Police were alerted to the theft when Narunet Khaothong, 24, from Nakhon Sri Thammarat, filed a complaint on behalf of the Noble House hotel on Rat-U-Thit 200 Pi Rd yesterday (Jan 25).
Mr Narunet explained that he opened the drawer of the hotel front desk to find several envelopes missing.
He checked CCTV and saw a foreigner he did not recognise behind the counter at about 3am that day.
The foreign man, now identified as Mohamed Yassine Zariouh, 21, from Dusseldorf, sifted through envelopes kept in the drawer, and removed several of them.
Oddly, while behind the counter, Zariouh at one time stared straight into the CCTV camera behind the desk.
Mr Narunet reported that the envelopes stolen contained an estimated B86,000 in cash.
Investigations by Patong Police confirmed that Zariouh had rented a Yamaha NMax motorbike Thursday last week (Jan 18), and failed to return it the next day.
Unable to contact Zariouh, the woman who rented the motorbike to him, Pissamai Yadav, 61, reported the motorbike as missing to Patong Police.
However, Ms Pissamai was later able to contact Zariouh, who told her the motorbike was damaged in an accident.
Zariouh presented Ms Pissamai with the money to pay for repairs yesterday (Jan 25), then left.
Police suspect the money stolen from the Noble House hotel was used to pay Ms Pissamai, and are continuing their search for him.