Why do women go to great lengths to keep their hotel rooms safe?

Fitzpatrick believes that some of the hotel safety tips shared on social media are particularly useful for low-end accommodations. “For example, placing a chair by the door can provide peace of mind,” he says.

Like many content creators, he recommends covering keyholes in doors, using a hotel safe (as long as it’s screwed on and can’t be removed), and possibly bringing a portable door lock or door stop alarm to add an extra layer of protection to these establishments . Hotel staff should also take steps to make guests feel safe, according to Fitzpatrick.

“If you feel unsafe, please inform your hotel reception and do not hesitate to ask for a room change or to be moved to another floor. Additionally, if other guests make you feel unsafe, please inform hotel security who are trained to deal with such problems. If there is no security in the hotel and something worries you, always call the police,” he advises.

Personnel issues

Hotel staff should always ask for ID and never give out their room number during check-in or breakfast – but that’s not always the case, says Carolyn Pearson, CEO and founder of Maiden Voyage, a travel security training and consulting company. There is no universal, formal vetting process for hotel staff (they are rarely subject to DBS checks in the UK) and sometimes they may even be responsible for problems such as nuisance phone calls or theft from rooms.

Pearson emphasizes that viewing the room could be a potential problem. “I always recommend that hotel staff open the door wedge when showing guests around the room, but if a guest has a wedge in the door they can do it themselves as there have been cases of inappropriate behavior when booking a room.”

Like McIntyre, he recommends that when you first enter a room, check for any unwanted intruders and make sure the locks work. He also avoids connecting rooms and writing his name and room number in guest books at the gym or swimming pool.

Captured on camera

As for hidden cameras, they tend to be a bigger problem in Airbnbs than in hotels, says Kody Kinzie, a security researcher at Varonis and presenter on the YouTube channel securityFWD, although surveillance cameras are currently banned from the company’s listings. He admits that he usually does not check the presence of cameras himself, although there are exceptions.

“Any connected device facing a sensitive area is subject to additional scrutiny. “If an alarm clock, lamp, wall plug, or other powered object is pointed toward the shower or bedroom, I will immediately check for any signs of lens,” he says.

“But as a hacker, I pay more attention to the Wi-Fi environment, and that’s where I’ve found unwanted IoT (Internet of Things) devices before. By scanning the guest network and noticing suspicious IoT devices around me, I am more likely to detect Wi-Fi-connected cameras.”

While some safety measures are sensible, experts point to the problem of regimes similar to those depicted in the most extreme videos online. The more measures you take to secure a room, the more difficult it will be to get out of it.

“Even with a jammer or a door wedge, if someone is having a heart attack, people can’t get in as easily – it takes some brute force and pushing before these things finally give way,” says Pearson. “So for any additional device you use, including being stuck in a hotel, you need to consider that. If you are in an area prone to earthquakes or bushfires, or have a medical condition, you need to consider whether there was anything that made you concerned about your personal safety, such as a member of staff acting strangely or people hanging around at the reception and monitoring guests. Consider what the best course of action is, what the risks are, and what you are going to do to mitigate them.