Originally Posted by
QueenOfCoach
I carry a photocopy but also upload a pdf to secure online document storage. That means I can get the passport copy from any computer in the world with internet access.
As to the OP's question, I don't carry truly valuable stuff when I travel. I might leave my keys and US-only cell phone in the safe, but would leave anything really valuable in the front desk safe.
I would also accertain, in advance, if the place has a front desk safe before booking the hotel if I had a need to secure very valuable items.
Good suggestions. No safe is totally secure, be it the the concrete, steel and doors and locks of a bank vault, the front desk 'safe' or lock boxes at a hotel (The list of hotel safe robberies is a long one!), or most room safes (pretty flimsily attached in many cases), but like every "safe", the purposes are to discourage burglars/"safecrackers" by slowing the time required for access or making removal inconvenient and awkward.
Those TV surveillance videos of robbers dragging away ATM are good evidence that even "Mo'and Betta'" security than a hotel safe is no barrier to attempts by ambitious thieves. I wouldn't put the crown jewels in a room safe (not maybe the good Rolex, but I long ago left that at home). They are fine for documents and modest valuables.