Safe to send ring to hotel?

[dandoboy]

Looking for advice for my brother. He''s getting married soon (hopefully). He plans on proposing in NY city, but the ring won''t be ready until just before they leave. The difficulty comes into play now that my brother and his fiance-to-be will be together from the moment they leave for NY, but in this time, he must find a way to pick up the ring. Any ideas? We''ve come up with two possibilities:

1) have the ring Fedexed to the hotel they''re staying at, and have the hotel manager/security officer receive it in the morning before they get there. My brother can then slip away for 5-10 mins and get the ring. Is this safe to do though? Will hotels accept any responsibility for shipped goods? Would the hotel be willing to lock it away in a safe until he claims it? Is it not wise to allow someone other than himself to sign for and accept the package?

2) have the ring shipped to a local Fedex holding station in NY. That would alleviate many of the security issues, but would cause more problems, such as how to secretly leave your soon-to-fiance in NY city to hunt down a Fedex office and pick it up. Having the ring shipped directly to the hotel and receiving it himself isn''t an option as they are not sure what time they will be arriving exactly.

Does anyone have any other ideas of how to approach this?

 

[Daniel B]

Thats a good question. I am suspicious to begin with, so i would personally go pick it up at the fed ex place. But ive heard of people who send it ahead to their hotel and they didnt have any probs. Its really a matter of what he''s most comfortable in doing. 99 times out of a hundred, i presume, the hotel thing would be fine, and the convenience would be great. Sorry, i probably wasnt much help

 

[pad3006]

I think that if its a good sized hotel in NYC they should be use to doing that sort of thing and its safe. If your brother is comfortable doing it, he can call ahead and make sure. But I am almost positive a hotel in NYC would do that. Around this time of year people are starting to come to NYC to see everything lit up, for the holidays. So I would think tourists come here sometimes and want to propose or do something of that type.
If he wants any ideas of where to propose, feel free to PM me for a few ideas.

Phil

 

[ame]

I personally think he needs to send it to someone he knows. I see that ring walking right off in someone''s pocket from either situation. My suggestion is tht it''s shipped to a PS vendor, like GOG or something and he takes her there to pick it up.

 

[Whitefoot]

DONT Send it FEDEX, if it gets lost they wont insure it.. UPS will insure, but it might not get there in my case.. TRY USPS..


but dont do fedex cause they dont insure it...

 

[pad3006]

It prob is best to send it via the USPS or UPS. It is safe to send it to a hotel, unless hes staying at a motel 6 no one is going to walk away with it. His best bet is to call and speak to the manager and ask if he can be accomadated. NYC is a city where a lot of tourist come and also a lot of business deals take place, so hotels are always receiving very valuable packages. It is certainly not unheard of to send a package to a hotel and most will store it in a safe until you come to get it.
No offense AME, but sending to a vendor seems very odd to me. Why would a company who didnt help someone in the least get the stone or setting want to hold your package, that just doesnt make any sense.
Good luck, and let everyone know what happens.

Phil

 

[cpster]

I would NOT send it to the hotel. I''ve traveled for work and we tried to ship things direct to the hotel before and have lost packages or it has taken a few days for the hotel to track them down. If you can ship it to UPS location that would be best as long as they insure.

 

[TexasLawyer]

The best bet, IMO, would be to come up with an excuse for your brother to slip away for a bit and pick the ring up himself before they travel. That is the safest bet. Maybe he could pretend to get a call from his boss and have to "go drop off some papers at the office" or something, so she wouldn''t be suspicious.

 

[saturn]

Hmmm...
Are they planning on doing any shopping in NYC?
Because I bet that he could find a post office that''s near some shopping. He could then try to sneak away and pick up the ring while she is shopping.

One reminder - as has been addressed on other PS threads, the safest way to ship jewelry is via USPS Registered Mail. And, if possible, request that the vendor send the package unmarked, so that it isn''t obvious that it contains expensive jewelry.

Hope all goes well!