To not sleep in a room I can't lock with 20mo?

[guild]

On holiday with 20mo. Just me and her in a room. Room has a sliding door balcony and the door won't lock (lock is broken). It's not a single balcony, it's one long balcony that connects all the rooms on this floor (maybe 10 or 12).

In theory, anyone from another room could come in in the night. I've contacted the emergency number but they don't see it as an emergency and won't change us to a room where the door locks. It's a budget hotel and there's no reception during the night. I cannot sleep knowing anyone could come into the room and harm us or take DD without me knowing.

Would you sleep under these conditions?

I am always more wary on holiday particularly if on my own .Feel more vulnerable in a hotel or apartment if anything goes wrong.
Yes definitely would not be happy or feel secure with a toddler.

This happened to us in a very lovely hotel all of about 5 miles from Praia da luz in portugal.

I did not like it at all. Hotel made out that I was some kind of loon.

there was nothing to be done at 9pm at night but they did put in not great fix the following day.

yanbu at all for not being happy

🙄 what just like the posters telling her she’s being dramatic, jumping at the chance to show off about how cool and chilled they are?

And Im a grown up darling, I don’t need an excuse to swear.

Baby or not I would like to be able to lock my door!

Did you mean to be so utterly incorrect?

I agree with you op. my younger child would have been crawling, investigating, escaping, planning et cetera. I think I may have been similar as a child, one of my earliest memories is going on holiday with my parents and they didn't feel the balcony was safe (I had a younger sibling too) and we were moved to a ground floor apartment. I was about 3 and my brother would have been 1, so they wanted to RELAX on holiday. Not unreasonable.

If we use the logic of many on here why bother with smoke and fire alarms given that your place is unlikely to burn down. For that matter why bother with home insurance when you are probably never going to be burgled.

Agree it's not unheard of for men to come in to your room, granted, it was 2000, has anything changed. I went to greece with a colleague but she messed up slightly with the dates and was basically told, if you're not here for xxxx then we can do without you. So I flew out without her and she was to join me five days later which she did. But fckni hell I had attracted some sort of 'status' in the hotel. I am so average, in height, looks, demeanour but I had every creep working for the hotel wandering uninvited in to my room (well, two of them) and everywhere I went I was stared at. I know this was 24 years ago but omg, there are places where a woman on her own is perceived like a prostitute.

Firstly I think there's minimal chance of someone breaking in at night and harming you or your child. It's probable that I would likely have the door/window open anyway for air flow however I know I tend to take more risks than most. I'm pretty sure my mum, sister and daughter would find this unacceptable.

I'd say the biggest risk comes from when you're not in the room, eg being burgled during the day. I'd be sending an email off and leaving a voicemail immediately stressing your concerns of potential theft and you are presuming the hotel will accept responsibility for any theft from your unsecured room. I would list one or two expensive items and might coincidently find that surprise surprise, my camera has indeed been stolen 😉

Someone mentioned it earlier. I second it. Try to jam the door with furniture and stack up some things that will make a noise if it is opened.
though I don’t think I would sleep. I would not be so worried about abduction, more a child wandering off. Logically, try to sleep and go to bed with your child so you will wake up easily with them.

Perhaps mumsnet could start a "Please Validate My Opinion" board for posters that can bear to hear no opinion but their own?

Don't do it.

Pack all your stuff up, get your baby, go down to reception and tell them they need to find you another room because the one they originally gave you isn't safe. And stay there until they do.

And everytime a customer walks past say loudly to the receptionist "Have you found a safe room for us to stay in yet". They'll soon find you something, trust me, been there done that.

The people telling OP it's no big deal I guarantee would be first in line to absolutely slam her if she just went to bed and the baby was abducted/wandered off...

I second that proposal.

Exactly! Women get called hysterical, dramatic, paranoid, attention seeking if they try to keep themselves safe. And if they're attacked, the same people will say 'what was she wearing, why was she out after dark on her own, why did she have a drink, why wasn't she more careful?' We absolutely cannot win.

And plenty of opportunistic thefts and sexual assaults happen in hotel rooms, it's not dramatic to acknowledge that - plus, you've paid for your accommodation and having securely locking doors is a pretty basic expectation.

Not to mention the risk of the toddler going wandering.

Your opinion that this is perfectly safe has no validity.

I note that the OP hasn't returned to the thread. I wonder if she took a closer look at the way the balcony doors worked and discovered that you can't open them from outside?

It really isn’t that rare, I know several people it has happened to, and there have been multiple reports on Mumsnet of this happening. Usually it is to steal wallets and bags, but there have also been sexual assaults on lone female travellers.
Level of risk depends on the hotel and location, but even in the UK this happens often enough to be a risk. Eg the X Factor contestant who was raped in her hotel room while competing. The rapist was a hotel employee.

In your opinion, Starlight Gin...

@StarlightGin where have I said any such thing? Much like the OP I wouldn't be happy about this at all.

What I'm objecting to is the sheer refusal of some posters in this thread to countenance any views except their own.

@WhatsCookingFlora i don’t even think this falls into ‘cool mum’ territory

more ‘shit mum’

if you don’t care whether your small child can get onto a balcony undetected you’re a poor excuse of a parent.

OP - YANBU I’d refuse to sleep there, contact your travel insurance and see if you can move hotels

I take personal safety very seriously. There's no way I'd feel safe in this room.

I would just put something against the door and sleep

A recent thread had the OP berated for not locking her door during the daytime when she was in the house.

This thread has people berating the OP for daring to be unhappy that there is no lock on a shared balcony on holiday surrounded by strangers (presumably abroad).

OP YANBU. Most people would want to keep their child safe from others or from falling off a balcony.

I would sit in reception until they find you another room with a locking door as suggested by PP.

I had a connected balcony on holiday this year and I admit that it did make me slightly nervous.