This past Friday, a Malaysian businesswoman staying at the world-famous Ritz Paris reported to local authorities that her $800,000 ring went missing from the nightstand of her $2,000/night room. Her complaint led to an immediate investigation and fever-pitched headlines across the internet about another big-ticket heist.
By Sunday morning, the management at the Ritz had put the kibosh on any notions that something nefarious had transpired at the establishment. The ring was found — in a vacuum cleaner bag.
“Thanks to the careful search work of security agents, the ring was found this morning,” the Ritz Paris said in a statement. "Our client is happy with this news. We would like to thank the Ritz Paris employees who were involved in this research and who work every day with integrity and professionalism."
According to a translated account in Le Parisien, the businesswoman had checked into the tony hotel at the Place Vendôme on Thursday. The next morning, she left the hotel early to do some window shopping, but when she returned to the room at 11:30 am, the ring she had left on the small table near her bed was nowhere to be found.
She notified the Paris-Centre police station of the incident, inferring that it might have been stolen by a Ritz employee. According to Le Parisien, the investigation was entrusted by the Paris prosecutor's office.
"All leads are still being explored," a police source told Le Parisien. "Everything is possible."
On Saturday, the Malaysian businesswoman packed her bags and continued to the next leg of her trip — London.
Meanwhile, Ritz Paris management assembled its resources to solve the mystery. Its team conducted a meticulous search of the hotel and, by Sunday morning, security guards had found the ring amid the dust of a vacuum cleaner bag.
Le Parisien noted that Paris police will secure the ring until it can be transferred to the Malaysian businesswoman. The hotel offered her three free nights as compensation for her distress, but Le Parisien is reporting that she does not intend to take advantage of this “commercial gesture.”
In 2016, robbers held Kim Kardashian at gunpoint while she stayed at the Hôtel Partiulier. They took $10 million dollars' worth of jewelry, including the 20-carat engagement ring given to her by Kanye West. The ring was said to be worth $4 million.
Then in 2018, a member of the Saudi royal family was reportedly robbed at The Ritz Paris, where she claimed more than $900,000 in jewelry was taken, according to an account in the New York Post.
Credits: Chambermaid photo by Bigstockphoto.com. The Ritz Paris photo by Arthur Weidmann, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
