10,4k
3 minutes readSafe at reception
- Cost: usually chargeable.
- How it works: you need to pay for storage, collect the safe key, place your items in it, and sign the register. Some hotels will give you a receipt or note.
This is a fairly secure option. If your clients still worry about this, you can advise them to record on camera the moment when they handed the envelope to the hotel staff member. They can even write the exact amount on the envelope.
General rules
- Don’t leave anything on the balcony, especially if the room is on the ground floor, or you have rented a bungalow.
- Make sure the balcony door is firmly locked.
- When you leave your room, make sure the door to the room is firmly locked.
- Don’t leave belongings unattended in common areas of the hotel or hostel (lobby, restaurant/kitchen, lounge areas, swimming pool, and so on).
- Don’t leave valuables on your bed, table, or dressing table. When the room is cleaned its door is normally left open. There is always a risk that a criminal will sneak in and take something.
Safe in the room
- Cost: free of charge or chargeable.
- Types: depend on the model. Some safes come with instructions on how to set the code on your own, while in order to activate others, you may need to contact reception or get the key if the safe requires one. Information about the safe is found in the hotel profile in RateHawk.com. You can find it in the All services and amenities section.
If something has gone missing from the room safe, you should contact the hotel manager immediately and then the police. You can either phone the police or go to the nearest police station.
Luggage room
- Cost: free of charge or chargeable.
- What this is: usually this is a room with shelves by the reception desk where suitcases and other large luggage items are stored. The door is locked with a key that you can get from the concierge.
It’s common for check-out to be at 12:00, but the airplane only departs at 22:35. You can spend this time walking around town or taking a long lunch in the cafe. So that your luggage doesn’t get in your way you can leave it in the special luggage room, but there is an important rule valid just about everywhere in the world — don’t leave valuables there. Therefore, you should still take your laptop, camera, and other valuables with you on your walk.
The hotel administration takes no responsibility for valuables, as other guests also have access to that room. There is nobody guarding the entrance, so it’s not a bad idea to use either a traditional or combination lock.
What to advise your client
- To make photocopies of all documents, and also to add them to an electronic wallet in their smartphone (such as Wallet for the iPhone) or to their banking app (many banks now support this function). These copies will make it quicker to identify them if they lose the originals, and the procedure for replacing them will be easier.
- Not to take a lot of cash with them and to use a card to pay for purchases.
- To take more than one bank card or connect payment via a mobile device (Apple Pay, Android Pay) to one of them. They can use one card to store the main budget for their trip and leave the other one empty. If they lose the card with the money, they can quickly transfer their funds to the other card. Or they can block the lost one and ask for funds to be transferred to the other one. It’s important to warn in advance their contact person so that they don’t think fraud is being committed.
Thanks to these simple rules, your clients’ trips will not be ruined by unpleasant events. Forewarned is forearmed!
