Travel Advice -   Lodging security recommendations                               

People often consider their vacation rooms to be “safe places”. In general, they are but you can help make them safer by observing a few rules.

• Keep your room door locked and bolted (use all the security latches that are available) while you are in the room. If you have a room at a bed and breakfast, make sure that you use the door lock to secure your room at all times. If the security lock in your room locks from the inside with a key, consider keeping your key in the lock, so that you can open the door in case of an emergency (doing so also helps to find the key).

• Do not agree to meet people in your room or at the elevators on your floor.
  •  Meet your visitors in the main lobby. The inconvenience of doing so is far exceeded by the decrease in exposure to potentially dangerous situations.

• Avoid entering elevators if any passenger makes you feel uncomfortable. If the other passengers concern you, take another elevator.
  • Pretend that you have forgotten something, turn around, and walk the other way.

   

• Be vigilant while using stairwells.
  •  If you are alone in a stairwell, be aware of your surroundings. If anything makes you uncomfortable, exit the stairwell immediately.

• Finally, make sure you study the instructions in your room regarding fire safety and the possible need for evacuation.
  • Know how to report a fire, know the location of the nearest two emergency exits.
  • Walk from your room to the nearest exit to familiarize yourself with the “look and feel” of the emergency pathway.
  • Remember, if there is a fire, you may have to crawl through a dark and smoky hallway: note the number of doors between you and the exit.

• If you are staying in a small hotel or a bed and breakfast that does not provide a map of suggested exit routes, plan you own path.
  • Make sure that the door that you will exit from can be opened in emergencies.
   
• If you use the in-room safe, keep it closed at all times.
  • Remove what you need for your next outing when you are ready to leave the room.
  • Although managing your use of the safe is inconvenient, training yourself to do so will ensure that you do not leave the room with the safe unlocked or your valuables scattered around the room.
   

• Remember, costly or irreplaceable valuables should not be taken on vacations.
  • If you are traveling with “real” valuables, check to see if the hotel has a “real” safe. The in-room safes are designed to foil only those who would casually steal objects that they see (primarily hotel staff) and do not stand a chance against a real thief.

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