Comments on: Hotel room safe thefts

By: Debra

Debra — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 05:36:25 +0000

Whilst staying at the radisson in panwa Phuket with two friends our locked hotel room safe was robbed over two days of au$1000
Hotel management didn’t care nor did the police
The hotel treated us as though we were making it up and didn’t even offer us a meal
We were told it was impossible and that the cleaners were interviewed and proclaimed their innocence
That was it, end of story
They would hardly admit to their crime would they?

By: Thiefhunters in Paradise » Hotel room security check

Thiefhunters in Paradise » Hotel room security check — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 09:38:38 +0000

[...] is the safe safe? We generally feel secure with electronic safes that allow us to key in our own code or swipe our [...]

By: Bambi

Bambi — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 17:26:38 +0000

I guess your solution is a step beyond what I’m willing to do. But it all depends on the valuables you’re traveling with. Luggage handles are a pretty weak link, too. I’d love to know what countries were on your company’s list. And just how did your employer expect you to secure the documents, anyway? Seems they’d give you a solution along with the precious goods. Thanks for your comment.

By: Roger

Roger — Sun, 11 Apr 2010 12:51:06 +0000

It really is pretty difficult. The last couple of years I travelled a fair bit on company business, often carrying confidential documents. (That project is over, and I don’t travel much on business now.) Some hotels no longer allow you to use the hotel’s safe if your room has one of those cheapo el-crapola safes. And in any case, the company security policy tells you not to use the hotel safe in certain foreign countries, because they have an “arrangement” with the industrial espionage section of their national intelligence agency.

On the other hand, as you point out, the new generation of room safes are largely rubbish — able to thwart the lowliest crooked housekeeping maid, perhaps, but you can’t even be sure of that. In fact it seems their main advantage it to shift liability to the customer.

The best solution I have so far is a portable lockbox (similar to your hard-sided suitcases, I guess) with a good Abloy lock, and one of these:
http://www.alarmlocks.com/
with the 6 m / 20 ft cable. After looping around the (very sturdy) handle of my lockbox, my luggage, and an immovable post (usually the toilet) the ends of the cable slot into a little electronic box where they are secured by its locking lid. The box has a 3 digit combination set on thumb-wheels, and also has an ear-shattering alarm and flashing ultra-bright LED strobe which operates if the cable is cut (supposedly: I haven’t actually tested that.)

Unfortunately the whole setup is a clumsy kluge. I’d prefer not to keep my luggage in the bathroom, but most hotel rooms have nothing else sturdy enough to strap the cable to. A three digit combination is also much less than I’d really like when it doesn’t have rate-limiting. (Surely it wouldn’t be hard to make it sound the alarm 5 seconds after pushing the “open” button, unless you had successfully opened the lid and hit the off button?) I really wished I could think of a better way.

Fortunately in my new position I only have to worry about dishonest maids and not industrial spies, and I solve that by travelling light.

By: The Name Of the Game is â€œSituation Awarenessâ€ « Security Beyond Bordersâ„¢

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 23:36:31 +0000