So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE !!!

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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby Sugar77 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 6:30 pm

Just wondering if there are any recent thoughts on the security of the room safes at Pearl and RM? We always use hotel safes and plan to do same at Desire in June. Every now and then we read about things going missing from hotel safes (not specific to Desire) and some hotel staff possibly having a master code or knowing a trick to open them, etc. Just wondering if most Desire visitors trust and use the room safes for valuables (cash, wallets, passports, phones, cameras, etc)? Guess there's not really any better options. Thanks for any info!

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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby tampacpl336471 » Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:39 pm

We have been there multiple times and never had anything missing.....money included.

We do use the hotel safe......prolly as good as it gets, but certainly it can be cracked. Last year, the power to it went out and the concierge opened it.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby JulyNewbies » Sun Apr 06, 2014 10:40 am

I lost my virginity there once, and hotel management wouldn't do anything about it! It was like they didn't believe me, that my valuable was taken from me. Seriously, DRM seems in line with the best hotels, which sometimes have isolated problems also. Spread your cash/valuables around, if you're worried (locked luggage, room safe, shoes, and lobby safe). Keep copies of passport, cards, license in separate places, just in case.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby mikeinnj » Tue Apr 22, 2014 7:25 pm

We returned recently. Apparently 1 day we did not lock our safe. When we returned there was a note telling us it had been locked for us and to contact front desk for unlocking. Nothing was missing.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby wallyman » Thu Jun 28, 2018 10:57 pm

We have bought a money bag with a lock built into the bag. Then we put that into the safe. We feel that is the safest way to secure your money and wife's rings. The only thing we should think about is getting naked and having a great time.....
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby wallyman » Sun Jul 07, 2019 4:33 pm

After hearing about the safe issues we started bringing a money bag that locks. We put it in the safe still and we keep the key with us and recount our money during our trip. Not that we didn't trust anyone but knowing you are in control of your funds is a better piece off mind. Besides you need to keep your mind on other things like having Fun.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby mustang » Sun Jul 07, 2019 6:28 pm

We trust the safe because we have to but just wondering what you would do if your passports got stolen?
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby Explorer79 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 12:46 am

What's to stop someone from just taking the whole bag?
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby houstonchaz » Mon Jul 08, 2019 3:07 pm

mustang wrote:We trust the safe because we have to but just wondering what you would do if your passports got stolen?

I've found this works:

1. Take pictures of the main photo page of your passports.
2. Email those pics to yourself at a web-accessible email address (gmail, yahoo, etc)
3. Save that email in a folder

Now you have access to a picture of your passport that has all the vital details needed by immigration authorities. It may take a supervisor to get involved but you will get back into the country with minimal hassle and an email like that can even be used to facilitate emergency travel documents at a U.S. embassy or consulate.

From the stories, it doesn't sound like passports being stolen will be an issue for guests at DRM but this picture and email practice is something I learned in years of traveling for work to higher risk places.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby Explorer79 » Mon Jul 08, 2019 7:04 pm

Great idea with one caveat. Sending sensitive info in the clear in email sounds like identity theft waiting to happen (your passport info will pass through multiple servers potentially all in the open). Storing the pics on your phone in an encrypted folder would mitigate that to a great degree though. For cloud storage, could save the pics in a password protected zip and put in Google Drive, Dropbox etc. I think I'll start doing this for future trips.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby Gemini Rose » Tue Jul 09, 2019 9:42 am

We always carry a color copy of our passport photo page with us. It is kept in a different location than the actual passport.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby K&RinTX » Wed Jul 10, 2019 7:00 am

Explorer79 wrote:What's to stop someone from just taking the whole bag?


There is nothing to stop someone from taking the bag from the safe, but every time we've heard of it's been "some" of the cash taken, never all of it. It seems they count on people grabbing the cash from the safe and not counting it, and I'll bet that's successful 90% of the time or more. Taking a whole locking bag, on the other hand, is a guaranteed complaint/investigation.
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Re: So you think hotel/resort electronic room safes are SAFE

Postby Explorer79 » Wed Jul 10, 2019 4:11 pm

K&RinTX wrote:
Explorer79 wrote:What's to stop someone from just taking the whole bag?


There is nothing to stop someone from taking the bag from the safe, but every time we've heard of it's been "some" of the cash taken, never all of it. It seems they count on people grabbing the cash from the safe and not counting it, and I'll bet that's successful 90% of the time or more. Taking a whole locking bag, on the other hand, is a guaranteed complaint/investigation.


Sure, those are probably decent odds, but if you come out on the wrong side of that the results are even worse. I'd rather them take $100 than to just take everything. These are untrustworthy people we are talking about so counting on any particular behavior from them doesn't seem like a good choice. I could see someone just taking the whole bag because they've made good $$$ so far, so why not. History is littered with examples of getting greedy/bolder.

In the end you'd still be left out in the cold. "Someone took $100 out of the safe" and "Someone took my locked bag out of the safe" are going to result in the same assurances that they take it seriously but then yield no results. It's not like they are going to go "Ohhh, the whole bag, well now we will really look into it and hold a tribunal with each of our employees to get to the bottom of it". In the end, you're possibly out even more than if you had not used the bag in the first place.

We have locking bags etc but put them in other places that make it even less likely someone would a) find it and b) take it. Still no guarantees with that either, but I just look at the safe as an "unsafe zone" so we don't put anything of value in there.
\m/
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