Thief Uses Device to Access Hilton Hotel Rooms in Shreveport

SHREVEPORT, LA

Shreveport Police are investigating a series of burglaries that took place inside the Hilton Hotel in downtown Shreveport the weekend of the Krewe of Centaur Bal.  At least 3 guests who were attending the bal returned to their rooms to find that cash had been stolen from their wallets or purses.

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Hilton Hotel management reached out to the victims told them that a vagrant was responsible for the robberies.  The suspect gained access to several floors in the hotel, and used some sort of electronic device that allowed him to be able to open the hotel room doors. The hotel management said they would reimburse the victims for their losses.

Two of the victims were on the 11th floor, and the third was on the 12th floor.  One of the victims reported that $700 was stolen from his wallet, the second reported $250 stolen, the third victim's amount is unknown at this time.

Who Actually Owns the downtown Hilton Hotel Shreveport?

The Hilton Hotel Shreveport  was opened in June of 2007.  It was constructed using $50 million dollars in bond money.  But who actually owns the downtown hotel?

KEEL News reached out to Shreveport CAO Tom Dark about ownership of the downtown Hilton Hotel.  He told us:

The city owns the hotel. It is managed by HRI Lodging, as it has been since it opened.  The HIlton does turn an operating profit.  I think last year's was roughly $2.5 million on sales of $15.5 million. That was the best year ever I believe.

Under our agreement with them, they pay for regular maintenance and we share the cost for some capital items.  The last time was in 2023, when they did a major interior and room redo as a part of getting recertified by Hilton.  I think that year's payment was $781,000.

The Hilton does not gererate a large enough profit to pay all of the debt service on the bonds that were sold to construct it. That debt is more than $3 million a year.  Some hotel-motel tax rebate money goes toward the debt, as does some of the profit.