Shangri-la Hotel clarifies

With regard to the letter entitled Theft at coffee shop, published in The Jakarta Post on Dec. 15, 2001, the management of Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta wishes to clarify matters as follows.

On Dec. 4, 2001, one of the hotel's guests in the Coffee Garden restaurant reported that he had lost his laptop, which he put under the table while he was at the buffet. At that time the Coffee Garden restaurant was very crowded as it was coincidentally the time for breaking the fast.

Wastu Widanto, the hotel's senior manager, said the hotel was greatly concerned by the report that one of its guests had lost his personal property. We were well aware that the guest wanted to get a quick response from the hotel, so we played back the video recording from the surveillance camera located in the restaurant. At that time the situation was very hectic, making it impossible to identify all the parties involved. Within an hour of receiving the report, hotel security guards accompanied the man to the police station and helped him to wrap up the necessary official police report.

The hotel's management has also phoned the guest concerned several times to follow up on the incident. We appreciate that this incident has made him furious. In this regard, we would like to emphasize how important it is to always keep our personal belongings with us in public places.

For our guests' convenience and security, the hotel's management has deployed additional plainclothes officers to cooperate with the hotel's security guards during the peak hours in the hotel area.

WASTU WIDANTO

Senior Manager

Shangri-la Hotel Jakarta