Tourist’s missing $800k ring is found in Paris Ritz vacuum cleaner

It was true diamond hunt after a tourist’s $800,000 ring went missing after she left it on the nightstand in her room at the Ritz Paris hotel.

According to Le Parisien, an unnamed Malaysian business owner on vacation in the City of Lights realised her pricey bauble was missing after a morning of shopping. The tourist suspected a hotel employee might have taken the ring and reported the loss to the police on 8 December.

After the hotel conducted an extensive search for the expensive jewellery, they were able to find it lodged inside a vacuum cleaner, with BBC News reporting that security guards discovered the ring inside the machine’s bag, coated in dirt and dust.

“Our client is happy with this news,” the Ritz Paris said in a statement to Le Parisien. “Thanks to the meticulous work of security guards, the ring was found this morning. We would like to thank the Ritz Paris staff who were involved in this search and who work every day with integrity and professionalism.”

“We thank the police and the hotel teams who carried out the necessary investigations in record time,” the tourist’s lawyers, Robin Binsard and Rebecca Childs, said in a statement.

The traveller reportedly left Paris on a flight to London the day before the missing ring was found, so the police promised that they’d hold on to the ring until she could collect it, according to the outlet. As a “commercial gesture,” the Ritz Paris also offered her three free nights at the hotel, but she reportedly did not take them up on their offer.

This isn’t the first time jewellery has been reported missing at the Ritz Paris. Not only that but the hotel has made headlines for thefts, most notably, a 2018 armed robbery that seized millions in merchandise from a gem shop within the hotel.

The high-end hotel is in the Place Vendôme, a posh district located on the right bank of the River Seine. The hotel has a shopping area near its entrance with five shops and 95 “showcases” that carry luxury items.

Within the same year, an unnamed member of the Saudi royal family reported a robbery of thousands of dollars worth of jewellery that he had stowed away in his hotel room suite at another five-star hotel, Le Collectionneur. According to the Saudi royal’s police statements, a Messika diamond necklace and a Tiffany ring were among the items stolen from his suite, Le Parisien reported. Allegedly there were no signs of break-in on the suite’s doors.