Managers are fighting back after a steep rise in thefts from Brighton and Hove hotels.

Photos of prolific offenders have been issued to managers and hotels are now alerting one another when they spot people acting suspiciously.

There were 185 reported thefts from city hotels in the year ending August 2004 but the figure has increased to 209 so far this year, a 13 per cent rise.

Police said popular months for visitors - Christmas and the summer - were also the favourite time for thieves. They sneak or sometimes walk in boldly and raid function rooms and occasionally force open room doors.

Favourite targets are cameras, watches, jewellery, cash, bank cards and passports. A flight crew member from Gatwick had her uniform stolen.

Police stressed although the problem was serious there were thousands of guests passing through city hotels every month who experienced no problems and enjoyed their stays. The crackdown is aimed mainly at prolific burglars who regularly target hotels and see them as easy prey.

Brighton and Hove police have teamed up with local hoteliers to launch HotelWatch, an initiative to allow police to help hotels avoid becoming victims.

Paul Knight, a city police crime manager, is liaising with hotels signed up to the scheme. He regularly is updating them with photographs of prolific offenders. Staff are made familiar with the pictures and they alert management if they spot one of the suspects in their hotel.

Police are then alerted and other hotels are contacted and warned.

Mr Knight is also providing hotels with details of burglaries in the area, Home Office crime prevention advice, analysis on hotel burglaries and intelligence bulletins and information to combat thefts.

Mr Knight said: "We are trying to get as many city hotels to join HotelWatch and to raise awareness of the types of crime being committed.

"Similar schemes elsewhere have proved very successful."

Hotels already signed up include The Grand, Old Ship, Thistle, Hilton Metropole, Queens, Royal Albion and the Hotel Du Vin.

A spokesman at The Grand said: "If we see a suspicious character in our hotel, the police are called immediately and the word is passed on to other hotels. We get the occasional theft from time to time, like all other hotels."

Anyone wanting to join or wanting more information should call Mr Knight on 01273 665863 or email paul.knight@sussex.pnn.police.uk Friday, August 19th 2005