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Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

securitymagazine.com

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Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#81

Post by Cthulhu_ »

dageshi wrote: post #46
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.

An appropriately sized pacsafe is what I use. https://pacsafe.co.uk/collections/portable-safes-bag-protect... Even something as simple as having a bag that locks and putting your valuables in it and locking it would probably deal with 90% of issues. If you're an average person travelling the risk you face is from the hotel house keeping staff and there's really two types of theft there. First is opportunistic where t…

The lockpicking lawyer reviewed a number of these, a lot of the ones from Amazon are actually pretty bad and don't resist a simple knife. Mind you, if that's the case, at least you have some evidence that you were robbed.

When it comes to passports, it's probably best to keep them on you. I have a pouch that goes around my neck (and I put it under my shirt), probably the safest place to keep it hidden and on your person.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#82

Post by Scoundreller »

jhoelzel wrote: post #13

For a Security site, the are quite hostile for declining their cookies. I will not get redirected to the article but to mainpage and the search doesnt work :/

Just don’t visit security sites directly if you value your security!

https://archive.ph/gSBMp

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#83

Post by Cthulhu_ »

Scoundreller wrote: post #76
midoridensha wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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?

> Where do you hide the additional?

Definitely not in the room safe, that's the first thing they'll look through.

Maybe the hotel has their own safe? But that involves trusting the staff.

I think all bets are off if someone with intent breaks into your room and does a full upheaval, but hiding it in your suitcase or e.g. sticking it with some tape under a cabinet or drawer might be adequate.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#84

Post by jaclaz »

esperent wrote: post #3

Kind of cool to read but these are not any tips that a normal (non-paranoid) person will need to follow unless they are traveling to some seriously dangerous locations. Except maybe the tip not to use the hotel safe or leave money under the mattress, those are good. But do normal people really need to write their name down on pieces of paper and pass them across the desk with a wink to avoid their name being said out…

>But do normal people really need to write their name down on pieces of paper and pass them across the desk with a wink to avoid their name being said out loud?

>I think not.

Yes. that makes no sense, if someone is targeting you specifically, they will already know your looks, and a hotel room thief won't care about your name.

There is still the George Kaplan case, but I believe it is a rare one:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_by_Northwest#Plot

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#85

Post by shapefrog »

parker_mountain wrote: post #15
tomcam wrote: post #5

> I find the fire escape plan, and I follow it. Yeah, actually try this sometime. I do this regularly and it's amazing how often floors are locked from the stairwell, and more than once I have found floors skipped--you take the 4rth floor stairwell down and end up in a basement kitchen or something. Also he neglects to mention in the "Book online" section that it's always safer to book directly from the hotel website…

> These days their prices are competitive or better than the aggregation sites, and with better terms I travel extensively for work, and this is simply not true. Literally last week, I saved $40 by booking through hoteltonight in Chicago. Once you get close to the date of the stay, prices become squirrely and weird. This is definitely true if you're booking more than two weeks in advance, though.

I phone the hotel, quote the best price I have seen and get it 99% of the time.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#86

Post by Scoundreller »

gregw2 wrote: post #43

I was robbed at gunpoint at a hotel once and in the aftermath have my own tactical "lessons learned" on the topic of hotel safety tips... which I am happy to share with you fellow HN travelers: * Don't check into (cheap) hotels at 2am, criminals prowl at night looking for easy targets. * If you do, be on extra alert for idling or lurking cars with headlights on at hotels in early morning hours, it is indeed a greater…

> they may give you a card documenting and showing your case #

It’s always a good idea to ask for the incident number whenever you go to police for something or for any BS interaction with them. Make sure there’s a paper trail when you’ll need it.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#87

Post by Scoundreller »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #73
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.

I think that’s why the 451 gets around that by not even offering the service at all!

Though I had to assist a relative in EU that couldn’t click the “unsubscribe” button on a marketing email because that too led to a 451!

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#90

Post by talliedthoughts »

Scoundreller wrote: post #74
nextlevelwizard wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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?

Ask for a second key and leave it in the slot?
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