pinniped

I'm confident enough in it to throw a few low-to-medium value things in it. Stuff that would be easy for housekeeping to steal, like a small electronic devices or jewelry. Or even a modest amount of cash, like $100-200 worth of a currency I'm not using during the stay.

I know it's not an impenetrable fortress, but I never travel with anything terribly valuable. Could a rogue hotel employee get into the safe and grab my Kindle and a couple hundred bucks? Theoretically, sure...but odds are that it won't happen, and to date it hasn't.

GUWonder

I’ve seen passports and cash reported as stolen from locked hotel room safes.

I’ve seen hotel employees unlock locked room safes, and it’s generally been quick and easy enough that I wouldn’t suggest it as a place to store high value, irreplaceable items whose theft may result in a substantial material or sentimental loss.

I still use the room safes, but it’s for more mundane things with questionable material value in the market for fenced goods. That said, I’m pretty sure that for most people, the theft/loss risk is greater for goods carried on person outside the hotel room than for goods placed in the locked safes.

pinniped

Yeah, I think we're saying the same thing: don't put high-value things in there. The main value of the safe is as a deterrent against the most simple housekeeping thefts. For most people in most places, that's the greater risk than a rogue higher-level hotel employee.

I've rarely traveled with high-value goods to begin with. Highest value is probably the data on my work computer, and that's very well secured against a basic street criminal who would mainly be interested in the (not that valuable) physical laptop.

Badenoch

I use them but I don't trust them. Rarely do I bring anything with me of great value when travelling and my passport stays on my person at all times in a foreign country. The best they will get out of the safe might be some cash and a photocopy of my passport.

Proudelitist

They are safer than not using them. And if controlled properly by the property, safe from sticky fingered cleaning staff and outside people that break into the rooms..however there is a master code on them that the hotel can use in the frequent instances where a guest forgets what PIN they used. That information can leak out in casual conversations amidst the staff, or be taken advantage of by sticky fingered managers who know it because of their job duties.

There are other options for securing things in rooms depending on how big they are. You can put small things like folded cash behind the covers on the electrical outlets. Get a screw driver or nail clipper and unscrew the covers.

You can tape things, especially credit cards, to the top of the ceiling fan blades, provided the weather is not warm enough that a maid won't turn it on. Nobody looks up when looking for things to steal, and it is out of sight.

In the casing of the TV is a great place..ignore warranty seals..it's not your TV. Same for inside the clock radio.

Less secure (only because everyone knows this trick) but more spacious is in the panels for the pipe space..usually under the sink. Also in places with tiled ceilings, you can push up a panel and hide things in the sub ceiling.

Over the years I have, for my own amusement, searched many of those places when I get to a room. I find all kinds of things...porn, drug paraphernalia, alcohol (in sealed cans and bottles), and once in Vegas a significant amount of cocaine.

haileyto

I don't think putting you passport or any valuables in your hotel room is a smart decision

aquamarinesteph

I've never had a problem - yet - with anything in the hotel safe, but I never place anything that valuable in there.

Having said that, I had a hotel safe in Italy which wouldn't work. (Key lock safe, not a digital one.) I called the front desk. They sent two people. I was impressed with how easily and quickly they could pop out the old lock and put in a new one that still worked with the key I'd been originally given.

pindi

While staying in any hotel internationally, I keep my valuables in my suitcase with my own lock on the suitcase. This includes laptops, any expensive electronic equipment, passports etc. If I have 2 suitcases, I spread the stuff out among the two and lock them both. Of course, someone can walk away with the entire suitcase - but the chances of that happening are slimmer than stuff being stolen from the hotel safe.

KDS777

I agree.

I've probably spent 1,000 nights in the rooms of various places around the world in the last decade, 50% of those were IHG, but nonetheless, nothing has happened to me.

Many accurate polls commonly use a statistical database this size as well, and are accurate within 2-3% 19 times out of 20.

I am not going to lose sleep over it.

Proudelitist

Indeed, those odds are higher. But you can take precautions against that too.

When I go to South America...Brazil in particular..I carry a dummy wallet. It has 10 US dollars in it and some expired useless cards (blockbuster video..cheese of the month club..things like that) and a few of those fake CC's you get in the mail when you are "Auto approved". It gives the mugger something, which is better that being able to give them NOTHING because you left it all in the room. The cash is so they think it's a your real wallet. Put nasty grams or monopoly money in there, and they may hurt you.

My real cash I keep in my belt, which has a hidden compartment in the back. I keep a few units of the local currency in my pockets, so if I buy something and someone is watching, they see me getting the money out of my pocket and not my belt.

KDS777

I live in Rio for half the year. While I have never been robbed, you are not doing yourself any favors if you get popped by a pivete on the street. They are not stupid slum dwellers.....and it's a big mistake to make that assumption.

If you look or act like a weathy gringo tourist and get singled out for robbery, you're not going anywhere until they go thru said wallet, and they will then walk you over to a bank machine and make you withdraw money, which your fake cards will not be able to do. People have been killed here for trying that trick. And the belt, they'll take that too. You'll be left with the shirt on your back and your pants, once they've been checked for hidden pockets of course.

Keep R$500 - R$1000 in your pocket, and a photocopy of your passport, and 1-2 credit cards if you need them. Give the mugger the wad of cash and they'll leave you alone. That's what I do.......in every city in the world I travel to, not just Rio.

DenverBrian

Maybe it's not the safe; maybe it's the Dominican Republic. @:-)

greggarious

my personal belief is that a safe keeps people honest

housekeeping or maintenance might be tempted by stray money on the bedside table, but popping the safe means it'll be obvious it was an inside job, and the hotel would take a repuation hit and the hotel do an investigation.

(Though as DenverBrian pointed out this presumes you're not in a developing area... I trust a safe in Vegas, less so in Bangkok)

That being said, if something is very important (ex: passport) I carry it with me. (Or keep the passport in the safe but carry a passport card... you can easily renew your PP with the card since it's proof of both identity and citizenship). I also tend to carry little cash and withdraw as needed from ATMs, since I have a schwab checking account.

I know we rag on the TSA but "layers of security" is not a bad strategy when properly applied.

frobozzelectric

i swim and scuba with a glock. passport and wallet maybe but firearms no.

Annalisa12

[QUOTE=pindi;29008491]While staying in any hotel internationally, I keep my valuables in my suitcase with my own lock on the suitcase. This includes laptops, any expensive electronic equipment, passports etc. If I have 2 suitcases, I spread the stuff out among the two and lock them both. Of course, someone can walk away with the entire suitcase - but the chances of that happening are slimmer than stuff being stolen from the hotel safe.[/QUOTET

This is one of those things I don't think about because if I do I would never trust anything. I do put money in the safe. I do like to travel with a lot of currency but I realise that if I lose it it is my own fault.

A friend was telling me how she had money missing. She said just a few notes here and there were taken so it wasn't instantly apparent it was gone. Last trip I put notes in an envelope so it was obvious if some had gone missing. I figure many people in poorer countries can't afford to lose their livelihood for the theft of a few dollars so I hope I'm safe.