Why I Stopped Using Hotel Safes (And What I Do Instead)

The lock on my hostel safe in Prague was a four-digit code. I ran through every combination in under six minutes while waiting for my coffee to brew. That's when I realized hotel safes are security theater—designed to make you feel protected while offering almost zero actual protection against anyone who knows what they're doing.

Photo: Unsplash / Samson

The Problem With Hotel Safes

Most hotel safes fall into three categories, and none of them are particularly secure:

Electronic Keypad Safes

• Default master codes rarely get changed (try 0000, 1234, 9999, or 999999)
• Battery compartment override: Remove batteries, enter default code
• Weak solenoids: A good yank with a pry bar opens 60% of them
• Saw this firsthand in Bangkok—housekeeping opened a "stuck" safe in under 30 seconds with a metal ruler

Key-Based Safes

• Hotel keeps master keys at the front desk (accessible to all staff)
• Guests lose keys constantly, so overrides are trivial
• In Medellín, I watched a maintenance guy open three safes in a row with the same bump key

Mechanical Combination Safes

• Slightly better, but still vulnerable to:
• Stethoscope attacks (classic safe cracking)
• Brute force: Only 1 million combinations on a 6-digit lock
• Factory reset codes: Usually documented online by model number

The real issue? You're trusting a device that dozens of people have access to, maintained by the lowest bidder, in a room that housekeeping enters daily.

What I Do Instead

Here's my current system—nothing fancy, just layers that make theft require more effort than it's worth:

Tier 1: Dispersion Strategy

I never put all valuables in one place. Here's my typical hotel room distribution:

• Passport: Inside a locked toiletry bag, buried in dirty laundry in main luggage
• Backup credit card: Taped inside the battery compartment of my electric toothbrush (remove batteries first)
• Cash reserve: Split into three amounts—one in wallet, one in jacket pocket, one in a book spine or rolled inside socks
• Hardware security key: Attached to my physical keychain with my room key (always on me)
• Backup phone: Powered off, wrapped in a shirt in my checked bag or daypack

Tier 2: Portable Lock Box

I travel with a Pacsafe Travelsafe 5L portable safe. It's not Fort Knox, but it's:

• Slash-proof mesh construction (can't cut it with a knife)
• Locking cable: I loop it around fixed furniture, plumbing, or bed frames
• Combination lock: I control the code, not the hotel
• Lightweight: 340g, packs flat

What goes in here:

• Extra credit cards
• Backup USB drive with encrypted copies of docs
• Small electronics (AirPods, power bank, external SSD)

Real talk: This won't stop a determined thief with time and tools, but it defeats opportunistic housekeeping theft and grab-and-dash scenarios.

Tier 3: Digital Decoys

I assume any device left in a hotel room might be accessed, so:

• Laptop: Travels with me or stays powered off with full-disk encryption (LUKS on Linux, FileVault on Mac)
• Decoy wallet: Keep an old expired card and $20 in a visible wallet in the room. Thieves grab it and leave
• Phone lockdown: Before leaving the room, I enable lockdown mode (requires passcode, disables biometrics)

Tier 4: Monitoring & Detection

I use low-tech tells to know if someone's been in my stuff:

• Hair trick: Place a strand of hair across the zipper of my main bag. If it's moved, someone opened it
• Photo documentation: I take a quick photo of how I left the room before heading out. When I return, I can spot if anything moved
• Tile trackers: I have Tiles in my checked bag and daypack. If something walks away, I'll know
• Room-entry alerts: Some hotels have digital locks with phone notifications. I enable those when available

The Expensive Stuff: Keep It On You

Honestly, the safest place for high-value items is on your person:

• Passport: Only leave it in the room if absolutely necessary (some countries require hotels to register it overnight). Otherwise, keep it in a hidden travel pouch under your shirt
• Laptop: I work from coffee shops or coworking spaces. Laptop never leaves my sight
• Cameras/drones: Store in a locked Pelican case that stays in the room, or take it with me

When I have to leave valuables in the room (like before a flight when I can't bring my multi-tool), I do a mental calculation: "If this disappears, will it ruin my trip?" If yes, it doesn't get left behind.

When I Do Use Hotel Safes

I'm not completely anti-safe. I'll use them in specific scenarios:

• High-end hotels with audited security: Places like Hilton, Marriott, or boutique hotels with documented safe protocols
• For low-value decoys: I'll put a decoy item (old phone, fake wallet) in the safe to give thieves something to find
• Document storage during border runs: If I'm doing a visa run and need to leave my passport at the hotel for registration, I use the safe and take photos of the lock, serial number, and my valuables inside with a timestamp

Threat Modeling: Who Are You Protecting Against?

Your strategy depends on your threat model:

| Threat | Risk Level | My Approach | |--------|-----------|-------------| | Opportunistic housekeeping theft | High | Dispersion + portable safe | | Organized hotel room burglary | Medium | Keep valuables on person, use tells | | State-level surveillance | Low (most trips) | Full-disk encryption, leave sensitive devices at home | | Grab-and-dash during checkout | Medium | Never pack valuables in outside pockets, monitor bags during checkout |

The Hotel Safe Hack I Actually Use

If I'm forced to use a hotel safe (some hotels require it for liability), here's my move:

1. Set a unique code: Never use birthdates, PIN codes, or patterns. I generate a random 6-digit code and store it in my password manager
2. Document the safe: Photo of the serial number, model, and lock mechanism
3. Only store encrypted backups: USB drives with Veracrypt containers, never raw documents
4. Check for tampering: Before closing, I place a small piece of tape over the door seam. If it's broken when I return, someone opened it

What I Learned the Hard Way

• In Lisbon, I used a hotel safe for my passport. The safe malfunctioned and it took hotel staff four hours to get it open. Nearly missed my flight
• In Chiang Mai, a hostel safe was mounted so poorly I unscrewed it from the wall with a butter knife
• In Buenos Aires, I found my "locked" safe door slightly ajar after housekeeping. Turns out the latch was broken and it never actually locked

The lesson? Hotel safes are a convenience feature, not a security feature. Treat them accordingly.

My Current Travel Security Stack

Here's what I actually carry for valuables protection:

• Pacsafe Travelsafe 5L ($45) - Portable lockbox
• Tile Pro ($35) - Luggage tracker
• Hidden travel pouch ($15) - Under-shirt passport holder
• Decoy wallet ($0) - Old cards and small cash
• Luggage locks ($12) - TSA-approved combo locks for zippers

Total investment: ~$110. Has saved me from theft at least twice that I know of.

Bottom Line

Hotel safes fail because they rely on a single point of failure controlled by someone else. My system works because it's:

• Dispersed: No single theft gets everything
• Layered: Multiple defenses that require different skill sets to defeat
• Portable: I control the locks and locations
• Observable: I know when something's been tampered with

Next time you check into a hotel, skip the safe. Spread your valuables, lock what matters, and keep the irreplaceable stuff on your body.

And if you absolutely must use the hotel safe? At least test the default master codes first. You might be surprised how often 0000 works.