When travelling abroad, staying in Hotels, Hostels And Airbnb can be a vulnerable experience. Here are some personal security tips to help keep you safe during your stay.
Before You Arrive
Choose a reputable hotel: Do some research before booking a hotel to make sure it has good security measures in place, such as 24-hour surveillance, secure entrances and exits, and secure locks on doors and windows.
Keep your room number private: Don't announce your room number in public areas or leave your key card where it can be seen by others. If someone asks for your room number, don't give it out.
Make Your Reservation For Two People Even If Travelling Solo: Often this doesn't change the cost.
Ask For A Second Floor Room: It's away from the entrance but also not too high meaning you can get out of the window in an emergency. High rooms mean you only have one entry/exit point for your room which is the door.
Know Where Your Exits & Fire Exits Are.
On Entering Your Room Put The Tv On First And Then Check EVERYTHING: It is sometimes said that "All hotel rooms abroad are bugged for audio and visual surveillance." Of course, it is not true that all of them are bugged, but many are, especially in major hotels frequented by foreign business and government travellers. To maintain an adequate level of security awareness, maintain the assumption that your hotel room conversations are being monitored.
Leave The TV On The Whole Time: this helps negate the point above and also makes it harder for people to predict if the room is empty or not
Cover The Peephole And Place Out The "Do Not Disturb Sign"
Make Sure Your Hotel Phone Works
Be Aware Of Your Surroundings: When entering and exiting the hotel, be aware of your surroundings and look for any suspicious activity. Mix up the route you take to and from your hotel.
Learn Some Key Phrases In The Language Of The Country You're In: Often if you can at least say hello in the native language you will look like an experienced traveller and blend in. It's also polite. When walking through crowded areas you'll hear different languages, it's very easy to spot English/American accents.
Secure Your Room
It’s no secret that the security of your hotel room isn’t great, and gaining access to a room is nearly child’s play.
There are numerous entry tools available to the public that can quickly bypass the physical security controls, some of which are specifically made for breaking into hotel rooms.
Even the in-room safes that are provided by hotels are not secure. From physical control bypasses due to design flaws, master PIN codes that are never changed (and available online), master keys, master key cards, and social engineering gaining access to them is also quite simple.
Here are some quick and easy options to help better secure yourself and your belongings while you’re in or out of the room.
Security Latches
Most hotel's these days use similar locks. Key Locks, Security Chains, U Bar Locks, Dead Bolts and Electronic Locks.
By understanding how these common locks work you can then take measures to secure them yourself. Note: Most require you to be inside the room to lock them.
The simplest way is to carry a travel lock and or a door stop.
The Addalock and Howsarlock are cheap and small enough to carry with you.
Lever Handles And Electronic Doors
Many hotels use lever handles on room doors which is great because once shut the room cant be accessed from the outside and you don't need to remember to lock the door. But a simple tool such as the “under-the-door tool” is highly successful at opening these doors with ease.
For a super-quick fix, roll up a hand towel and stuff it behind the lever handle. This will temporarily block attacks from the “under-the-door” tool as it closes the physical gap behind the lever handle, preventing the tool from getting behind the handle. It also works whether you’re in the room or not. Make sure that when you do this that the towel is very snug between the tip of the lever handle and the door. Combine this with a travel lock or door stop.
Dead Bolts
If you can secure the thumb turner on a deadbolt in such a way that it will not turn, it helps to keep your door from being unlocked. the Deadbolt strap tool prevents the thumb turn from rotating, preventing the deadbolt from being unlocked. It’s extremely small and light, so travelling with it is no issue.
Electronic Locks and Room Keys
Most hotels are shifting towards the use of electronic access key cards. Unfortunately, in this day and age, it's easy to create a digital “master key”, along with other types of attacks.
Purchase a trusted RFID-blocking wallet or purse, and keep your card in that.
It’s best practice to keep your room key out of site at all times. This means keeping it in a front pocket, and not leaving it lying around somewhere.
With all these ways of securing your doors its important to mention here that you need to be able to get out swiftly in an emergency so make sure you don't barricade yourself in!
As mentioned above, most of these techniques require you to be in your room and also the room safes are never secure, so it's best to assume once you leave your room it has been compromised and is not secure. So be thorough with what you take travelling with you, if you can't carry around with you daily and are concerned about leaving it in your room, ask yourself if you need it.
Technology
Avoid public Wi-Fi: Public Wi-Fi networks can be vulnerable to hacking. Buy a local SIM card with data and use a travel router with a VPN to hotspot your devices.
Keep your phone charged: Make sure your phone is fully charged in case of an emergency. Its a good idea to carry a power bank.
Keep PDF Copies Of All Important Documents And Travel Details On A Micro SD Card:
Things such as Passport, birth certificate, driving licence, local maps of the area, boarding passes and any contact details that might be useful. This SanDisk High Endurance SD card is designed to operate in hot/cold temperatures, is waterproof, shockproof and x-ray proof and is small enough to hide or stitch into clothes. Be wary of carrying documents that have your home address on.
Conclusion
This blog isn't at all intended to make you paranoid but unfortunately, travel comes with its risks. Although we like to think the rewards outweigh those risks, just remember prevention is better than cure.
Happy Travel's
Bodhi Bones
