Staff at the harbourside Peninsula Hotel were first duped into giving the man a spare key in the early hours of Sunday morning as the room's occupants, a French couple, were sleeping, the South China Morning Post reported.
When the couple left the room later that afternoon, the man let himself in and managed to persuade staff to open the safe from which he stole HKD 50,000 (USD 6,400) worth of goods and cash.
After entering the room, the man "telephoned the front desk from the room saying he had forgotten the password of the safe and asked for assistance to open it", the officer was quoted by the SCMP as saying.
When the staff arrived, the man -- described as a foreigner -- was waiting in the room wearing "a pair of slippers, a blue T-shirt and jeans".
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The Peninsula Hotel, established in 1928 in the former British colony, is situated in the bustling shopping district of Tsim Sha Tsui and is one of the city's oldest hotels.
The hotel refused to give details on the case, but confirmed the theft had occurred.
"The theft happened and has been reported. But we are not at the liberty to elaborate further while the police are investigating the matter," Peninsula Hotel director of public relations Olivia Toth told AFP.