pseudo safe
Sep 1, 2012 | 5:57 pm
#16
Join Date: Jan 2005
Location: ORD, JFK, EWR, LGA
Programs: AA Lifetime Platinum, Air Canada Aeroplan, Delta Sky Miles
Posts: 213
Depending on what state the hotel is in, the hotel is taking a big risk. Although not required to provide them by law, the innkeeper laws in many states protect the hotel from being responsible for items stolen from guest rooms ONLY if they provide free safe deposit boxes at the front desk. That's why even the lowest, least-amenity-providing roadside motels almost always provide free safe deposit boxes at the front desk: by doing so, they invoke the protection of state law against being responsible for in-room thefts.
When I was at that hotel in New Jersey, I thought that the hotel could have some liability since the usual and customary in-room posting of the Hotel's maximum daily rate, check out time, etc. included an admonishment to secure valuables in a safe deposit box at the front desk, but there were no such boxes available - or so the hotel said!
After that stay, I wondered if the hotel might have directed their staff to discourage any guests from utilizing the safe deposit boxes for some strange reason. It just didn't seem right that a newly re-branded and remodeled Crowne Plaza near NYC wouldn't have safe deposit boxes for use by their guests.
Furthermore, I understand that the hotel changed hands and re-opened as a Crowne Plaza several months prior to my visit, so it wasn't like I was there the first week they opened and the safe deposit boxes weren't installed yet.
Sep 1, 2012 | 8:19 pm
#17
Join Date: Apr 2012
Programs: United 1K, Marriott Platinum
Posts: 835
When I was at that hotel in New Jersey, I thought that the hotel could have some liability since the usual and customary in-room posting of the Hotel's maximum daily rate, check out time, etc. included an admonishment to secure valuables in a safe deposit box at the front desk, but there were no such boxes available - or so the hotel said!
After that stay, I wondered if the hotel might have directed their staff to discourage any guests from utilizing the safe deposit boxes for some strange reason. It just didn't seem right that a newly re-branded and remodeled Crowne Plaza near NYC wouldn't have safe deposit boxes for use by their guests.
Furthermore, I understand that the hotel changed hands and re-opened as a Crowne Plaza several months prior to my visit, so it wasn't like I was there the first week they opened and the safe deposit boxes weren't installed yet.
After that stay, I wondered if the hotel might have directed their staff to discourage any guests from utilizing the safe deposit boxes for some strange reason. It just didn't seem right that a newly re-branded and remodeled Crowne Plaza near NYC wouldn't have safe deposit boxes for use by their guests.
Furthermore, I understand that the hotel changed hands and re-opened as a Crowne Plaza several months prior to my visit, so it wasn't like I was there the first week they opened and the safe deposit boxes weren't installed yet.
Sep 2, 2012 | 12:20 am
#20
Join Date: Jun 2004
Location: Santa Monica, CA
Programs: AA EXP 1MM, DL Silver, HHDmd, MBvLTPLT, PCAmb/Dmd, HYT Exp, WN A-List
Posts: 1,675
The minivan i had in Italy had several steel/metal loops in the floor to run the cable through, so it worked great. I have found a few hotel safes that actually have a metal loop in them as well.
Many years ago I would travel with a steel security cable for my laptop and secure it on my desk when going out in the evening. You can usually find something solid/unbreakable in a hotel room to tie your steel cable to. Not always - but most of the time.
Sep 2, 2012 | 9:55 am
#21
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: IAD, and sometimes OMNI/PR. Currently: not far from IAD, but home will always be SAN (not far from the "touch my junk and I'll have you arrested" Memorial TSA Check Point) even if I'm not there so much these days.
Programs: UA, CO, Calcifer Award for Mad Haiku Skillz
Posts: 5,076
Sep 2, 2012 | 4:05 pm
#22
In Memoriam
Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Easton, CT, USA
Programs: ua prem exec, Former hilton diamond
Posts: 31,801
in barcelona, the safe was locked when we arrived. called front desk. they told us to perform some sequence(i don't remember but wife does) involving enter "0000" twice. safe opened. when in venice, tried the same thing and it worked. as long as one can remember 0000, and the rest of the sequence, seems one can open hotel safes.
if i carred something valuable, like my AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK FORGED CARBON MENS WATCH, i would put it in one of those mesh steel bags, get an ongard u shaped bicycle lock, and attatch it to the plumbing( a water pipe with no shut off valve), or to the steering column of a rental car(course, then the car would be taken).
http://www.onguardlock.com/?page_id=329
i have a bike wheel with one of these locks on it. i'm taking it down to a neighbors to have him cut it with a torch.
if i carred something valuable, like my AUDEMARS PIGUET ROYAL OAK FORGED CARBON MENS WATCH, i would put it in one of those mesh steel bags, get an ongard u shaped bicycle lock, and attatch it to the plumbing( a water pipe with no shut off valve), or to the steering column of a rental car(course, then the car would be taken).
http://www.onguardlock.com/?page_id=329
i have a bike wheel with one of these locks on it. i'm taking it down to a neighbors to have him cut it with a torch.
See this thread
http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/trave...otel-safe.html
and the other thread linked in it for the various ways to open a hotel safe.
