Updated Aug. 5, 2020, 1 p.m. 

A long-weekend visitor at an Oliver hotel is warning others after his dirt bike was stolen off the back of his truck in the parking lot despite being locked and secured.

Steffen Waite’s green, Kawasaki dirt bike was stolen from a secure rack on his vehicle in the parking lot of the Coast Hotel in Oliver sometime during the early morning hours of Aug. 2.

Visiting from North Vancouver, Waite was scheduled to go riding with friends in the Kelowna area, but awoke to find his bike gone.

There was only one other theft in the area, a motorcycle in June of 2020, according to Cpl. Brian Evans with the Oliver RCMP.

Waite feels there should be signs posted informing visitors of a risk of theft in the area, similar to hotels in the Lower Mainland.

“You come to a small town like Penticton or Oliver and you just kind of think that things are more relaxed. Because who is going to steal a motorcycle how far can that person go?” Waite said.

Waite also noted many visitors come to the area to race at Area 27, and said those customers at local hotels should be advised of the property theft occurring in the area.

“The hotel had made no effort to advise occupants that there was crime in the area, to secure belongings or just to provide any advice,” Waite said.

A Coast Hotel representative said there are 16 security cameras covering the parking lot, and security guard patrolling both the interior and exterior of the hotel during the late night hours, but unfortunately the cameras and guard were unable to catch any would-be thieves in this case.

“These things happen and sadly the security guard was not in the area when the incident occurred at the right time. We’re trying to address that by making sure their focus is more on the exterior of the parking lot. These are rare occurrences, they are quite rare, but the sad fact is that they do happen,” said Tyson Andrykew, vice president of sales and operations with Mundi Hotel Enterprises.

“We’ve been trying to amicably make it right for this guest in the meantime and also take additional measures moving forward to reduce the likelihood of it happening again.”