Hotel oddity #6

The useless chain latch in my room at Miami's Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel.
The useless chain latch in my room at Miami's Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel.

See anything wrong with the chain lock on this door at Miami’s Radisson Mart Plaza Hotel? It’s mounted backwards! Upside-down. It’s useless this way and, worse, gives a false sense of security. Another serious security risk.

Do all the rooms have useless chain latches, or only our room, 612? A polite letter to management brought only a generic “We appreciate your recent message.”

door-chain-upsidedown

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  1. says: Roger

    @bobby:
    No — if you blow up the pix, you can see that the screws are regular Philips heads.

  2. says: bobby

    Aren’t the screws similar to what you see on a public toilet – – “one way” slotted or ramp screws that you can put in but can’t take out?

  3. says: Bambi

    Good point, Roger. I hadn’t thought of the possibility that the chain lock was intentionally installed (or switched to) upside down with malice aforethought.

  4. says: Roger

    The interesting thing is that it is quite easy for a staff member or previous guest to have modified the lock in this was so they could re-enter. Only takes 5 minutes and a screwdriver (or even a butter knife.) Because most people have so little understanding of security and lock mechanisms, it might stay that way for a while before anyone noticed.

    Thus this might be an indication of a deliberate attempt to rob sleeping guests.

    On the plus side, if you can’t getting any interest from management, it would be equally easy to repair it yourself; if it switches back again during your stay, you KNOW you’ve got a problem!!

  5. says: Rick

    ‘Perhaps a new type of hotel review site with things from a security perspective could be a good (and necessary) idea?’

    Slow to wake up today – you already have that site! OK bedtime now… ;)

  6. says: Rick

    Actually if I’d first read your entire post… Perhaps a new type of hotel review site with things from a security perspective could be a good (and necessary) idea?