Question of the Day - 18 June 2023

I've used room safes dozens of times.  Never a break-in.  

Years ago the 'safe' was behind the registration desk, they gave you a key with the safe number on it, etc.  I did that once and realized how UNSAFE that process was.  

I used travelers cheques once, felt how unsafe that practice was as people behind/around me could observe those transactions, the clerk counting out the cash to me.  Not much different from receiving cash at the cage, very public.

Candy

The hotels I worked in had the “safe” safe in the main office. These were more secure than room safes. Room safes are used at your own risk. Items put in hotel safe are now their responsibility if anything happens.

don't take excess valuables and make sure the door locks when you leave

I started to use a hotel safe at a nice hotel in New York City.  Then I noticed that it wasn't anchored to anything--a thief could just walk in and take the entire unit! Before you use an in room safe make sure it is held down securely. Also, I agree with Kageyinprescott--many hotels post that they only take responsibility for items stored in the hotel's safe deposit box located by the front desk, so if you are concerned about valuables I would take them downstairs!

"Unauthorized penetration" sounds like something Donald Trump will soon be indicted for.

	
Kevin LewisJun-18-2023
Terminology
"Unauthorized penetration" sounds like something Donald Trump will soon be indicted for.

Evidently, David Miller has run out of Preparation H...again.

As far as I can see on the internet, the Bloxsafe device is no longer available. The last time they posted on their Twitter page was 2017, and the website is available for purchase. Too bad, that one looked like the easiest to use and most secure.

I've had my share of room safes requiring service of some sort. It's always been maintenance (often two employees, and the guest has to be in the room) to show up with an electronic device that interfaces with the safe. It's that device that allows them to open the safe. 

I've never, ever seen anyone show up and simply type in a master code, and certainly not a bellman (I was a bellman in college....we didn't even have the master room keys that housekeeping had, much less an untraceable means of opening room safes). That type of thing is the province of maintenance and security.

I had one time where my room safe's battery failed. Two maintenance workers showed up with hammers and crow bars and took about 45 minutes to open it. So, the safes themselves are quite  hardened from break-in. Of course, as noted by a commenter earlier, if the safe isn't bolted to anything, a thief could simply take the entire safe and force it open elsewhere.

I checked into a casino hotel a couple of months ago and found the room safe locked when I entered my room.  I called the front desk and they sent the maintenance guy.  He punched in a code and opened it then left.  It worked fine after that.  

In the mid-2000's, I stayed at Harrah's Laughlin, and put items in my room safe. I normally only take my club card and a chunk of cash when I go down to play VP. Later, say, for dinner, I will take my credit card out of the safe, to use if I'm paying for dinner that can't be covered by casino cash/comps. When I checked out, I inadvertently forgot to check the safe carefully, and left something black-colored. On the drive home, I remembered it. I called and asked if they could get the item out of the safe, and they said they could not, because there was no way to do it without breaking the safe apart. They did NOT have a master code. So maybe there was a brand of safe that just didn't have that feature. I know that keeping things in the casino cage's lockboxes is better than in the safe in your room, but I don't like the rigmarole of having to take the time to deal with the line at the cage. So I use the room safe for ease and speed. I've never had anything stolen.

There's a reason why you should not use your room safe on the night before you check out. What if there's a power failure?  There will be no way to get into your safe via your 4-digit code or any master code. If they don't get the power back on in time, you might not be able to get your valuables out of the safe in time for your flight or bus home. And every hotel guest will ask the hotel to break open their safe so they can get their things, but the hotel won't be able to do them all right away. With only a couple of personnel qualified to break safes open, they can't. What reason would they have to do your safe before everybody else's? (Unless you're a whale.) So I bring along a small sturdy plastic bag; on my last night, I put my wallet & cash, etc. in it, and put it between my mattress and box spring, several inches in, so if anyone were to enter my room, they couldn't just take my valuables while I'm asleep. They'd have to wake me up to try to check the bed for valuables.

On one trip to Vegas I forgot to empty the room safe of several thousand dollars in jewelry and cash when I left. I realized that at the airport so I called hotel security. The lady to whom I spoke was very helpful. She asked me for a description of what I left in the safe and the code I used to access it. She said she would send two security officers to my room to check the safe, and that if the code opened it and the contents were as I described them the security officers would bring the contents back to the security office. When I got home I called her again and she said that the security officers had found exactly what I described in the safe and thus had emptied it and brought the contents to the security office. She said they would be glad to FedEx my valuables to be at my expense. I gladly paid the FedEx charges and received my valuables two days later. I was very lucky and I learned my lesson. I've used room safes dozens of times since then and I've never forgotten to empty it!

Al, I have never seen a room safe that was 120 volt powered. I have only seen units that run on batteries. I have had to call to have batteries replaced, which they can do in some safes without opening the doors, as the battery usually dies, Murphy's Law, when the safe is locked with your stuff in it.

A few years ago we stayed at the Bellagio where a sign was affixed to the safe warning about the potential for suffocation inside the safe.  We concluded it was intended for anyone who traveled with their pet mouse.

Michael wrote" "I checked into a casino hotel a couple of months ago and found the room safe locked when I entered my room. I called the front desk and they sent the maintenance guy. He punched in a code and opened it then left. It worked fine after that."
I worked LV casino security for years and often had to open locked safes. A locked safe, found by a new room occupant, may well have been empty but could also have contained illegal drugs, stolen passports, $10,000 in cash, or loaded firearms. "A maintenance guy" should never have been allowed to open that alone. We needed to work in pairs and, since there are no cameras in guest rooms, we had to report our actions and findings via radio simultaneously to Security Control and Surveillance.
My wife and I took our first cruise earlier this year. Never thought twice about keeping passports, extra money, etc. in the room safe. Now, I wonder what alternatives we have? Cruise ships don't have a front desk safe safe like hotels.