Leaving your valuables in your room
while lodged in a hotel can be very disconcerting. Whether you have placed it
in a safe as most hotels would suggest or you have put it safely in your
luggage, you can never be too sure. How safe is the safe really? How trustworthy
is the staff? Is the security as tight as acclaimed? An option would be to
always keep your valuables with you, but then that might not be convenient as
there is the chance of you getting mugged or you misplacing the valuable,
especially if you are visiting a new city.
The solution would, therefore,
involve a situation where you are in charge of security and in that regard, ITRealms
has put together pointers on how to keep your valuables while lodged in a
hotel.
The safe is never safe. Digital or manual, never succumb to the temptation of the
hotel’s safe or locked storage area. Doing that would imply relying on the accommodation
staff. A number of things could happen, the locked safe could be broken into or
stolen entirely or the safe could get jammed and your valuable would be
trapped. Again, never use a safe that requires a key provided by the hotel, as
there may be untold numbers of key copies circulating among staff and former
guests.
Lock your suitcase. Always lock your suitcase either with numbers combination
or with a key lock and ensure the key is with you at all times. Yes, there is a
slim chance that someone could steal the entire suitcase, but that is extreme.
Use
the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign. If you
care more about your valuables than about your room being cleaned, simply leave
the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door and if possibly, leave the TV
on when you are leaving for the day.
This will discourage people from entering your room when you are not there as
they would think you are occupied inside. If you must invite room service, do
so when you are available to monitor their activities.
Find
hiding spots. There are so many places in your
room where you can hide valuables from prying hands. You can hide money and
important documents under the carpet corners, taped to the bottom-side of
drawers, within a small bag and pin
between double drapes, you could even
go as far as unscrewing ventilator grates and hiding valuables inside.
Basically, the idea is to choose areas of the room that are either not cleaned
regularly or are so obscure people won't think to search them. Also, avoid
putting all of your valuables in the same place. If you split them around the
room, you are much less likely to lose everything if someone happens to find
one of your hiding places.
Set the stage. Keep the room and your items very
tidy so that any disorder would be conspicuous. This is not to say that you
should now leave any valuable items out in the open. Also, while you are
rearranging the room, you don’t want to damage or disturb things or areas in
your room as you may end up paying to fix what you broke, thereby losing some
or even all of the money you were trying to save.
*Contributed by Nkem Ndem, a PR
Associate at Jumia Travel, phone +2347033853356 | skype Vivienne
Ndem
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