Would you let your child do this or am I over the top?

Exactly what caused my situation. Neighborhood, and entrances.

The people that were in the room full of people were together. Not sitting at tables in twos or threes acting normal.

Oh and asking at reception in the morning, did anyone hand in a key card. Obviously they didn't. So was I right or wrong about the feeling that someone would follow me? Given that one did. I based my suspicions on flights of whimsy or the demeanour of the group of people there?

There qasnt a bar. There was just a reception and two entrances to the street. The people hanging out there together, very late at night in a unexpectedly staffless entrance area in a dump of a city in a filthy hotel didn't look like guests. That was my first clue not to hang about.
Also I know he followed me, because he knocked on my door with an unbelievable lie about why I should open it. Did I imagine that part Sherlock? If he had my key that I'd dropped how did I use it to get into my room

I love how confused you are that I got followed to my room. Isn't it just totally unbelievable that women in sketchy situations can magically sense that they're in them.

Crack heads also came wandering into my private view that night too. Lovely place. Won't be returning

Oh, come off it. A load of strangers and you "assumed" they all knew each other, they all knew the man you think followed you even though you didn't see him, and they were all, each and every one of them dodgy? Seriously? If you were at all bothered about the possibility of being followed from the lift, you'd have stayed in it and gone straight down to reception and stayed there, waited for the receptionist and confided in them. Or gone through to somewhere else you would find staff like a bar. You didn't seriously believe that all these strangers who had done you no harm were all going to gang up to attack you in a public place.

What harm exactly do you think would have come to OP's daughter if she was putting something in a bin next to the door?

Read the OP. The room bin was full.

What bins do you have in a corridor that you need to use? Surely guest bins are in rooms

I also read a lot of true crime and I wouldn't.
What's the point in taking the risk for the sake of it

My 10 year old went down to get water. What is the harm in a hotel? Girls, sadly, need to be able to use their intuition and tools they’ve learned. Having said that it would depend on neighbourhood and entrances.

None of that is how your original post sounded though

It sounded like you walked into the lobby full of people, thought someone was following you so ran to the lift and then to your room.

You've now said they were his friends and then that they were hanging out and then called them dodgy. All very different scenarios

None of which apply to the OP. And the fact its down the corridor not downstairs is entirely relevant

It's a decent hotel and being as the girl only had to walk down a corridor it's pretty clear from the OP that she could have been watched!

I didn't run for the lift. I ran from the lift. Yo my room. Untill he knocked I wasn't sure if I was actually being followed. Should I have gone blundering in a panic down some fire exit stairs that I didn't know where there?
It was full of people hanging out. I assumed they knew each other. It wasn't fu of people in a cheery hotel setting it was full of people in a what the hell are you all doing in here, where the hell are the staff kind of way. Hence why I didn't double back and say to a room full of strangers that gave me the creeps bad enough to run in the first place " hey, are one of you following me? Can you have a word?"

If I'd run for the stairs after exiting the lift I would've ended up back in the reception with all the dodgy people hanging about wouldn't I?
That experience is why I wouldn't let my daughter go any where alone in a hotel.
It doesn't matter where her bins were. I said usually. I don't care if they were next door. OP isn't unreasonable in my book

Foreign countries/ strange places are more risky for young girls.

Every single country is a foreign country for someone 😂

I think a lot of people are being unfair to you OP. She is your daughter. Trust your instincts. Foreign countries/ strange places are more risky for young girls. Obviously if it was a 5 star hotel in a really nice area and you could see the bin from the room then you are being over the top but I don't think it was like that.

My aunt was a hotel manager in US. She undertook a room check after guests departed and that included checking the shelf in the wardrobe - and found a loaded beretta hand gun.
The US is a violent society and their police force poorly trained.
No I wouldn’t let my daughter wander round hotel corridors nor would I do that on my own in the US. Nor on one of those large cruise ships

You ran for the lift, don't go to the lift. Was there stair you could have come back down? You never mentioned it was his friends, you just said "people" and it would be uncommon for reception to be unmanned for a long time. Leading a potential attacker to your door is not a good idea, same as if you're being followed home you should divert to a shop or friendly neighbour.

It was literally IN the OP that bins were on the same floor though

I feel like this as well. I despair. We are doing our kids NO favour by being so excessively hyper alert.
I genuinely would have let my 6 year old do the bin thing. This specific bin thing, not any variation of - eg where they go further or through a door. This particular example would have taken the child 20 seconds in a hotel corridor. It astounds me where some parent's minds go. It must be EXHAUSTING living like that.

I think this hits the nail on the head. There isn’t anything much to be gained by letting her walk along a corridor and put something in a bin.

It’s different from managing to catch a bus for a short trip , read the timetable, get off at correct stop etc in which case skills are being developed as a trade-off.

Some parents may pat themselves on the back that they are developing independence with this but essentially they just can’t be faffed to walk to the bin themselves.

Why I wouldn't let my child do it.

There was no way to double back. As I said , there were no staff in reception only this guys friends.
Generally bins are not on the same floor hence ehy

😂😂

I know what you mean, being in a different country, it's best to have your guard up, you just never know!!

But ur dh should've taken the bin out the clean freak that he is

Everything a child does on their own without a parent or adult standing over them promotes confidence and independence.

This. And extremely unlikely as you’d know exactly where she was - in one of the rooms! If someone did that and thought they’d get away with it they’d be an idiot.

Alsi she’s 12, she should be going out and shouting her own by now. Very much old enough to walk down a hotel corridor on her own. As the pp says I wouldn’t think twice about it.

PPS Having lived there for 15 yrs I don’t need a lecture on the technical differences in the legal system. But from a civilian’s perspective, if I may call it that, the system is reasonably familiar

Sorry, that was in response to @OhMaria2 ’s post at 18.45 discussing why being in a foreign country is relevant. She cited unfamiliar language, different laws, different attitudes towards women, etc. None of which apply in the US