Hotel room safes

[goji]

I need somewhere reasonably secure to store items like a camera, tablet & modest amounts of cash when going out for the night.

As any hotel employee could have access to a hotel safe, I think it's best to only stay at hotels that have a reasonable reputation and check the Trip Advisor reviews before going there. That's because reputation is your only real protection.

Equally, if you definitely have some theft from a hotel room, I think it's doing society a very big favour by sharing it on the internet. Name and shame. That way, hotel owners have some market pressure to keep things in order on their premises. If everyone keeps quiet about theft, it just means more people will become victims.

[arsenal]

This might sound ridiculous and obviously only applies to hotels that have working cctv in the hallways, corridors and on every floor. But I think the safest thing to do with electrical items is to leave them neatly all together in plain sight and preferably plugged in and charging when you go out. This does not apply to cash.
Every theft I have suffered from a hotel room has involved them taking something that was hidden. Out in the open is much safer but remember to leave it neatly arranged.

[scottish-guy]

... coming from... (SG)... who gets a wrong number at his hotel room and runs screaming down the street in terror? I don't think I would hire him for my business...

Tell you who I wouldn't hire - a guy who can't even recall events as reported at the time and who instead invents a new narrative to suit himself:

1. It wasn't a wrong number, the mystery caller fully intended to call my room.
2. I merely went down to reception to ask if anybody has called the room from the front desk perhaps, or if they had put a call through to my room. There was no running down the street or screaming, and I never said there was.

FYI, I subsequently found out EXACTLY who had called the room in the early hours of the morning and immediately we had got back to the hotel, and where they called from - and let me assure you there was no mistake involved.

[Marsilius]

A friend booked in to very well known gay accommodation in Jomtien. He returned after a day out to find that the in-room safe had been ripped from the wall where it had been screwed in (to a wooden base) and has disappeared completely, along with its contents. The safe was found the following day discarded in the streets nearby - minus what had been inside.

Fortunately, as he lives permanently in Thailand he had brought to Pattaya only basics that he could afford to lose. The property management were useless, saying that he must have left his room unlocked when he left for the day (which he denied) and that the safe being ripped from the wall was therefore his own fault.

[christianpfc]

and witnessing a site that chilled me...

So on going through the usual "my safe won't work" - "oh you put in wrong code"

"and witnessing a sight that chilled me"?

So what exactly happened, why couldn't you open the safe?

Related case (mechanical key versus electronics with battery). I once got locked out of my room in hotel in Khon Kaen. Battery was empty, door didn't open with key card. Staff had to climb around balcony to open door from inside.

[fountainhall]

As was reported 3 years or so ago, it's not only guest houses and small hotels where there can be a problem with in-room safes. Joshua Bell, a Grammy Award winning violinist, was giving a concert in Spain performing on his multi-million dollar 1713 Stradivarius violin. Even though he was staying in a 5-star hotel, a thief managed to get into his room, called to the front desk and persuaded the management he was having trouble with his safe, donned a towel as though he had just showered and when the management staff arrived they merely assumed he had to be the rightful occupant - no ID check, nothing. Bell had his laptop, a $38,000 Breguet watch and a ton of cash stolen. I can find no reports that the stolen items were ever discovered.

http://www.tmz.com/2012/03/02/joshua-be ... -burglary/

[Nirish guy]

Sorry Christian my post wasn't very clear - what I meant was I was shocked both by them punching in the master code to all safes in the building right in front of me with no attempt to hide it from me but more importantly j was chilled when I seen what the code actually was - it hour giving it away think 1,2,3,4,6 etc etc !!youd of thought a) they'd hide it from guests (and junior staff) and b) would make it something just a little harder to work out !!! :-(

[scottish-guy]

[youtube:3suj7vca]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JNGI1dI-e8[/youtube:3suj7vca]

[dab69]

just hide the wall safe in back of a rug or tapestry with a scene depicting an historic event
nailed to the wall...

[colmx]

personaly i just put high value things in my suitcase
Opportunistic theft is mostly what happens in Thailand...
And an opportunistic thief (such as a bar boy, or hotel staff or even fellow hotel guests) are very unlikely to walk out the door with a suitcase at strange times outside of check out time without arising suspicions - and will at least be caught on camera