On your travels, you most likely end up staying at a hotel. Regardless of how nice, expensive, or exclusive a hotel is, one thing that can never be guaranteed is your safety. Here are some safety precautions to keep in mind when you check into a hotel, just so you can make your stay a little more secure.
Keep your original passport with you at all times
When you check in, the hotel staff will ask for your passport. Always remember that they are not allowed to hold your passport any longer than to just make a copy for their filing use. It should be returned to you immediately after.
Never say your room number out loud
It’s difficult for a hotel to keep track of whether or not the people on their premises are guests. Some hotel lobbies are hot beds for thieves, conmen, and the like, so you’ll never know who is milling about, watching out and listening in for their next victims. Keep your room number to yourself, and if you do have to inform a companion of it, do so discreetly. Also, never give out your room number to strangers.
Walk the map
When you check into the hotel, there is usually a card that shows the map of the hotel. Go and walk the map yourself. Explore the hotel layout, make mental notes of any obstructions, renovations, landmarks, signs, and the like. Most importantly, make mental notes of stairwells and other exits in case of an emergency.
Never discuss personal matters in a lift
Just like the previous point, people riding the elevators in hotels can’t always be guaranteed to be guests. When moving between floors in the elevators, keep personal chatter and also interactions with strangers to a bare minimum, if at all.
Check the room
When you are entering your room for the first time, leave the door open and check the room. Start from the bathroom and then do a full sweep of the space. Check that nothing is there which is not supposed to be there, open all closets to make sure nobody is hiding in there, and give under the bed a quick look.
