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 threat indicator than in daylight hours
* Minimize your movement outside your room when it's dark. It's not necessarily a boost in your security profile to go back out to your car to bring in your forgotten laptop from the trunk back into your room
* If someone does have you at gunpoint and wants your money, do what your mother said and just give it to them, you can always make more money later. No regrets.
* When a criminal takes your wallet, appeal to a shared fear of cops by asking for your driver's license back, you may still lose your cash but get your ID and credit cards back if they don't have a clear plan/motive to fence them... huge hassle savings (hat tip to the divine inspiration that brought this to my lips in that moment, it worked)
* If you do lose all your credit/debit cards (+cell phone), one benefit of reporting your situation to the cops immediately is that when they come and take your statement and open a case (however unlikely it will be solved), they may give you a card documenting and showing your case #. That card can come in as handy evidence backing up your "sob story" in conversations the next day with strangers you meet if you now find yourself in a strange city with no resources and no friends looking to get a free meal or other assistance (while promising to pay the stranger back of course). Conversely, a stranger telling you a sob story of them being robbed can be asked to produce such evidence.