Innocent looking pizza flyers slid under I-Drive tourists' hotel room doors advertising late night pizza delivery aren't the helpful drunky-time culinary guides one might think. It's a problem. Accusations of theft and credit card theft were hurled by guests, hotel employees and actual friends of the thieves recently in three Orlando Reddit threads here, here and here.
Go ahead, laugh at us for using Reddit as a source. The problem is so real a Florida State Statute was created to ban the practice. Statute 509.144 states that handbill distribution in a public lodging establishment is prohibited and those caught in the act could be charged with a first degree misdemeanor. This includes a a minimum fine of $500 the first violation. The fine goes up to $2,000 for the second violation and $3,000 for a third or subsequent violation.
Hotels are warning guests about the flyers, even putting warnings about them into key card sleeves.
Photo Source
Photo Credit
Go ahead, laugh at us for using Reddit as a source. The problem is so real a Florida State Statute was created to ban the practice. Statute 509.144 states that handbill distribution in a public lodging establishment is prohibited and those caught in the act could be charged with a first degree misdemeanor. This includes a a minimum fine of $500 the first violation. The fine goes up to $2,000 for the second violation and $3,000 for a third or subsequent violation.
Hotels are warning guests about the flyers, even putting warnings about them into key card sleeves.
The Orlando Reddit accusations are many.
"The biggest red flag of all, is that none of these places usually list a physical address, or a false one." one Reddit user said. "Despite being '5 minutes from Universal' they won't allow you to come to them and pick the pizza up." The user went on to say that if you request to pick up the pizza yourself, you'll receive a litany of excuses for why that cannot happen.
They're in the hotels to check room door locks and latches. If the door isn't locked or latched and the room is empty they may steal valuables inside the room. These people are banned from all hotels but still manage to sneak inside.
Some are harvesting credit card information to resell or use themselves. They use burner phones so they're not caught. One user advised googling the phone number on the flyers to see if they show up on any scam-reporting websites.
The pizza restaurants actually "work out of small warehouses, unlicensed, uninspected, making poor quality pizza with the cheapest ingredients. They target the hotels and timeshares because they don't care about cultivating repeat customers. If the authorities catch on to them, they close down and reopen somewhere else under a new name."
"The biggest red flag of all, is that none of these places usually list a physical address, or a false one." one Reddit user said. "Despite being '5 minutes from Universal' they won't allow you to come to them and pick the pizza up." The user went on to say that if you request to pick up the pizza yourself, you'll receive a litany of excuses for why that cannot happen.
They're in the hotels to check room door locks and latches. If the door isn't locked or latched and the room is empty they may steal valuables inside the room. These people are banned from all hotels but still manage to sneak inside.
Some are harvesting credit card information to resell or use themselves. They use burner phones so they're not caught. One user advised googling the phone number on the flyers to see if they show up on any scam-reporting websites.
The pizza restaurants actually "work out of small warehouses, unlicensed, uninspected, making poor quality pizza with the cheapest ingredients. They target the hotels and timeshares because they don't care about cultivating repeat customers. If the authorities catch on to them, they close down and reopen somewhere else under a new name."
One user says he's known some of the folks who've dropped off the flyers. "They tend to be young people on the edge of society, one step from being homeless. They know that they are not supposed to be on the property, so they are constantly on the run from security. They get chased nearly every night. If they are caught by hotel security, the police are called and they are "trespassed," which means they are let off with a warning, but officially banned from that property. If they are caught again, they will be arrested."
He goes on, "Recruitment is by word of mouth. One flyer person meets someone new who is struggling and tells them they know a way to make some fast cash, and they have someone new. There is always room for one more, because nobody likes doing it, and as soon as they get a real job in retail or a fast food operation, they quit. So turnover is constant.
Statute 509.144 says that handbills the statue is talking about do not include employee communications permissible under the National Labor Relations Act, other communications protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or communications about public health, safety, or welfare distributed by a federal, state, or local governmental entity or a public or private utility.
He goes on, "Recruitment is by word of mouth. One flyer person meets someone new who is struggling and tells them they know a way to make some fast cash, and they have someone new. There is always room for one more, because nobody likes doing it, and as soon as they get a real job in retail or a fast food operation, they quit. So turnover is constant.
Statute 509.144 says that handbills the statue is talking about do not include employee communications permissible under the National Labor Relations Act, other communications protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, or communications about public health, safety, or welfare distributed by a federal, state, or local governmental entity or a public or private utility.
Photo Source
Photo Credit