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[OneLittleSpark]

Originally Posted by WillCAD

Hey guys, just an observation:

Hotel thieves have a system, a ritual they go by when they enter a room.

First, they enter and leave quickly; sticking around even a few minutes exposes them to discovery. So they grab whatever is loose and bolt.

Second, they know the common places where people "hide" valuables - under the bed, under clothes in the drawers, and inside luggage. They automatically and quickly check these places.

Third, they know that you would not lock your suitcase unless you had something inside it worth stealing. So when they see a locked suitcase, they know there is something valuable there, and will often just take the whole suitcase. After all, locks or not, any soft-sided suitcase or bag can be easily cut open with a pocket knife, so all they need to do is get it into a private place.

So, how to you improve the safety of your stuff?

A) Don't take too many valuables on vacation with you. Jewelry? Leave it home. Cash? Leave it in the bank and only take out a few hundred at a time. Electronics? Take only what you really, really need.

B) Don't think that "hiding" stuff under the bed, in drawers, or in your luggage makes you any safer; not only does it not make you safer, it actually makes it much easier for hotel thieves to find and take your stuff.

C) Lock up anything that fits in the room safe - iPods, phones, cash, jewelry, spare credit or debit cards, passports, and ANYTHING that has your ID info on it (identity thieves work in hotels, too).

D) Lock up your laptop with a steel cable. Don't lock it to furniture - furniture breaks, moves, and is not secure. Lock it, at minimum, to the wire shelves in the vanity area (I like to weave the cable in and out among multiple tines of the shelf).

E) Keep your room clean. The cleaner it is, the less time housekeeping will spend in it, and the less chance you'll have of being a target of a hotel thief.

F) Keep your stuff out of sight. Close curtains, put your stuff out of sight behind furniture, etc., and make the room look unoccupied; a thief might pass by a room that looks like someone just checked out, because there isn't anything worth stealing in an unoccupied room.

None of these things will make you COMPLETELY safe, but put them all together, and you decrease your likelihood of being a victim of a hotel thief.

Good tips! I am one of those people that thinks everyone is out to steal from me, I don't bring anything that would be worth stealing, I lock in the safe any $$ I don't need with me as well as meds., and I hate leaving my stuff with bell services. I try to avoid it if I can, just like DME, I always get my bags and bring them. I figure one, that's just one more set of hands handling your stuff and without you present. Second, I feel like it would be easier and direct if something happened. I imagine that in a bad situation, noone would take responsibility. The airline can't take responsibility when DME had your bags before you saw them, so who did the damage/theft....airline or DME you can't say. Same for DME in reverse.

I'd like to trust people, sadly I do not. Even Disney, this is the one part of the trip I remember that all the CM's at Disney, even characters, are real human people. It's all I can do to trust bell services...when I have too!