Do you use those hotel safes?

My step dad was a farmer and never really traveled. When he and my mom traveled for my wedding and stayed in a hotel with a safe, he thought it was a microwave and put leftovers from dinner in it to heat up. When he was confused on how to get it to turn on, he called the front desk. They had for retrieve his leftovers and let him know it was actually a safe.

Anytime I am in a hotel with a safe, I always think of him and it makes me chuckle.
 
For many, many years in many 'bad' places. Most thefts from hotel rooms in my experience are simple 'smash and grab' equivalents. The hotel safe is quite good protection against these. I've never lost anything from one. Did recently leave a single MasterCard in one. 'Hidden' under the mat in the safe. No thief would think to look there. Reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld's 'wallet in the sneaker at the beach' joke. I do carry back up cash and credit cards on my person.
 
I usually don't stay in places that have hotel safes, but do use them when available to store some backup cash or a card, sometimes laptop if it fits.

Mostly to stave off convenience theft. Determined actors won't be stopped, I know that.

If there is a charge to use the safe or no laptop/stuff to store, I don't bother. Also if I do use it I tend to put my passport in my there, to avoid forgetting I put stuff in there ..
 
I was always afraid of forgetting that I had put something in the safe. Then someone mentioned to put one of your shoes in there and you won't forget to open it before you leave. It worked for me.
 
The safes are fine; never had a thing stolen and use them all the time. I keep spare cash and my passport in them. I am far more likely to misplace or lose those types of valuables while vacationing, than having them get stolen by an employee-thief. A vacationer is probably more likely to get pickpocketed, or mugged in the hotel hallway, than s/he is likely to be a victim of a safe-cracking.
 
Used the in room hotel safe when on a cruise about a year ago.

Otherwise, I bring along a pacsafe backpack. I don't leave too many valuables (such as cash or jewelry) in the backpack, but more like my laptop (If I bring that) when I'm not in the room and am away for hours.
 
NanoSour said:
I was always afraid of forgetting that I had put something in the safe. Then someone mentioned to put one of your shoes in there and you won't forget to open it before you leave. It worked for me.
Click to expand...

I'd just lose a perfectly good shoe :(
 
I always use hotel safes and never had a problem. They are perfect for storing things we need but don't want to carry all day or when we go out at night, such as iPad, passports, some emergency cash and credit cards. We know they are not ultra-safe, but we only need to deter the quick grab and leave type of theft. When traveling with ultra top secret eyes only documents, we follow Poe's recipe in "The Purloined Letter" and leave them carelessly strewn in plain view on the furniture. :)
 
I used them in the past.

A couple of years ago I left my passport in one during my whole stay. I didn't put or remove anything else for the latter part of my stay.

When I checked out, I left my passport in there, went all the way to the airport before realizing it. The safe was in the closet so when I packed up, I forgot to open it.

I missed my flight and had to reschedule my flight back to the US. This was in Lyon. So I reschedule the return flight out of Paris a couple of days later and spent the extra nights there, taking the train from Lyon to Paris.

Since then, I keep my stuff in my bags or just leave it out. I leave out the laptop, which won't fit most safes. But I lock up smaller stuff, not necessarily over concern about theft but for them being misplaced. So hard to replace (especially on vacation) stuff like portable drives with photos, certain cables. Also lenses that I don't take with me.
 
Yeah I normally did too but the closet was in the corner and the safe by the far wall of that closet.

As I recall, when you opened the room door, the door covered over the closet opening.

Oh well, end of my trip so I can plead fatigue. ;)
 
Mo Money said:
A vacationer is probably more likely to get pickpocketed, or mugged in the hotel hallway, than s/he is likely to be a victim of a safe-cracking.
Click to expand...
Our resort in Mexico took out all the in-suite safes because that was what the crooks targetted!

Our iPad and laptop are too big for the hotel room safe so we leave them under the coffee table books. We always leave a little cash in a bedside table so the thieves will leave quickly.
 
In a B&B on 43rd off Times Square, we used the safe in the room, and the next day discovered that we had put our stuff on top of a wallet. (It was deep and behind the top shelf.) We immediately returned the wallet to the front desk and got strange looks. Upon reflection, we realized that the staff must have wondered why we had not turned it in when we checked in!
 
kcowan said:
In a B&B on 43rd off Times Square, we used the safe in the room, and the next day discovered that we had put our stuff on top of a wallet. (It was deep and behind the top shelf.) We immediately returned the wallet to the front desk and got strange looks. Upon reflection, we realized that the staff must have wondered why we had not turned it in when we checked in!
Click to expand...

More likely, they were wondering why you were turning it in at all and not keeping it. :LOL:
 
No, I never used the safe. Don't carry a lot with me including cash. But I have a big purse and I stash my iPad in there.
 
Our friends ran a lodge in Panama for 20 plus years. More than once a guest accused the staff of stealing an item. On each occasion they checked the safe...only to find the missing item underneath the mat in the safe.

If there is a mat, we pull it out prior to leaving. We also have a routine for checking the room and the safe. We both take time to check them.

When we are leaving the room whoever did not lock the safe just prior to leaving double checks that the safe is closed. More than once we were about to leave and discovered that the safe had been left unlocked.
 
We never use it - then again, we usually have little of real value with us. Back in the workdays, I sometimes tried to use the safes when I travelled for megacorp and wanted to leave my laptop in the hotel room, but often, the safe wasn't big enough to accommodate that anyway.
 
Phones, iPads, cameras, laptops, etc.

People can carry a fortune when they travel. Easily way above the limit of liability the airlines claim for lost baggage, of like $1000.

Then of course, people take jewelry and leave it with the hotel safe in reception or they must have in the past.
 
brett said:
Our friends ran a lodge in Panama for 20 plus years. More than once a guest accused the staff of stealing an item. On each occasion they checked the safe...only to find the missing item underneath the mat in the safe.
......
Click to expand...

And I thought I was so smart hiding something under the mat. :facepalm:
 
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