tdelano

Is it safe to use hotel room safe for cash and passports in London and Edinburgh?

grrr

Depends on the hotel...

cafegoddess

We always use it and have had no problems. I always take everything out the night before we leave.

dutyfree

This is a flight attendant tip-Always leave one of the shoes that you plan to wear the next day in the safe so you remember to get all of your valuables out before you leave.

NewbE

We always use the room safe for valuables, including passports, and yes, my biggest fear is leaving stuff behind! Good tip, dutyfree.

nytraveler

we never put anything in the safe -but carry passports with us - and don't carry other valuables.

If anything happens to it I would want to know right away - not find out 4 or 5 days later when you are ready to leave the country.

And nothing ever has happened - in more than 100 trips.

dugi_otok

We were traveling with another coupleseveral years ago and were staying at a well known large American chain hotel in Budapest. Our friends went down to the front desk and asked the clerks how to use the room safe.Later we went out to dinner. When we got back they found their room safe broken into and the contents stolen. Gone were passports,airplane tickets, and money.The police told my friends that it frequently happens at that hotel. The hotel was nice about it,with transportation to embassy(replace passports) and airline office(replace tickets), and also gave them the cash they lost. They also gave them a personal guided tour of the city.
So it does happen.

spaarne

<i>nytraveler on Jul 5, 14 at 2:42pm
we never put anything in the safe -but carry passports with us - and don't carry other valuables.</i>

Ditto. I leave my laundry in the room but never passport, cash, or credit cards.

Bokhara2

I had an interesting experience with a hotel safety box in a hotel Asia. In common with a number of hotels, they had a safe room with all the safety deposit boxes in it. The Duty Manager has the key to the room and one of the two locks on the box.

I had box no. 706, but mistakenly read the key tag as 708. Guess what? My key opened that box. And 705 and 706 & 707. I stopped at 4.

That was an interesting discussion with the GM. I use my own locks & steel cable ties these days.

annhig

If anything happens to it I would want to know right away - not find out 4 or 5 days later when you are ready to leave the country.>>

we use the hotel safe when available as we feel safer leaving passport etc in there than in my handbag, especially in places like Barcelona. As we use it for DH's i-pad, spare credit cards etc, we tend to open it several times a day so there is no chance of not seeing that something was missing.

As for keys, the only room safes I've ever seen/used have a keypad for a number which you programme yourself, so no need for keys.

in the end this is one decision you have to make for yourself.

ParisAmsterdam

Try this link to YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...otel+room+safe

Now decide just how safe these things are. ;^(

Pegontheroad

I left credit cards in the hotel safe--not the room safe. I was 100 miles or so away when I remembered them. It worked out all right because I was staying at my next destination for a month, so I had them sent there.

I don't carry anything valuable, except my credit cards and passport, and I now carry them in my money belt.

annhig

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/lost-passports-abroad-cost-brits-5-million-a-year>>

well, HM Gov agrees with me - if you scroll down the link you will see that they specifically mention the risk of theft in places like Barcelona and suggest using the hotel/room safe whenever possible.

but if you want to lug all your docs and valuables around with you everywhere, so be it.

Fra_Diavolo

I always use the room safe and have never had a problem.

janisj

Most people who do use rooms safes . . . have never had a problem

Most people who don't use rooms safes . . . have never had a problem


Folks who swear by room safes know what works for them and those who swear AT rooms safes know what works of them. Anecdotal evidence won't help you one way or the other.

Room safes are totally safe - except when they aren't. So do what you are comfortable doing . . .

Kathie

I have been using room safes for several decades with no problem. Only a few times have I encountered the "safe deposit box room" in a hotel. The first time it was in Cairo, and that was fine as well. A woman in our group lost her key, and they brought in someone to drill the lock for about US$100... fortunately, she found her key before they drilled.

Once in Moorea, there were no safes in the rooms and the hotel had only one large safe. They were glad to put your things into a large envelope and tape and staple it closed. Seemed not so secure to me, but every there did it and so did we with no problems.

So I think that janisj is correct, most people -no matter which option they choose - are just fine.

Dukey1

Once we inadvertently screwed up a room safe combination entry and couldn't get the safe to open up again. We called the front desk and one of those folks came to our room with a list of codes they could use to get the safe to open. They did that and I was glad they were able to do so.

I kept using that safe and have used many others since then. And if this sort of emergency happens again I will be happy knowing that somebody CAN get the thing to open.

annhig

that makes me happy too, Dukey. i have a dread of leaving things behind in the safe but tend to put a lot of things in it so i'm bound to remember that i need my purse/mobile/watch as well as my passport and thus I'm less likely to forget it.

at least that's the theory.