Can I sue a hotel if one of their staffs stole my money?

I was on a 7 day tour to New York and the travel agency booked us 2 rooms at the Double Tree Hilton in New Jersey. After we checked in, we went out for the night tour from 6pm-9pm and my mom left all of her cash, total of $16,000 in her wallet and put it in the luggage but did not lock the luggage. The hotel does not have safe box inside the room. We came back to the room without realizing that someone broke into our room until the next morning when my mom check her wallet and realized that all of our money were gone. I filed a report to the hotel, and the police has created a criminal investigate. The police said they are investigating it but from the lock registration history that they got from the hotel, it looks like one of the staff at the hotel broke into our room while we were gone. I was wondering if I can hire an attorney to sue the hotel or the travel agency that booked me to stay at that hotel? And since I live in WA, which state attorney should I hire? NJ or WA?