Can’t afford to stay in the priciest hotels, order the swankiest room service and wash your hands with the nicest-smelling fancy soaps? Don’t use other guests’ credit cards to make your dreams come true, as cops say one homeless man did. He was busted for allegedly posing as guests at luxury hotels and going on spending sprees at the expense of his victims.

Orange County police say the man has been homeless for the last two years, and was seeking shelter at some of the area’s most lavish hotels, including The Ritz Carlton, Hard Rock Hotel and Loews Portofino Bay — all on other people’s dimes.

The man’s scams have apparently been going on since June 2010. Officials say he’d watch a guest leave, then he would enter the room and claim to be that person. Once ensconced in the room,  he’d call the front desk and ask to extend the stay for as much as 10 days.

At one hotel, cops claim he spent almost $9,000 in charges to an Ohio man’s credit card.

“I don’t know how he got in my room, how he got my debit card. But he got like the best wines, the best restaurants, room service. He got clothes and the whole ball of wax,” the victim told WFTV. He ended up getting his money back after the ordeal.

Police arrested the man this week after he found his way into a room at the Hard Rock Hotel that had been previously occupied by a hotel worker. Security officers knew that employee had left already, and called the cops. Officers say they found items from other hotels.

The man spent the night in jail but it’s unclear what kind of charges will be leveled against him for his two years of fun.

Investigators: Homeless man arrested, stays at hotels on other people’s expense [WFTV]

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