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Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

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Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#211

Post by lazyant »

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.

There's a greater chance in most places to have your passport lost or stolen from you than losing it from somebody breaking into your hotel room I think (zero data to back this). It's also a hassle; you want to go to the beach and swim or snorkel or any sport, now what do you do, having to keep an eye on a pouch or something.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#212

Post by graderjs »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #194
graderjs wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I normally just verbally ask staff, "can you just write my room number down and not say the floor out loud." I don't want random people who happen to be around the front desk counter at the same time knowing what room I'm in... come on.

It's been a long time since I've been at a hotel that spoke my room number aloud. I haven't had to ask.

Oh yeah? It's been a long time since I've stayed in a hotel. Pandemic. They say it. They pretty consistently say the floor too. I guess we travel different places. Better to be safe tho. Once they say it you can't put it back in.

Maybe you don't travel that much?

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#213

Post by AnimalMuppet »

graderjs wrote: post #212
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's been a long time since I've been at a hotel that spoke my room number aloud. I haven't had to ask.

Oh yeah? It's been a long time since I've stayed in a hotel. Pandemic. They say it. They pretty consistently say the floor too. I guess we travel different places. Better to be safe tho. Once they say it you can't put it back in. Maybe you don't travel that much?

Well, no, I don't travel that much, but in the last three years I've probably stayed at 15 different places. I don't recall any of them saying the room number out loud. (Not a statistically valid sample, and all that...)

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#214

Post by neural_thing »

system2 wrote: post #14
Loranubi wrote: post #8

Who are these tips for? I value my privacy and safety, but for tourists or normal business travelers these seem paranoid.

Writer keeps mentioning 3rd world countries. I am assuming this person is traveling to Syria or some other country with active war going. I can't imagine doing these while saying at a 4 Seasons hotel.

In Moscow, for example, all of the expensive hotels are under FSB surveillance, so you're better off staying at a mid-tier hotel.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#215

Post by toss1 »

lm28469 wrote: post #210
ryandrake wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't believe all the grief this story is getting on HN. I read the article and they seemed to be sensible, inexpensive, easy steps you can take to increase your safety while traveling. Why so much objection? Someone else mentioned cost/benefit. The only suggestion that had any cost was the doorstops. People are talking about probabilities. Even if the probability of something bad happening is close to zero, it sti…

Where do you stop though ? Do you always do the "4 right turns" trick every time you come home to know if you're followed ? it's also free and you never know right ? What's your threat scenario ? If you fear for your life when going in a random hotel as a random civilian I'd highly recommend updating your vacation destinations

>>What's your threat scenario ? If you fear for your life when ...

It is not just "fear for your life", it is simply being a bit prepared for the kinds of thefts and emergencies that are not uncommon. It is not like petty thieves preying on tourists only frequent the favelas of Rio; they're in just about any tourist town. The threat and response model is merely don't make it obvious that you're a target, and take a few steps so that if you do get targeted, it isn't a disaster - you lose some currency and a wallet, but not your passport, credit cards, etc., and especially not your only copy of that key info. And you know where to go find help if you need it, or to escape in a disaster.

This is no different than wearing a seat belt in an automobile, a helmet on a motorcycle. You aren't planning to crash, you are just taking minor precautions in case you do. I've been driving for decades, always worn a seatbelt, thankfully never yet needed it to keep me lashed down in a crash, but one did help save me from crashing keeping me located in the seat in one energetic emergency evasion maneuver. Yet I only wear my helmet on the racetrack. I do not feel the need to re-evaluate my threat model of either driving or toursiting, but I did add a few of those suggestions to my travel checklist.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#216

Post by entropicgravity »

Larrikin wrote: post #157
ghaff wrote: post #126

This isn't hotel-specific but my tip is the following: Assume your smartphone gets lost/broken/stolen or your wallet gets lost/stolen (or a credit card gets flagged for fraud). Do you know where you're actually staying? Do you have a copy of your itinerary more generally? Do you have backup credit cards and IDs? I'm not super-fanatical about having printed maps etc. in a familiar city but I try to have backup of ever…

Hannibal Burgess, the comedian that helped bring attention to the Cosby rapes, has a bit in one of his shows about losing his license while touring domestically. He would have to get to the airport early and would show TSA videos of him performing on YouTube. It was a huge hassle but he was always allowed to get on the plane.

I have a photo of my license in my phone for just in case.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#217

Post by midoridensha »

lazyant wrote: post #211
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.

There's a greater chance in most places to have your passport lost or stolen from you than losing it from somebody breaking into your hotel room I think (zero data to back this). It's also a hassle; you want to go to the beach and swim or snorkel or any sport, now what do you do, having to keep an eye on a pouch or something.

>There's a greater chance in most places to have your passport lost or stolen from you than losing it

If you keep it under your clothes in a travel wallet, this won't happen.

>you want to go to the beach and swim or snorkel or any sport

You can get waterproof pouches for this.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#218

Post by graderjs »

AnimalMuppet wrote: post #213
graderjs wrote: post #212

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Oh yeah? It's been a long time since I've stayed in a hotel. Pandemic. They say it. They pretty consistently say the floor too. I guess we travel different places. Better to be safe tho. Once they say it you can't put it back in. Maybe you don't travel that much?

Well, no, I don't travel that much, but in the last three years I've probably stayed at 15 different places. I don't recall any of them saying the room number out loud. (Not a statistically valid sample, and all that...)

3 years 15 different different places. That's quite a lot, especially during pandemic. About the same as me.

You may not have been paying attention. I think people don't think about these things because they don't think it's important. It's hard to remember something that you don't care about.

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#219

Post by GekkePrutser »

carlob wrote: post #112
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…

Quoted post unavailable.

Charging devices, leaving the TV on to fake occupancy as the article suggests.

Also AC is much more efficient if it keeps the room at a stable temperature rather than letting it heat up and then cooling it down again. I never set it that low myself but some hotels don't have a temp setting, that's true

Re: Hotel safety tips from a former intelligence officer

#220

Post by GekkePrutser »

Cthulhu_ wrote: post #83
Scoundreller wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

They won't take a passport from the safe though. It doesn't have any value and if they're caught it's clear it's been stolen.

Such thieves want only money and perhaps devices. Anything else they don't care about.

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