I think you've read my comment as saying he should lie by omission to the police, i.e. then throwing suspicion on hotel workers, which is not what I said. I said he should make a police report (i.e. acquaint them with all the details), and then, separately, tell work that it was stolen from his hotel room and a police report has been made. That should have no impact on the hotel workers, though if some kind of complaint is going to be made then he would have to come clean.