As people usually said “safety first”, safety is always a big concern while you are travelling away from home. Although most people take care of themselves very good with many types of protection, they seem to consider their belongings less serious.
Some people don’t realize that some few seconds is what it takes for thieves to finish their mission. A theft can only success with the stupefaction element in it and thieves always catches us by surprise.If we don’t have any precaution, we deserve blames for being careless and lead to the thieves have their chance to steal our properties.
Cases being reported the most are theft happen in hotels. Travelling usually comes up with relaxation, which will make you letting your guard down and create opportunities for thieves. The funny thing is that you usually notice about your loss until you come back home.
Here are some tips for you to prevent hotel room theft. You don’t have to apply all of these tips, choose some that suitable the most for you to get rid of worries and enjoy your vacations.
1. Lock your luggage
Put all your important things in your luggage and lock it with a TSA safe lock, which can easily be found on Amazon with an affordable price. It’s been proven that keeping your valuables out of sight dramatically reduces theft.
You can also consider locking your luggage/ backpack to an unlovable item or a large awkward object if there isn’t an unmovable object. An example would be a chair. Imagine someone trying to take your luggage with a chair tied to it! Fantastic deterrent.
2. Put the “do not disturb” sign on the door when you’re away
When you’re about to leave your room, put out your “do not disturb” sign. It simple tells the world that you are in your room, even though you’re not. This is one of the easiest ways to keep maids, cleaners, and anyone else from entering your room.
3. Use the safe in your room
Some may disagree with me on this, but I like to use the safe in my room if I feel it’s good. If I am staying in a decent hotel, I almost always use the safe (they tend to have high quality safe).
The problem with hotel safes is the hotel always has a way to get into it in case they need to (like when you forget your passcode). They will always have a spare key for safe that require keys, too. You’ll have to use your judgement.
4. Leave the TV on
Don’t blast it, but leave it on loud enough so if someone is outside your door, they can hear it. Just like leaving your “do not disturb” sign out while your away, people will think you are in your room when they can hear your TV.
5. Leave the light on
This is more important if you have a window or a balcony. Lights on signals you’re home. Yes, you’re wasting energy… but you’ve paid for your hotel and security is more important than the hotels energy bill, right?
6. Use tamper evident tape
Tamper evident tape is often used in shipping items of importance. You can use this tape to seal valuable things, like a luggage lock, safes that require a key to open, or zippers on your bags/ luggage.
You can quickly see if your stuff has been tampered with when you get back in your room. It may not prevent your stuff from being stolen, but you’ll easily know if someone been rifling through your belongings. Tamper evident tape is inexpensive and not much space consuming in your luggage.
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7. Take your valuables with you
If you’re in a hotel that is really low end or doesn’t even have a safe, you may want to consider taking your valuables with you. If for any reason you don’t trust the security of your room, take your valuables with you when you leave your room.
I’d really consider getting a money belt because there is nothing safer than having your valuables right against your body and out of sight. You can keep your wallet, passport, credit cards, etc in there.
8. Don’t leave your valuables visible
What do you think your maid thinks when she comes into your room and see’s your laptop on the table, passport and money on the night stand, and camera on the bed? They’re probably thinking WOW, this person is pretty trusting (or stupid). This is a HUGE no no. It’s the same thing as keeping your valuables out of sight in your car. If they can’t see it they probably won’t steal it.
9. Don’t leave your room in a mess
This is something I’m super guilty of sometimes, especially in a room with a few people on an all-inclusive vacation. We leave everything out everywhere. Pants here, shirt there, camera in the bathroom, laptop beside my bed. It makes it really difficult for your room cleaner to clean your room.
Next thing you know, your camera is missing. Your room is so messy, maybe you misplaced it? Or did the maid actually take it? YOU MAY NEVER KNOW! Keeping your room helps you keep track of your belongings, and helps your maid, too.
10. Use a cable lock
Cable locks come in all shapes and sizes, and you can wrap it something important, like your laptop. You can also tie it to something that will be hard to take out of the room, like a table or maybe your luggage. Plus, they can’t get into your laptop with it on. If you’re not sure what a cable lock is, Kensingtonis a great brand for you to choose.
11. Request your room to not be cleaned
If nobody has a reason to come into your room…. well, then they don’t have a reason to come in! When I rented an apartment in Barcelona, the maids would only come into my room when we requested it to be cleaned. I loved that. First, I’m not messy (so it doesn’t need to be cleaned), and I don’t want them in my room anyways (less of a chance something goes missing).
12. Close the blinds and windows
Most people naturally do this for privacy reasons, but the safety reason is that you don’t advertise yourself in any way. Are you in your room? Who knows. Is there a pattern you display (like you’re always back by 6 p.m.?) Who knows…. The less predictable you are the better.
13. If your room key hands visibly in the lobby don’t return it
This is more for hostels than hotels, but I’ve noticed some hostels have room keys that hang on the wall at the front desk. Basically, it advertises to the world that YOU’RE NOT IN YOUR ROOM when your key is visibly hanging there. That’s really bad. If this is your hotel/hostel, just take your key with you when you leave.
14. Hide valuables in obscure places
If you don’t trust your safe or you’re staying in a place that doesn’t have a safe, your next best place to hide your valuable items is your luggage. But don’t put them in an obvious place, like a zipper compartment. Wrap your credit cards & money in a ziplock bag and put it inside a bag of chips. Then put that bag of chips in a jacket pocket. Anyone that pulls that out will assume it’s just a bag of chips.
Wrap jewelry into a pair of socks that you can roll into a ball (just remember what colour the socks are!) Just make it extremely difficult for anyone who rifles through your stuff. The extra deterrence makes a huge difference.
15. Don’t invite people into your room
I find stuff seems to go missing more often when more people come into my room.
Sometimes it just gets misplaced and someones I just have no clue what happened to my jacket! Don’t trust everyone, even if they seem really nice and pleasant. Only allow people in your room who actually need to be there, like the room cleaners or the guy who’s coming to open your safe because you messed it up.
16. Tip your maid
What kind of a maid would steal from someone who just generously gave her money? A SICK MAID!
Not saying this will never happen, but it’s got to take an incredibly terrible person to do this (or someone who’s really desperate).
Regardless, not only will your room be super clean and your bathroom/fridge well stocked, bathroom smelling great, and anything else room cleaners can do, you’ll get a warm smile if you catch your maid as you leave your room. That’s always heart warming.
Oh, and trust me, your maid will remember you. And if she see’s anything funky going on, like some random dude trying to get into your room, she’ll almost feel obligated to alert security.
Do you have a hotel theft experience you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments below!
This article is summarized by Modoho — a trusted agency in Ho Chi Minh city. If you need any help from a local expertise with free searching services (only landlord have to pay) feel free to contact us. Here is some listing for you:
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