Are hotel room safes safe?

[Fishboy1947]

When traveling we always put our passports, credit cards and cash in the hotel room safe. We only carry one credit card and minimal cash when walking or touring.

 

Just read a thread where it was stated and reinforced that they never leave passports or credit cards in hotel room safe.

 

We will be staying in Venice and Rome, am I naive? Should we not trust room safes?

Edited May 2, 2023 by Fishboy1947

[CruiserBruce]

Used safes in hotels all over the world without any problems. Could you provide a link to the thread, so we can evaluate the issue? Sometimes people misinterpret what the issue is.

[Fishboy1947]

3 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

Used safes in hotels all over the world without any problems. Could you provide a link to the thread, so we can evaluate the issue? Sometimes people misinterpret what the issue is.

Facebook discussion by cruisers. They felt loosing a passport would be catastrophic and the safes have procedures to open them that staffs would be familiar with. No actual problems were noted. Just not feeling secure.

[mom says]

It is my understanding,  from previous articles and threads, that of course there have to be certain people in the hotel who can access the safe. The safe can malfunction.  Codes can be forgotten. Guests may have an issue requiring assistance for various reasons. BUT only a very restricted number of people have this access; usually management or security.

 

The likelihood of theft from a locked hotel safe is small. Less likely than being pickpocketed or robbed, or simply losing something while out and about. The alternative would be packing everything, ALL THE TIME in a moneybelt under your clothes.

 

In over 40 years of international travel, I've never had anything stolen from a hotel  (or ship) safe, nor has anyone I know.

Edited May 2, 2023 by mom says

[capriccio]

5 hours ago, mom says said:

It is my understanding,  from previous articles and threads, that of course there have to be certain people in the hotel who can access the safe. The safe can malfunction.  Codes can be forgotten. Guests may have an issue requiring assistance for various reasons. BUT only a very restricted number of people have this access; usually management or security.

In a half century of travel, that has been our experience:

 

• we couldn't re-open our safe on a ship:  a security officer accompanied the crew member who unlocked it in our presence.  IIRC the battery needed to be replaced.
• something was caught in the safe when it was closed in a hotel so it wouldn't open:  a manager accompanied the maintenance staff who opened it in our presence..
• my DH found an obviously expensive earring in the safe of a Four Seasons suite.  He called the front desk, and two security officers came to retrieve it.  Amazingly they said not one of the previous guests had reported it missing!

[John Bull]

I never get in a tizz when I see just one comment on any given problem or risk, especially when it's "someone told me that ........" or "I read on social media .......", rather than first-hand experience. 

 

A hotel room safe isn't 100% safe, nor can it be. Otherwise every time a guest lost the physical key or forgot the combination the safe would have to be opened with an oxy-acetylene torch 🙄.

But thefts are rare because the culprit can be narrowed down to a handful of staff.

 

But carrying your valuables is more un-safe (or perhaps less-secure would be more accurate) because you need your wits about you all the time, because potential thieves have their well-honed distraction methods, and because - only in extreme circumstances - the mark can be subjected to threats or violence.

Prospects are that the culprit can be narrowed down to the entire population of the city.🙄

Or - much more commonly - something is lost rather than stolen, because folk are absent-minded, they leave their valuables on the cafe table, on the bus, on the shop counter, beach or wherever, or their phone or wallet falls out of their pocket.

 

The OP's post has the potential to be picked up by someone with strong suspicions of hotel safes and passed on to other social media, in which case it will be a second-hand fear of a second-hand fear of probably a previous second-hand fear, and so social media nonsense goes round.

 

Reliable websites are overwhelmingly in favour of using hotel safes rather than carrying stuff around with you (even on under-clothes belts)

And the same is true of cruise crew and websites - there  are a vocal minority who insist on taking their passport ashore everywhere because of the risk of missing their sailaway, even though the incidence of loss or theft ashore is way higher than that of missing a sailaway and there are safeguards against their passport sailing away without them.

 

Best bet is not to even take unnecessary valuables with you when you travel.

 

JB 🙂

[Joebucks]

Anything can happen anywhere. Don't bring stuff that you don't want to lose. I haven't heard of too many people having their passport stolen from their room, but it could happen. What I've heard of more is people who bring hundreds or thousands in cash for whatever reason and have some of that stolen.

[K32682]

I've had a hotel room burgled and the safe broken into. All they got was a credit card that was quickly cancelled, a small amount of cash and a photocopy of my passport. There were several rooms hit along with mine. They didn't get my passport because I was carrying it with me as I usually do when in a foreign country. 

[jsn55]

This is SUCH a discussable subject!  I've read stories about the ease of accessing hotel safes, I remember one from London where they just picked up the safe plus the cabinet and carted it all out it was in with them.  I think the instances are rare, but no question that getting into a safe would be fairly easy for corrupt hotel staff.  Nobody knows for sure, but I've never put anything in a safe.  As most experienced travellers, I never leave home with much that anyone would want.  I like to hide my passport, extra money and laptop 'in plain sight' and have never had an issue.  If I were worried about something, I'd put it in the big hotel safe I guess.

[ExpatBride]

I often travel with expensive antique jewellery, which spends most of the day in my hotel room safe. (knock on wood) I've never had an issue and I don't think twice about it. It's all insured, but it would be irreplaceable and much worse than losing my passport or credit cards to theft. Anything can happen, but the odds are generally against it.

[wowzz]

32 minutes ago, ExpatBride said:

It's all insured, but it would be irreplaceable

OK - someone has to ask. 

If it is irreplaceable,  why on earth would you take it with you on holiday? 

[ldubs]

I think using the hotel safe is a lot better/safer than carrying things around in either Venice or Rome.  

[Mum2Mercury]

15 hours ago, Fishboy1947 said:

Facebook discussion by cruisers. They felt loosing a passport would be catastrophic and the safes have procedures to open them that staffs would be familiar with. No actual problems were noted. Just not feeling secure.

1.  Well, none of us want to experience the loss of a passport.  While catastrophic is too strong a word, it would definitely put a damper on the vacation. 

2.  This fear suggests that the staff would steal from the safe.  While possible, it seems rather unlikely.  

8 hours ago, John Bull said:

... there  are a vocal minority who insist on taking their passport ashore everywhere because of the risk of missing their sailaway, even though the incidence of loss or theft ashore is way higher than that of missing a sailaway and there are safeguards against their passport sailing away without them.

 

Best bet is not to even take unnecessary valuables with you when you travel ... 

Yeah, totally agree:  carrying your passport around opens you to the possibility of loss or pickpocketing.  Sure, sure, you're careful, but thieves do this job every day all day, and they're going to beat someone.  Might be you or me.  

 

On the other hand, it's very easy to read a watch and get back with a safe time buffer.

 

As for valuables, I don't have a whole lot of nice jewelry, but it isn't useful or enjoyable if it stays at home.  

1 hour ago, ldubs said:

I think using the hotel safe is a lot better/safer than carrying things around in either Venice or Rome.  

Definitely.  It's remotely possible that a bad hotel staff member will break into your safe, but it's a whole lot more possible that a thief on the streets will choose you as a victim.  

[ExpatBride]

4 hours ago, wowzz said:

OK - someone has to ask. 

If it is irreplaceable,  why on earth would you take it with you on holiday? 

 

Because I collect jewellery to enjoy it, not to decorate the inside of my safe-deposit box. It's beautiful, unique, and most is 100+ years old, but it's just jewellery 🤷‍♀️

[K32682]

2 hours ago, Mum2Mercury said:

Yeah, totally agree:  carrying your passport around opens you to the possibility of loss or pickpocketing.  Sure, sure, you're careful, but thieves do this job every day all day, and they're going to beat someone.  Might be you or me.  

 

Thieves are lazy. They'll go for the easiest target.  They focus on the inattentive, inebriated or those who don't put a little thought into how to carry their documents securely. Don't be them. 

[slidergirl]

Where I’ve worked, 3 people had access to the master key for the safes:  Front Desk Manager on Duty, Security Manager on duty and Maintenance person on duty.  Only 3 keys and they were tracked.  If we had to go into a safe, always 2 of us went.  I don’t think all that much about not being a safe “safe”.  If I wanted to, I could take a picture of the safe & contents every time I got in there so I’d have a time stamped document.  

Like others said, hotels are not hotbeds of massive thievery.  I’ve traveled and worked in hotels as employee and as guest for decades and haven’t had an issue.  No place I’ve worked in the past 15 or so years has had a safe theft.  

[DCThunder]

Along these same lines, I saw the article at the link yesterday about the reality of "juice jacking" that was going around earlier this year.  This is stealing information or putting malware on your phone from plugging into public charging stations.  The article is somewhat technical, but it's worth a few minutes of your time.

 

Those scary warnings of juice jacking in airports and hotels? They’re mostly nonsense | Ars Technica

 

The TL;DR take away from the article is:  Don't worry about it because it ain't gonna happen.

 

 

[lenquixote66]

We always use the in cabin safe.On our last cruise we were told that we had the option of changing the combination which is what we did .

[K32682]

14 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Where I’ve worked, 3 people had access to the master key for the safes:  Front Desk Manager on Duty, Security Manager on duty and Maintenance person on duty.  Only 3 keys and they were tracked.  If we had to go into a safe, always 2 of us went.  I don’t think all that much about not being a safe “safe”.  If I wanted to, I could take a picture of the safe & contents every time I got in there so I’d have a time stamped document.  

Like others said, hotels are not hotbeds of massive thievery.  I’ve traveled and worked in hotels as employee and as guest for decades and haven’t had an issue.  No place I’ve worked in the past 15 or so years has had a safe theft.  

 

Were these hotels where you worked in North America? I'd be less concerned there than in a developing county. 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2023 by K32682

[donaldsc]

21 hours ago, ExpatBride said:

 

Because I collect jewellery to enjoy it, not to decorate the inside of my safe-deposit box. It's beautiful, unique, and most is 100+ years old, but it's just jewellery 🤷‍♀️

 

Have a cheap copy made and wear them when you travel.  Wear the good stuff at home.

 

DON

[mnocket]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

We always use the in cabin safe.On our last cruise we were told that we had the option of changing the combination which is what we did .

Strange.  Where did you previously have safes that used a set code that you couldn't change?  I've only encountered safes where I was required to enter a code of my choosing when locking the safe.  I'd certainly not feel secure using a safe where I didn't set my own code.  

[lenquixote66]

13 minutes ago, mnocket said:

Strange.  Where did you previously have safes that used a set code that you couldn't change?  I've only encountered safes where I was required to enter a code of my choosing when locking the safe.  I'd certainly not feel secure using a safe where I didn't set my own code.  

I was not aware that I could change the code on prior cruises.

[CruiserBruce]

2 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

I was not aware that I could change the code on prior cruises.

Most hotel and cabin safes we have used you can set a new code every time you lock the safe.

[lenquixote66]

2 hours ago, CruiserBruce said:

Most hotel and cabin safes we have used you can set a new code every time you lock the safe.

Interesting

[slidergirl]

6 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

Were these hotels where you worked in North America? I'd be less concerned there than in a developing county. 

 

 

Yes, they were in the US.   Please provide examples of what you consider developing countries.  Developing does not equal corrupt.