Going to Paris in June and was wondering if the Hotel Safe would be an alright place to store passports and credit cards? Or does everyone that works for the Hotels know these codes etc..
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Use at your own risk.... search %26quot;crack safe%26quot; or %26quot;hotel safe%26quot; on youtube if you want to feel hopeless.... lol But I suppose it%26#39;s better than leaving in plain sight... or in your %26quot;locked%26quot; suitcase...
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I prefer leaving docs in an in-room safe to carrying them around, even though I%26#39;ve read about things going missing from a hotel room safe and also from locked luggage left in room.
Always check the safe before use, make sure it locks and opens properly and wipe the keys before entering code.
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I%26#39;ve always used the safe in our hotel room or apartment with total confidence.
You do read the very occasional story on one of the travel forums, but some of those stories do not add up...I remember reading someone had placed valuable pieces of jewelry on the shelf in the room safe that %26quot;disapppeared%26quot;, but were later found to have slipped over the back edge (because they were pushed to the back) and down below.
There are many, many more reports of people being relieved of their valuables by pickpockets or through their own carelessness than things going missing from hotel/apartment safes.
At any rate, we always store our passports (carry a photocopy) and all but one or two cards in the safe.
One time, we messed up programming the code, and had to wait until the owner came the next day to reset it.
Regardless, you should have copies of your passports and a list of the phone numbers for your credit card providers (and not those 800 numbers, which cannot be dialed from France), anyway.
And, if you%26#39;re one who carries a big, fat, wallet, it%26#39;s much better protected in that safe than anywhere on your person while out and about.
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I agree that the hotel safe is probably your safest choice. Other than cash and jewellery, there isn%26#39;t as much incentive to rob an in-room safe in these days post 9/11. You can%26#39;t just walk up to an airline counter and use a ticket without good ID anymore, and the same goes for changing the name on a ticket. Attempting to use a stolen passport is a lot more difficult these days as well. Computer information will beat you to the draw, no matter how many satellites it has to be bounced off.
Since you set your own code, everyone who works for the Hotels doesn%26#39;t know it. The safe doesn%26#39;t open for the management code until your room is registered as vacant and the bill is paid. Once the Housekeeping supervisor has verified that you%26#39;ve vacated and punched her code into the system, the hotel can open the safe if you were so rude as to have closed it on your own code before leaving.
I use room safes all the time as does my husband, although he carries his passport with him, wherever he goes. I carry only copies and my International Drivers Permit as secondary ID. I leave my passport, tickets, and a copy of my itinerary and of my credit and debit cards with the emergency telephone numbers for OS calls highlighted for easy identification, along with my Emergency Stash of cash, in the safe.
Neither of us has ever had a problem with using an in-room safe. We each recommend that you set your combination and then cycle it several times to be sure that it works before you commit your valuables to it.
BTW, leave the expensive jewellery and watches at home because the average French and other tourists aren%26#39;t impressed, but the pickpockets are.
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