To think DP is overly paranoid in hotels/apartments

[LaDamaDeElche]

Whenever I stay in a hotel with DP he puts a chair against the main door at nighttime, the door is locked, the hotel has cctv and security, so for me this is a bit overly paranoid. We stayed in an apartment for the first time - they have security guards patrolling the area, so very safe - and I woke up the first morning to see he'd dragged an ottoman from the hallway and put it against the locked door. I've talked to him about it before and he said his dad always did it when he was a kid, so it's clearly learned paranoia. Does anyone else do this or are DP and his dad a little bit much in their security consciousness, or is this common and I'm just really lax with mine?! 😂

In Spain and we live here too, so travelling in our own country - Andalucia, Valencia...places like that. It's generally a very safe country, except for a couple of the big cities.

I am careful to ensure the hotel bedroom is locked. But that's it.

So does the door handle.

Chances are hugely higher of someone getting into your room in a hotel. I've lived in a house my whole life, never been burgled once unless you count an Amazon driver accidentally locking himself in as burglary.

Conversely I stay in hotels maybe ten-fifteen times a year, and I've had housekeeping walk in more times than I can count, three instances of key card mix ups resulting in randoms walking into my room, two thefts by housekeeping and one break in. Hotels and aparthotels are not as secure as people would like to think, and definitely more likely to be targeted than the average house.

Not really, not as much as something hanging from it does.

If the person trying your hotel door hears the jangle of a coat hanger it's more likely they'll hear it, know you've put at least one thing in place to alert yourself and there may be more things to inconvenience them.

If you are also a light sleeper it can help wake you up if it happens.

It's just an extra simple but of warning system that doesn't take much effort to implement.

What sort of places did the family stay in when he was growing up?

Leaving solo travellers out of the equation is there a need for it?

I was in a hotel over the summer that had no internal lock or chain and I put the ironing board in front of the door.
DH thought I was bonkers.

@LaDamaDeElche
An apartment in Spain ? No I would have no worries there, although I would make sure that the door was locked.

There’s always so many posts like these. They make my bloody run cold.

have you asked him what would happen in a fire if you either needed to escape or if the emergency services need to break in?

Just normal hotels. Nothing fancy. As far as I'm aware nothing happened to prompt this.

I haven't, but this thread has made me think about that. I suspect that had t occurred to him either, as he is focussed on the security aspect.

*hasn't

A bit?!

I’ve been solo travelling for decades and never felt a need for it, apart from total dive hostels when backpacking

Well if he’s paranoid he needs to start being paranoid about the right things.

A wedge or lock is the absolute worse thing you can do if someone needs to get in the room in an emergency. You are trapped

after being giving a room where a man was in the shower with his clothes n the bed getting the wrong allocated room is very possible

agree something that makes noise or something that can be moved easily in an emergency (bag/stool) is the way to go

I would worry more that it would stop someone getting in to help me in an emergency.

I'm far more scared of being in a fire then of someone coming into my room. In four decades of frequent travel, including 15 years of travelling solo, I've never had anyone enter my room accidentally or otherwise.

The only time I've used a chair was in a small hotel in Tanzania where I seemed to be the only guest, and the hotelier creeped me out.

as pp have said, I’ve stayed in hotels loads and had housekeeping and randoms try the door, once had a key mix up , had 2 middle of the night evacuations due to fire alarm. never have I had a medical emergency or needed people to get to me. So will always use a wedge, take a torch and leave my shoes and car keys by the door in case of emergency.

When my grandson was about 10 months old we had a family weekend away in a hotel.
Down at breakfast I asked how they'd all slept. My daughter in law said she'd sat up all night. I asked if the baby had been unsettled. She didn't reply so I said to my son that surely he hadn't let her sit up all night with a fractious baby while he slept. He told me the baby had slept straight through.
I asked what the problem was. She said she was worried someone would steal a ladder, put it up against their window, come in and kidnap the baby
. I should say they were on the 3rd floor and the windows had security locks so you could only open them about an inch. She was upset that my son didn't take her concerns seriously. He said he'd told her she was being ridiculous and he wasn't sitting up looking at a window all night.

I asked where this worry had come from , she said the papers were full of babies being kidnapped. I tried to gently suggest that it was highly unlikely especially as they were both in the room with him. But she wouldn't have it.
She asked my son if he was going to sit up that night. He said of course if the baby was fractious but if it involved just looking at a window again while the baby slept well, like a baby then no. Needless to say she wasn't happy.

I've read of at least three different cases of women being raped by hotel workers in the UK. Hotels aren't necessarily choosy about who they employ and these people have the keys to your room. At lot of criminals are opportunistic as well. Someone gaining access to your room via a keycard error could just decide to steal something or attack you.

Stick the do not disturb on the door.

@MonsteraMama please could you share the wedge you bought? Wanted to order from Amazon, but the reviews aren’t great. Thank you 🙏

I'm team DH too. Safety first.