Hotel booking is considered one of the least concerning tasks when planning for a trip across foreign lands. Contrary to this, hotel booking is a huge part of secure travelling. This is because many people assume that one, they check into the hotel, safety is guaranteed. While most hotel rooms do offer a degree of safety for their visitors, some cannot be trusted
Therefore, you have to take personal responsibility to ensure safety while you, your friend and family are staying in a hotel during travel.
Before you book the hotel room; Research accommodation before.
This is a no brainer. You need to spend plenty of time looking up hotel rooms that offer high standards of safety and comfort. Whether you are staying in a hotel room or Airbnb, it is important that you;
Browse through multiple travel websites – today, most hotel bookings are done through online commercial websites. These platforms allow you to shop for the best deals. Visit several hotel websites as well to make sure you exhaust all possible resources. Location Specific travel websites are the best because they provide you will applicable information as well as useful travel and security guides.
Read hotel reviews – around 80 percent of people check reviews before making any financial decisions. Even when you find a hotel that lives up to your expectations, you need to read the reviews to make sure they are in line with your values and expected standard of services. Go through reviews to clarify any doubts and ensure you are going to a comfortable hotel.
Check their cancellation policies – if you are looking to book a room on commercial websites, ensure you have a look at their cancellation policies first. Most websites don’t charge hefty cancellation fees today but you need to ensure you can book and cancel without having to pay a hefty fee.
Staying safe when you arrive at your hotel;
Request your room to be on a high floor
The rooms found on the ground floor are easiest to target for robberies and other attacks. Safety experts often recommend that tourists get rooms on higher floors.
If have fire safety concerns for any reason you should request rooms that are closer to the stairs. Avoid rooms located near ice and vending machines because this is where most people hang around and increases the chances for an attack.
Stay with the luggage
Leaving your luggage unattended is one of the fastest ways to lose track of them. This happens a lot, especially in airports. Many people tend to lose sight of their bags because a lot is usually in their minds at that moment.
Same thing with the hotel. You don’t have to wait for a valet to show up and bring the bags to your room. If you are a group, some of you can check into the hotel while others watch their bags and bring them up when everything else sis sorted.
Use the hotel safe to protect your valuables
Many people don’t consider locking valuable documentations and jewellery because there are ignorant to crime in foreign countries. As a traveller, the basic rule is to leave your passport in the hotel room but you have to make sure it is secure because there will be people getting into your room. Ensure all your expensive electronic devices and travel documentation is kept in the safe while you are away.
Most hotel safes are well hidden inside the closet. Don’t forget to get all your valuables from the safe when you are leaving the hotel room. An alternative is to lock your valuables inside your suitcase. If the camera and laptop can’t fit into the sage, you can lock it in your suitcase
Keep the hotel room door locked at all times
Even if you are used to doing this at your own home, you should never leave the doors unlocked at any times. Regardless if you are in the room or not you need to lock up the door completely. Don’t prop your door open if you were not expecting anybody. Use the peephole on eh door to conform the identity of the person outside before opening the door.
Go for a hotel room with a modern electronic lock which I much safer than traditional keys. With the electronic version, there is very minimal chance for anyone else to create a supplicate.
Inspect the room before you settle in
No matter how tired you are, you can’t just unpack your luggage and jump into the bed. You have to carefully inspect the whole room and make sure it is clean and conducive for you and everyone else to live in. make sur e the sheets are clean before you even place your luggage on top.
Things like bed bugs and cockroaches are a sign or an unclean environment and they are a risk to your health.
Use a VPN to connect to the internet
Free Wi-FI is a basic necessity for every hotel but it does not come without major risks. When you connect to the hotel Wi-FI, you are basically connecting to a public hotspot. This means that you are on the same network with hundreds of other people. Any tech expert could easily see your usernames, passwords and hack you to get your financial information.
There are many criminals known to target hotels and set up free Wi-FI networks. Using a high-quality VPN will help you keep your information secure when you are connected to practically any network. VPN encrypts the traffic so no one will be able to access your information.
Don’t give out your personal information over the phone
This is one of the most common and recent hotel scams. Criminals use the hotel lobby phone or call into you room from an outside line and pretend to be working in the hotel. A call seemingly transferred from the hotel desk is suspicious. To make sure the charges on your credit card are legitimate, make sure you check in with the hotel at the front desk and in person.
Final word
Using these tips is a smart way to ensure you have extra security during your trip in a foreign country. When in a foreign country, it is easy to get scammed, and stolen from which is why you must ensure safety from all ends.
