The next time you forget your scarf in a hotel room, this story might make you feel better.
Greek pharmaceutical magnate Achilles Vigopoulos planned on spending his holidays in style: with family at the ultra-posh South Beach hotel, the Delano, where the average room costs more than $800. At 9:30 the night of December 21, according to a police report, the well-heeled Vigopoulos went out to dinner, leaving his 10-year-old son, Nikolas, alone and asleep in the room. He didn't return until after 2 a.m. and "did not check for his belongings."
The hummus hit the fan the next morning when the tycoon awoke to find his belongings had been stolen. This was not your average hotel room theft: Vigopoulos told Miami Beach Police he was missing $24,000 in cash, along with five Grecian passports, a $2,000 laptop, and an $800 Tumi bag. There was "no sign of forced entry" to his room, according to the report, meaning that whoever burglarized it presumably had a keycard.
A Delano PR flack, Chad Fabrikant, did not respond to Riptide's inquiry about the theft. Our spy at the hotel says two employees who would have had access to the room, a housekeeper and a hotel engineer, are being investigated. They better catch somebody fast: Vigopoulos's relatives have contacted local attorney Irv J. Lamel, a specialist in civil litigation.
The lawyer declined to comment about the theft except to say his client is "very upset." Vigopoulos could not be reached by phone and did not respond to Riptide's email begging for irate quotes.
