Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

securitymagazine.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 236 posts

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#71

Post by Scoundreller »

WWLink wrote: post #57
TacticalCoder wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Seeing the picture of that lock reminded me how uniform were the door locks and light switches in the US. In Europe there are countless different types of door locks and light switches but basically everywhere I went to in the US it was the same door locks and light switches. I take it if you travel internationally a doorstop would work everywhere.

There are building codes that were implemented before most buildings in the US were built for stuff like that. There are variances in like, knob vs lever handle, but yea they mostly work the same and are in the same spot. IMHO a smart thing if there's an emergency and you're staying someplace unfamiliar...

Most hotel doors will have (re-)closer mechanisms on their doors, and you can fashion a belt around them in an emergency:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xlhbiSvVKnE

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#72

Post by Scoundreller »

lordgrenville wrote: post #33
graderjs wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do not order room service, what's the risk there in your opinion? I like the stuff about personal photo next to the bed as well as using the in-house services and tipping. That's smart man!

Poisoning I guess. I recently heard an interview with Eliot Higgins from Bellingcat and he said he doesn't order room service for this reason.

This is why I order room service and throw it away in front of them. Really sends the message to back-off: I’m either crazy or multiple steps ahead of them. /s

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#73

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Markoff wrote: post #47

https://archive.ph/gSBMp for users outside US, since this site illegaly denies access after rejecting cookies

I'm 99% sure that a US website is perfectly within their right to deny EU citizens for whatever reason. If it was EU based however they would be violating the GDPR. There's a lot of US sites that just give a HTTP 451 (unavailable for legal reasons) for people from the EU.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#74

Post by Scoundreller »

nextlevelwizard wrote: post #68
pengaru wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The orientation section doesn't seem incredibly inconvenient nor costly. It's basically just establishing situational awareness in an unfamiliar place. What are you getting kept from by doing it? A dozen extra minutes of terrible hotel TV? On the topic of flash floods esp. when traveling; I make a conscious effort to not park/stay anywhere liable to flash-flood, and that requires some situational awareness in the sen…

>What are you getting kept from by doing it? A dozen extra minutes of terrible hotel TV? I don't go to a hotel to be in my room. If I am traveling there is a reason to do so. All in all I think this paranoid fear of hotels and travel is something specific to US. I've never had issues with security in a hotel or even given it a a thought. In normal world you don't need to worry about this kind of stuff. My biggest wor…

> My biggest worry in hotel rooms these days is how to rig the A/C to stay on while I'm out.

Heated blanket on the thermostat? Or do they have timed-shutoffs or door-key based systems that cuts off the electricity when you leave? What do you do then?

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#75

Post by shapefrog »

Scoundreller wrote: post #72
lordgrenville wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poisoning I guess. I recently heard an interview with Eliot Higgins from Bellingcat and he said he doesn't order room service for this reason.

This is why I order room service and throw it away in front of them. Really sends the message to back-off: I’m either crazy or multiple steps ahead of them. /s

I make them eat it infront of me then and there - that way they are either dead or know not to try to poison me.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#76

Post by Scoundreller »

midoridensha wrote: post #66
jraby3 wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He doesn’t mention where you should keep your valuables. It’s easy to say where not to, but then offer a suggestion for a safe place to store stuff like a passport or cash.

>It’s easy to say where not to, but then offer a suggestion for a safe place to store stuff like a passport or cash. Simple: you keep those things on your person whenever you're away from your hotel room. Use a "traveler's wallet" which hides under your clothes. You should never be without your passport in a foreign country; it's generally illegal and it's the only way to properly identify you.

I’m usually in developed countries with pickpocketing as a problem, so I’m confident in showing my drivers license if I get controlled by police, but if I lose my passport, I’m in trouble.

But what if you have 2 passports? Carrying both is a SPoF. Where do you hide the additional?

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#77

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Shank wrote: post #7

Rather than a doorstop, I usually prefer a super grip lock [0] -- an extremely corny as-seen-on-TV product that you can lash around a door knob that uses simple physics to make the door impossible to open with the key on the other side. Naomi Wu mentioned this and Deviant Ollam has too. The basic premise is that it's less destructive than most "security door stops" and hotels tend to get angry if you destroy their ca…

That one won't work in most of the hotels I've been in; the internal handle doesn't even move when opening, either a latch inside the door or in the doorframe is unlocked. A physical wedge is probably the best universal solution.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#78

Post by shapefrog »

WWLink wrote: post #59
stevarino wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tactical flashlight. They're strong enough to give you second degree burns if you hold it against your flesh. They typically have low, high, and strobe modes for disorienting targets.

They also usually have the most asinine single button interface and the most likely person to get strobed is yourself lol.

14 clicks in an 1-2-1-2 pattern for attack defence mode.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#79

Post by Cthulhu_ »

kqr wrote: post #38
WelcomeShorty wrote: post #18

It is about the same routine I follow. Specifically the "walk the emergency routes" since muscle memory can help you a lot when under stress. Missing one point: take a couple of business cards from the hotel with you. Whenever you need to get back, it most often makes it easier for people (cab drivers) to get you there without too much discussion and misunderstandings. Other points: - To be sure you have some clean w…

In my experience, the emergency routes are not always open for regular walking. Specifically, the doors involved are unlocked, but also trigger an alarm when opened, so they are not misused. How do you deal with that?

I feel like that adds to confidence, because nobody's tampered with the exits. However, that also means you can't check if the other side is blocked or not, or if it leads to a staff corridor with unknown circumstances.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#80

Post by Cthulhu_ »

graderjs wrote: post #23
WelcomeShorty wrote: post #18

It is about the same routine I follow. Specifically the "walk the emergency routes" since muscle memory can help you a lot when under stress. Missing one point: take a couple of business cards from the hotel with you. Whenever you need to get back, it most often makes it easier for people (cab drivers) to get you there without too much discussion and misunderstandings. Other points: - To be sure you have some clean w…

Why do not order room service, what's the risk there in your opinion? I like the stuff about personal photo next to the bed as well as using the in-house services and tipping. That's smart man!

I'm not famous or whatever myself, but, the fewer people that are aware I am present, the better.
Post reply on HN