Christmas dinner cost a holidaying Hong Kong couple more than they bargained for when they returned to their Phuket hotel room to find goods worth US$20,000 missing from their safe.
Tamara Robins, 28, and Derryn Ruolle, 29, returned to their room at the four-star Manathai hotel at Surin beach on the Thai island's west coast to find the door ajar and the safe open.
Gone were laptops, a camera, a mobile phone, a purse containing cash and credit cards, the couple's wedding and engagement rings and another precious ring that once belonged to Tamara's great-grandmother.
'If only I'd worn the rings to dinner,' a tearful Tamara said. But the biggest shock came when the couple were told that the resort would be offering only a refund on their room as compensation.
The resort's management argued that they had no way of verifying the value of the goods left in the safe and the expenses were waived 'to show concern and support'.
Resort manager Tanadol Pongkhankam said he hoped the police could resolve the case and that the guests would get back the stolen items. But compensation was out of the question.
The decision not to offer compensation came even after a data log showed that the safe was last opened by the resort's master key, which is usually kept at the front desk, just a few metres from the restaurant where the couple had dinner.