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Hotel safety tips: How to choose the best hotel room, best hotel location

by Melanie Nayer (RSS feed) on Mar 29th 2010 at 12:00PM

When it comes to your safety, hotels can be your best source of security while traveling. While hotels are constantly making improvements to improve their safety, there's nothing worse than discovering your passport has been stolen or your laptop is broken thanks to a disabled door lock and a fast thief.

While you're searching for your next hotel, keep these safety tips top of mind.

What makes a safe hotel:

Never compromise your safety for a dollar. A great deal on hotel room can certainly cushion you budget, but it's worthless if the hotel is in a bad neighborhood or isn't up to code on things like door locks and surveillance cameras. Once you find the right location, narrow down your hotel choices by taking into consideration the following:

Is each room equipped with a dead bolt lock and a peephole?
Does the hotel room have an electronic guest room lock? Key locks are cute and add a bit of charm, but electronic doors track the comings-and-goings of all who enter.
Do the hotel rooms have a telephone enabled with emergency call button or the ability dial outside of the hotel?
Do photos of the hotel show well-lit hallways, parking garages and lobby areas? (Side note: never book a hotel without viewing pictures first).
Hotels with limited entry/exit options usually have less foot-traffic, which keeps stragglers off the premises.
Does the hotel provide 24-hour concierge/security? Knowing someone is on duty at all times allows for peace of mind if you're feeling unsafe.
Before booking a hotel room in an international destination, make sure it's in a safe area by checking with the US Embassy in that country.

When arriving at your hotel:

Stay with your luggage at all times. If a bellman offers to take your bags, make sure to keep the bag with your laptop, wallet and jewelry in it, and get the Bellman's name.
Once you check in, grab a few hotel cards or matchbooks with the hotel's address on it and place them in your bag. If you get lost, you have the address and phone number ready to give to a cab driver.

Selecting the safest hotel room:

While the higher floors have the best views, the lower floors have quicker access to the ground. In the event of an emergency, you want to get out fast. Keep in mind that some fire departments, including those in the United States, can only reach as high as floor 8 in an emergency.
Whenever possible, do not take a hotel room on the ground floor if it has doors and windows that open to the outside. This is particularly important for motels with rooms off parking lots. If you can't get a room on a higher floor, forgo your view and choose a room facing the interior or courtyard.
Guestrooms near the elevators are generally the safest, but can also be the noisiest. If you're staying alone, request that your room is in the middle of the hallway or near an elevator - while the alcoves and corner rooms are very intimate and offer great views, they are also somewhat hidden making it easier for thieves to access.

After arriving in your room, check for the following:

If the hotel room you're staying in has older door locks (metal keys instead of the electronic key cards) make sure to check the deadbolt and safety chain when you arrive in your room. If they seem jittery or loose, ask to change rooms.
Check the closets and bathrooms for anything left from the last guests and ensure all windows and adjoining doors shut and lock properly.
Check the phone to make sure an outside line is accessible.
Locate the nearest fire exit and count how many doors along the way until you reach the exit. In the event of a fire and heavy smoke, counting the doors will ensure you get to safety if you can't see.

When you leave your hotel room:

Leave the television on - it gives the impression someone is in the room. Ask the maid service to keep the TV on or turn on the radio during turn-down service.
The 'please make up my room' sign is also code for 'I'm not here'. Don't worry about making your bed or needing clean towels - maid service keeps track of the rooms and what's been cleaned, so they'll get to you regardless of whether you have the sign on your door. If you don't need your room serviced, place the "Do not disturb" sign on your door when you leave. This gives the impression you're inside.
If you have valuables and don't have an in-room safe, ask to use the security vault in the hotel. If you have an in-room safe, use it!

Now that you're armed with the best hotel safety tips, get out of your room and enjoy your trip!

Gallery: Amusing Safety Signs

Gallery: Top ten historic hotels from around the world - compiled by Trivago

Filed under: Hotels and Accommodations, Women's Travel

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Reader Comments (Page 3 of 3)

seanie Apr 5th 2010 12:35AM

to the guy in key west = are you a gay? lots of the gays stay in key west and you might have given your key to another gay guy. the gays in key west are pretty hot but they have no morals ...

michael Treptow Apr 7th 2010 2:19PM

Ahh, an other Douche Bag

Betty Apr 5th 2010 1:06AM

A Salisbury Holiday Inn across from the hospital was accomodating when I asked to change rooms. The interconnecting door between our room and another could not be locked from our side. They sent a maintainance person to check and he said it wasn't a quick fix item but not to worry because the adjoining door was locked.Duh! We explained we were not worried about being locked out from the other room but rather we wanted to lock the adjoining room out of ours. He called down and helped us go to a new room.
Another hint, use a portable door alarm which emits a piercing noise if someone enters when you are sleeping. It gets everyone's attention.
Only get one key card. Less chance of it being lost. Also puts responsibility on one person to know the coming and going of everyone belonging in that room. Not always convenient but that's what safety is about, making it inconvenient for would be thieves or other intruders.
Going for ice? Lock door upon going and use key card to enter. Never leave door ajar even for a quick trip to get ice.
Do not send any age child off wandering halls or riding up and down the elevator for entertainment, even if they are driving you crazy. Others do not want to be disturbed and no one wants your child to be molested or abducted.

cholo Apr 7th 2010 9:13PM

I'm a housekeeper and we love 'Do not disturb signs'. That means 1 less room on my route to do. We change towels, make up beds, throw garbage away, we don't pick up dirty diapers from the floor, tags from new clothing, food from the floor...Helloooo that's what a garbage can is for. Put it ALL in there and they will get cleaned. Garbage can is 2-5 feet away from you and you don't have a decency to put those annoying tags in them. You want your bed made then remove all personal items off the bed. including underwear (clean or dirty), laptops, etc.. if they are on there it won't get done. Not all hsekprs are illegals, including me.... The next time I'm a guest at a hotel, I will treat the housekeepers with respect and thank them ($$$) for their backbreaking work... you try making up 40-50 beds, 20 or so toilets, kitchens a day and see if by the end of the day u are not cranky...

Tree Apr 5th 2010 3:42AM

UGH!!!! the more I read these comments the more I come to realize how ignorant people really are these days. Mexico is part of NORTH AMERICA, no one said it was part of the United States of America. When I travel I never leave empty cans or cups laying around on the counters, all the garbage goes in the trash, towels are in a pile on the bathroom floor housekeeping staff is NOT my personal servant they are there to keep "the house" (hotel) tidy. I have never had anything stolen from my room, but here is an idea don't leave valubles in your room. The reason you brought them with you in the first place is because you didn't want to leave them home when you weren't there....not safe...DUH....Now as for the "illegal immigrant issue" show me any pure bred white person willing to work as hard as these housekeepers work for the same pay and long hours....oh wait they are too busy collecting disability and making money would mess up their welfare payments.....Nuff said....

PS I am a pure bred white girl.....

cholo Apr 7th 2010 9:20PM

i love you...very well said

gr8bsn Apr 5th 2010 5:59AM

I used to work graveyard shifts in a hotel. I've worked in nice areas, ghetto areas, and everything in-between. Here's a few tips from someone who's seen the worst of it (from 11pm-7am):

1. NEVER EVER stay in a hotel that accepts cash at check-in. Customers who don't have credit cards tend to smoke in non smoking rooms (or non smoking hotels), trash the room, make the most noise, and throw parties. Whenever I had to call the cops (quite frequent during the night audit, even in good areas), it was usually a cash customer. Also, most people don't realize this but there are a lot of transient types out there who literally live in hotels. They pack 12 people in a room designed to sleep 2, pay cash day to day, never get turn-down service, and NEVER LEAVE! When they're gone, they've cost the hotel a few thousand in clean up bills and there's no way to recover the cost. Thankfully, most hotels require CREDIT CARDS (not debit cards) to secure the room at check-in. This means that the transients, partiers, and other trashy types go to the trashy hotels.

2. NEVER LEAVE ANYTHING IN YOUR CAR! If you're stupid enough to leave a $1500 mac book and a $2000 projector on the seat of your car overnight, you DESERVE to have it stolen! Crooks go to hotel parking lots EVERYWHERE! The first thing they look for are cars with "fleet" plates on them. That means rental and rental = idiot out-of-towner.

3. You get what you pay for. A limited service hotel (which is anything under 4 stars typically) is just that. Overnight, there's usually only 1 person working on the property and he/she can NOT leave the desk for any reason. There's typically no security. If you want to be safe, then you need to pay for a place that has a guard on the premises all night.

4. Don't freak out if you see cops hanging out at the hotel. They're there to stop bad guys remember? Where I worked, the cops used to stop by all the time to use the bathroom and get coffee. They also used our lobby to fill out reports and make phone calls because we were centrally located. Cops like to hang out in hotels after hours for these reasons.

Use common sense.