someone might or might not have accessed their room and how the purse ended up in the stairwell.

Some details raise questions

Maddock said the hotel had not provided the promised data by the time she posted, and that staff told her there was no CCTV footage from the area near her room because there were no cameras there. “The fact that we haven’t gotten this key card data makes me think that possibly it’s a staff member or an inside job,” she said. She added, “Or maybe even the security guard that found my grandmother’s purse on the 11th floor in the stairwell. We’re lucky we’re okay.” The hotel’s side of the story couldn’t be verified.

A few people in Maddock’s comments also suspected that hotel staff were involved. Others urged Maddock to take further action, while a few suggested safety measures for her next hotel stay, such as placing an ironing board, hangers, or a lamp in front of the main door.

Some things to keep in mind and implement during your next hotel stay

Safety can be a major concern when traveling and staying in hotel rooms, especially when you’re alone. According to AAA Club Alliance, there are at least seven ways to help ensure a good night’s sleep in a hotel.

The source recommends choosing your room carefully, ideally avoiding ground-floor rooms and rooms near exits, as they are easier to access. Chris E. McGoey, a security consultant at McGoey Security Consulting in Jonesborough, Tennessee, suggests choosing a room between a hotel’s third and sixth floors.

Inspect your room when you arrive, checking the locks, latches, and other features, and report any problems to the hotel. If you’re moved to another room, repeat the inspection and make sure no one is inside before you enter.

Ideally, cover the room’s peephole with tape or another adhesive. McGoey says, “Although rare, hotel prowlers can use a special device to peer inside a room through the door viewer from the outside to see if it’s occupied.”

Make your room appear occupied. AAA Club Alliance suggests leaving a light or the TV on, or playing music. When you leave, hang the Do Not Disturb sign.

You can bring safety devices such as a wedge doorstop alarm or a door-handle alarm. Place the wedge under your hotel room door for an added layer of security. If someone tries to open the door, it emits a loud sound to alert you and those nearby. A door-handle alarm vibrates or sounds an alarm if someone touches the handle.

Handle your belongings carefully, especially cash, jewelry, and other valuables. The source recommends keeping them with you at all times or storing them in the room safe. However, the latter may not be entirely secure, as someone could open the safe with a master key or override code.

The source also recommends avoiding the hotel’s public Wi-Fi. Tony Anscombe, chief security evangelist at ESET, a global digital security company, advises against using hotel Wi-Fi for banking or online shopping. Some hotels don’t use encryption, which could put your information at risk of theft.

Maddock hasn’t shared an update on her TikTok account as of this writing.

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