Hotel Room Safety
Keeping Yourself and Your Belongings Safe

Today's backpackers often don't travel light, and that makes hotel room safety a little harder.

Some of us rough it, carrying only the bare minimum to survive. Others are 'flashpackers', toting every entertainment or safety gadget under the sun. And some of us work along the way, which means laptops, cellphones, PDAs - many things worth stealing.

The first rule of the road is if you can't afford to lose it, don't take it with you. But if you must take it with you, try to keep it safe.

Even if people come and go in hostels, there is often a sense of shared vulnerability. Most people are fellow travelers and are equally worried about their belongings.

Still, the same rules apply to hotel room safety anywhere. To keep your belongings safe, follow a few simple hotel room safety tips:

• Keep your eye on your backpack when you check in, especially if the reception or entrance is crowded.

• If there's hotel safe in the room with an electronic lock, put your valuables inside. I prefer not to leave things at the front desk or in the hotel safe - unless it's a large reputable hotel. Small lodges or hostels may not have a main safe - your valuables may end up stashed in the manager's unsecured room or drawer.

• Don't leave anything in full view - temptation is temptation. Anyone can walk off with your laptop while your room door is open during cleaning. And your everyday belongings may be worth someone else's life savings.

• Make sure your windows are locked before you leave. It's easy to slip in and steal.

• Always lock your backpack and fasten it to something solid. What doesn't fit in a room safe - like a laptop - can be locked inside your backpack and fastened to a pipe or railing.

• In a communal hostel, wear your travel money belt to bed and take it to the shower with you. Just throw a towel over it to keep it dry!

• Leave a light or radio on when you leave the room. Anyone who listens at the door will think you're either in the room or coming back soon.

• If you do have expensive gadgets, don't flash them around where other guests or hotel staff can see them.

• Don't leave expensive clothes out to dry or air. A fellow traveler left her high-tech Nike Air-Max trainers on the doorstep - irresistible in a poor country. She spent the next week trekking in her flip flops.

TIP: Talk to other travelers. Word gets around about hotel safety. If hotels are unsafe and theft is rampant, travelers will spread the word! For other types of travel safety, find out how to avoid travel scams.

Hotel Room Safety Devices - or Gadgets!

Despite all your precautions, a bit of help from safety gadgets might be useful. Here are a few of the more popular ones:

A wire or cable lock  - a length of wire with a lock at the end. You can use it to lock your laptop to the sink or your backpack to the water pipes. It's just nice to have along.

One of my favorites is the door stop alarm  - wedge it under the door just inside your room. If someone opens the door from the outside, it lets off a shrill siren. It is battery operated, and easy to carry in a backpack. Failing that, a plain rubber doorstop will make it difficult for anyone to get in.

Another neat gadget for your hotel room safety is a door knob alarm . It's armed with motion sensors - if someone tries to get into your room, the alarm will ring, usually loudly.

Another good piece of safety equipment is the portable door lock . Just slip it into the door frame and presto, your door is locked from the inside.

And last but not least, if fear of fires grabs you, carry a lightweight smoke hood . They take up little room and can make the difference between life and death by giving you time to escape.

Accidents happen, but with all these precautions you'll be making sure you put all the hotel room safety odds on your side!

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