Should we leave our passports in hotel safe or carry them with us in waist band/money belt that fits under our clothing?

In some countries you have to carry picture ID with you at all times. In others not.
Not all hotel safes are safe. Waist belts can be uncomfortable in heat.
Depending on where we are I either leave the passports in my room, not in a safe, or carry them in my (crossbody)bag.
Not a wildly helpful answer, bt basically if you are in a country which requires you to carry your passport at all times, either use a belt or just carry them in your bag, whichever you find more comfortable.
The chances of them being stolen isn't huge.

My passport is always in my cross-body bag. I think moneybelts are uncomfortable, unsightly, and awkward, but if that's what you prefer to use, fine. Even in countries like France where you are required to carry ID, you would normally be permitted a reasonable amount of time to retrieve an ID from, say, a hotel room and present it to the authorities.

IME not recently however some hotels insisted on keeping your passport while you were there -kind of a security deposit - but I always wanted to carry it - you never know what may happen.

You recently stated you have not travelled to Europe for some time. When exactly was that last time and in which countries?
Your post is so out of date or just never happened. The passport is your responsibility. You are required in most European countries to carry it around with you as a form of ID.

This is not the Bronx (1970's style) we are talking about here, we are not talking about Syria either.
So please stop being oh so afraid. Or maybe do not visit "Europe". By that I have no idea of what you mean it has to be said as we have many countries and many nationalities covering that one word.

Some hotels do keep your passport for a while, maybe just overnight in order to register you with authorities or their own paperwork. You can always ask for it back once they have finished with it. I keep my passport in the hotel safe and a photo of it on my iphone in case I loose it.

I honestly don't think too much about this. Sometimes I keep my passport in my purse and other times I leave it in my suitcase in the hotel room.

If you have to carry an essential thing like a passport with you,the waist style money belt will work but is clumsy to access and uncomfortable to wear, especially in hot weather. The neck pouch that hangs under your shirt is easily accessible and much more comfortable. Myself, I leave the passport locked up at the hotel and carry a color photocopy plus my photo ID driver's licence.

I would never wear a money belt around every day with my passport in it. I'd either leave it in the hotel room (in a safe or in my suitcase). Or I'd have it in my purse. If you aren't carrying your passport you do want some form of ID on your person. I also have a "passport card" so keep that with me. Along with a card with my emergency contacts at home. And the business card of the hotel I'm at.

We usually keep them in our day packs so we can produce them if requested by a train inspector (usually in Switzerland). In other countries we don't give it much thought.

I find money belts uncomfortable and though I use a cross-body bag, they don’t seem as theft-proof to me as I wish for valuables. So I have travel clothes (shirts, pants, skirts) with inconspicuous zipper pockets where I tuck passport, cash & credit cards except what I’ll need for the day. Everything is sort of scattered around me so no bulges nor all in 1 place should sticky fingers find 1 (though never in many travel years). I also have a pin-in pocket I made for myself for clothes without zip pockets, pins inside my waistband, passport size and as secure as a money belt without the belt.

I keep the passport with me when I have reason to believe that I might be required to present it (e.g., when checking in) and keep it in a shoulder-holster-style under-clothing pouch at other times -- as noted above, if asked to produce it, you can usually go to a restroom to retrieve it. I also always have photocopies of the passport with me (and in my suitcase and my day bag).

I always wear a money belt containing my passport, credit cards and big money. Once I gave everything to the hotel to put in their safe, then forgot it until I was 200 miles away. I was on my way to attend a Goethe Institute, so I just had the hotel send me the stuff.

My sister once gave me her passport and debit card to carry in my money belt--the only time she did that. Good thing, because a clever thief pretending to be a waiter went off with her purse.

So you received lots of different answers. To each his own.

To the OP: Your question is perfectly legitimate and I did not see any sign of fear or paranoia, just a question of what seems to work best. As already said, different things for different people. I like the tiniest, lightest pouch on a string, inside my shirt, but DH usually carries that stuff in an inside pocket or just in his small tote that can be cross body if he chooses.

Pal's experience may be a little dated, but it absolutely did (and may occasionally still) happen! As a matter of fact, it was normal. In Italy, it is required by a security law enacted in 1931 (and still in effect) that all guests and visitors be registered with the (local) authorities. Hotel guest lists were checked. Hotels kept passports until they had time to fill out the registeration forms for each guest, usually overnight. Now they can just photo copy or scan and send it to the authorities. With Internet and easier international calling, more people make their own reservations, and hotels mostly ask for passport numbers when you make the reservation. It is easy for people to have copies also to give to the hotel or host.
In some place where they may not have modern equipment, they could still keep the passport for a few hours or longer. If you are concerned, you can always carry a few photocopies and give one to a hotel that needs it. Airbnb hosts are also required to register guests.

A funny thing about room safes. DH put things in one, then could not get it to open. He called the front desk and when someone arrived, they simply pulled it out and unclipped the back. Not very secure, I think.

About security. Anyone been recently in any old hotel that still had beautiful metal keys on rings, fobs or tassels, where they asked for the key to be left at the desk when you went out? For us, it was four or five years ago in Southern France. I know cards and now codes on our phones are more secure, but I loved being handed a heavy key on a soft tassel or ring with all the expectations of travel that it represented.

There are personality angles others mentioned.
There are also logistics issue independent of what each feels about carrying passport using neck-pouch, money-belt, etc.
You need both solutions. It is not either or. On the day you are moving from one place to other, how is leaving passport in hotel safe an option?
You also did not mention where you are going. In some countries, I was told in no uncertain term that they would need to see my real passport to accept my credit card. A copy of passport was no good and neither was a driver's license from my home country.
There are other legal requirements such as using a rail pass. The T&C for Eurailpass, for example, says A Eurail Pass is strictly personal, non-transferable, and valid only upon presentation of a passport or other recognized photographic identification document (no copies accepted). Whether a fare inspector actually follows this rule is discretionary. All the years I have used various passes, I was challenged exactly once on a train to show my real passport in Germany.
Review your usage model. Even if others mention they never needed to show a real passport, if a party with authority demands a real passport, do you think you can get away by saying that you were told others never had to show their real passport?

@ Sassafrass:

I very rarely have my passport with me when I'm out and about. I usually lock it in my suitcase. Australian drivers licences have photos so I carry that on me for ID purposes. It is easy enough to to forget passports left in hotel safes either in the room or at the front desk.

Recent experience in Geneva where they took my passport for a couple of hours,in fact I'd forgotten I'd handed it over and then was surprised when they gave it back...oops, old age kicking in.

Under the General Data Protection Regulation (EU) 2016/679 that is against the law.

But what good does that do. It is not an authorised copy. of your ID. You cannot fly with it, police may not like it as a form of ID.


About the only countries which fall within Europe that does not have a requirement to carry ID is the UK and The Republic of Ireland. The rest do and we all do carry our IDs. Come to somewhere where is is a legal obligation to do something please try not to break the law. Our police forces has enough to deal with without trying to fine the hapless tourist.

Is it accurate to say that countries require you to carry a passport as the form of ID? Are there other forms of ID which would be acceptable? I have rarely carried my passport around in Europe and I am certainly not doing so here in London.

Every hotel we've stayed in for years now has photocopied our passports and immediately returned them to us.

I use the hotel safe. they are IMO a lot safer than losing my passport or from having it stolen but that's my decision and others are just as valid i am sure

What I do keep elsewhere is a copy of the information page of my passport which makes getting a replacement a lot easier.