Detective Kevin Coffey is the founder of Corporate Travel Safety, has some great information to share on travel and how to assess and safety use hotel safes. I found this very valuable and now make sure to check the type of safe I use and always store larger valuables in the front desk safe at the hotel. While none of this is revolutionary, it is common sense solutions to safety concerns. Do you have any other suggestions for keeping your valuables safe while traveling?
Leaving and securing valuables in your hotel room
• Obviously store any valuables in your in-room safe. Know that before you get to your hotel, in-room safes vary in size and all of your larger valuables like your laptop or tablet may not fit. If you items won't fit, consider using the hotel front desk guest safes, as many times they are larger.
• Know that in many hotels, the in-room safes are not covered by the hotel's insurance - some hotel guest contracts state that valuables are only provided insurance coverage when they are only secured at the front desk safe.
• If your room safe won't hold all of your valuables, and you don't want to use the front desk safe, there are several different sizes of portable travel safes that a traveler can take with them when on the road. Here are a variety of portable travel safes to consider. • If you don't use any type of safe, make sure you bring luggage equipped with locks, so you can secure your valuables inside. Remember out of sight - out of mind.
• Keep luggage without locks zipped closed and out of sight. If you leave your luggage unzipped or open and on your bed or the floor, you invite tampering. Re-pack your luggage daily as extensively as you can and keep it hidden inside a wardrobe, closet or under the bed to lessen the chances of someone finding it and stealing from it.
Hotel Safe Considerations
• Depending on the type and age of your hotel, typically safes which let you select your own combination are safer than room safes with keys that may have had keys copied by dishonest hotel employees.
• Some travelers report that their credit card numbers may have been compromised by someone who may have entered their hotel safe and copied down their numbers. This is very hard to prove. Some travelers place their credit cards in a sealed envelope in their hotel room safe so they can tell if this has occurred.
• Research your hotel online - TripAdvisor.com is a great research site - look for terms such as theft from hotel room safes or related comments. Here is a link to give you an idea of some travelers' comments on the theft of items from their hotel safes overseas. Unfortunately in some hotels, dishonest employees use master keys to remove items from your hotel safe when you are away. This tens to be a larger problem outside the United States.
• If you want a higher level of security for your room safe, consider purchasing your own personal hotel safe lock that lets you place your own lock on your safe. Only one hotel safe lock is on the market today to allow you to better safeguard your safe's valuables.
