PamT2012026-10-03
OUR EXPERIENCE AT TIVOLI AVENIDA LIBERDADE, LISBON — 6TH FLOOR, ROOM 636
This is our story, and I am sharing it because I want other travelers to be aware and to take extra precautions.
We have traveled many times, including with my senior parents, and we are very, very mindful of our belongings whenever we travel. We take care of our things and are always conscious of our valuables.
That is why what happened to us was extremely shocking.
On September 30, 2026, we returned to Tivoli Avenida Liberdade after spending the 2 day in Fátima. We were exhausted. We went out for dinner that evening and returned to our room on the 6th floor, Room 636.
That night, something happened that we did not understand at the time. I felt that someone had entered our room and was standing beside the bedside table where my dad was asleep . I was extremely tired and not fully awake, so i did not realize the significance of what she experienced until the following day.
The next morning, October 1, my mother and I went downstairs for breakfast while my father was taking a shower in our room.
When we came back, we discovered that a small black bag containing approximately €3,000 in cash from my father’s belongings was missing.
We were shocked.
We immediately searched everywhere — the room, our luggage and all of our belongings. We could not find the bag.
What made the situation even more disturbing was that my father’s watch, rings and wallet were still there. Nothing else was taken. It was the cash that was missing.
We cannot say exactly when the money was taken. However, one possibility we have to consider is that someone may have entered our room while my father was taking a shower and my mother and I were downstairs having breakfast.
That is why we asked the hotel to properly investigate all room access during the relevant period.
During our stay, several hotel personnel had entered or had access to our room. This included a female staff member and a male security staff member who assisted us with the safety deposit box, a female staff member who delivered a bucket of ice, and another female staff member who delivered bottled water and requested our signature.
We are not accusing any particular person. We are simply providing these details because we believe every person who had access to our room should be properly accounted for and investigated.
We immediately reported the incident to the hotel and filed an official police report. We also escalated our complaint to the higher management of the hotel group.
We asked the hotel to check the electronic key-card records, staff/master-key access and CCTV footage.
And this is where another major concern came up.
We were informed that there was no CCTV covering the guest hallway on the 6th floor.
For a 5-star hotel, we found this extremely concerning.
We were also repeatedly told that something like this could not have happened because “this is a 5-star hotel.” But simply being a 5-star hotel does not explain how our money disappeared.
After the incident, we also did our own research and found other guest reports describing security and theft-related concerns at the hotel. This made us even more concerned and determined to have our case properly investigated.
We have traveled extensively and this is the first time anything like this has ever happened to us.
We are genuinely very careful with our belongings when we travel. But this experience made us realize something we never thought we would have to worry about:
We now understand that we have to be careful even inside our own hotel room — even when staying in a 5-star hotel.
This is not simply about the money anymore. It is about trust and security.
That €3,000 was our family’s pocket money for our trip. Losing such a significant amount while staying in a hotel where we believed we were safe was incredibly distressing.
We are not trying to conduct our own investigation or point fingers. We simply want answers.
We want to know how our money disappeared, who accessed our room, and what happened while we were away.
We hope the hotel takes our complaint seriously, cooperates fully with the authorities, and gives us the answers we deserve.
For anyone staying at Tivoli Avenida Liberdade — especially on the 6th floor — please take extra precautions.
Lock your luggage. Secure your cash and valuables. And never assume that your belongings are completely safe simply because you are staying in a 5-star hotel.
We are sharing our experience so other families can be more careful and hopefully never experience what happened to us.
