To take an extra door lock to a hotel?

[MrsSchrute]

I'm travelling alone for work next week, staying overnight in a hotel.

I'm thinking of buying an extra lock to secure the hotel door, I've read too many threads on here about people walking into hotel rooms to feel totally relaxed!

Am I being overcautious? Have you used an extra lock? Is there one you would recommend?

Try it at home. Roll a towel up and push it tight against the bottom of the door (assuming carpeted floor btw) and then try and open your door and see what happens.

Does anyone else remember this post from last year? The OP of the thread was woken by the hotel receptionist in her room at a Travelodge. She posted footage of his behaviour after the incident. He was known to the police and hadn't been DBS checked.
https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/uk/4853593-hotel-safety
I found her account horrifying and would definitely consider a wedge or lock if I was travelling alone. A similar thing happened to a friend who was holidaying in France as a student - although in that case the hotel receptionist was hiding in her room when she returned in the evening so an extra lock wouldn't have helped. Just because these incidents don't make the news, doesn't mean they don't occur.

I travel a lot for work and most hotels I've stayed in recently have only had the kind of lock that automatically opens when you turn the handle from the inside. It wasn't very reassuring when someone tried to get in my room at 4am last month. Undoubtedly drunk and mistook their room but it still didn't do a lot for my blood pressure.

I'm going to look at a wedge now.

Ah that makes a bit more sense. I was thinking of the usual hard floor.

Real housewife of Cheshire Tanya also.

https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/real-housewives-cheshire-star-tanya-4975906.amp

My advice is to make sure the receptionist doesn't announce your room number! They should pass it to you written down. I have refused a room when they have said it out loud, and told them that they now need to (silently) allocate me a new room.
I also compliment those who do it correctly.

Maybe it depends on the hotel type - I'm usually in chains like Radisson or Hilton because they're always central, clean and feel safe - my expense account is pretty good.

I wouldn't be too sure about Hiltons.

See this thread on what happened to one woman staying at a Hilton on expenses.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5084579-sister-just-had-some-guy-walk-into-her-hotel-room

I used to work away a lot, never had an issue with anyone getting in to the room- but did have a fire in a hotel in the middle of the night- which was a little scary. Whatever you get as an extra safety measure (which I think is a great idea) make sure you can get out quickly too

TBH I don't think any hotel is completely safe but I always have felt safe in the ones I've stayed in.

And come to think of it, one of the hotels where I walked into an obviously occupied room with a genuine, working key card was a Hilton.

Is it a really dodgy hotel? I travel for work regularly and it wouldn’t cross my mind to do this but to be honest I stay in chain hotels large ones in main cities nothing rough or dodgy,

I find this bizzare, what’s the odds of someone smashing her hotel room door down and raping her? Has that ever happened?

You just set the alarm up so it goes off if the door is opened.

I travel for work and every single hotel room I have ever stayed in has had a separate physical lock - a chain or bolt or one of those flip over bars. In 25 years of professional travel the only person I have heard of assaulted in their room had someone come in through their sliding door to the garden, which was not locked.

I check all the doors in my room when I first get into it, and there are always extra security latches. I mainly stay in high end chains. The only places I have not found these locks have been low budget B&Bs.

Please don’t wedge your door shut. The risk of not being able to escape in a fire, or for rescuers not to be able to get in, actually makes me want to cry.

Double lock the door, use the chain / bar.

PS I do stay in some dodgy counties and cities, and find the dodgier the country, the more likely the hotel is to have better security.

One of my colleagues was a victim of a high profile kidnapping and beating recently, so I am pretty hot on hotel security. He was kidnapped outside of our safe zone though.

I know many more colleagues who have been in hotel fires though.

I would usually say that you are being over cautious but Dh had someone walk in to his room last week (premier inn had given her a swipe). He had just got out of the shower and the poor woman was probably more traumatised than him!

I work away a lot and have never had a problem but it is now something that I will consider.

I stay in a lot of premier inns and they all have either chains, or deadlocks. My understanding of the deadlocks is that no standard key card, even the ones used by housekeeping, will open a door which is dead locked. The hotel has very small number of emergency master keys (maybe 2 or 3) held by staff like the duty manager, or head of security, which will open deadlocked doors if needed (such as a fire and rooms need to checked for anyone who couldn't evacuate) . I've been in other hotels which have also had deadlocks. I always use the deadlock as soon as I enter a hotel room and never felt the need for anything else.