Safe place for laptop in a hotel room

[mommy2allyandaveri]

The thread regarding the macbook pro and ipad being stolen right out of a locked hotel room has me concerned.

I just checked the hotel web-site where we have reservations for our DL stay in June. There is no safe in the room.

We will have 2 ipads with us and I certainly don't want them stolen.

If there is no safe in the room where should we put them? A locked car doesn't seem all that much safer to me.

Suggestions? Would a lock on a suitcase be enough?

 

[AmberHeartsDisney]

http://www.maclocks.com/index.php/i-pad-lock.html hope this helps

 

[WDWisTheBest]

The thread regarding the macbook pro and ipad being stolen right out of a locked hotel room has me concerned.

I just checked the hotel web-site where we have reservations for our DL stay in June. There is no safe in the room.

We will have 2 ipads with us and I certainly don't want them stolen.

If there is no safe in the room where should we put them? A locked car doesn't seem all that much safer to me.

Suggestions? Would a lock on a suitcase be enough?

Does the hotel have a safe for guests, other than in the room? You might want to call reservations.

Suggestions? Leave them at home. Put them in the trunk of the car. Leave them at home.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Does the hotel have a safe for guests, other than in the room? You might want to call reservations.

Suggestions? Leave them at home. Put them in the trunk of the car. Leave them at home.

Unfortunately, leaving it at home will not be an option for my husband. He simply can not live without it!

I will call the reservations desk and see what they suggest.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

http://www.maclocks.com/index.php/i-pad-lock.html hope this helps

The problem with this is that they may not be able to use it while they are in our room but they can still walk away with it, then figure out a way to get into it later.

 

[Skatermom23]

When I travel with all my electronic gadgets, I try to request housekeeping at a certain time. Either when I am at breakfast or lunch and take the gadgets with me. At all other times, I have the do not disturb sign on the door and leave the items in the room. There have been times when I don't get housekeeping. It is no big deal. I can always get clean towels and I am capable of making my own bed.

 

[NotUrsula]

Pretty much every hotel has a main office safe. The front desk should be willing to store your valuables in it and give you an itemized receipt for them when they do.

I use a laptop lock in the evenings when I travel for business. There are usually several ways to lock the cable to fixed pieces of furniture or fixtures if you really look around and be creative. (i.e., not just the desk). The longer the cable is the more options you will have. Also, always use a combination-lock cable; the kind with keys are VERY easily jimmied.

Also, if you hide valuable electronics, also hide any cables, cases, or games that go with them; those things lying in plain sight are dead giveaways that the device is somewhere nearby.

NEVER put a laptop under a mattress!! If you forget and sit on the bed you can crack the screen.

 

[Ishy]

Its not 100 percent, but its easy. I put my valuables in my suitcase and lock my suitcase under these circumstances. (my laptop never fits in the small safes). I will either keep the key with me or lock THAT in the safe with my other valuables. Someone (even housekeeping) can walk out of a room with a little digital camera in their pocket, or a laptop can be hidden inbetween towels or under a shirt... a suitcase... its big, its obvious, and the maid should have a good reason for removing it from your room or property - and is quite noticiable on survailance cameras after the fact.

My highly prized digital camera was taken right out of my room. It was on the dresser in the french quarter... I had also observed that the maids left the doors open, with their carts outside, but spent a bit of time in the bathroom.

Was it the maid that took it? Was somone doing the quick in and out? Or perhaps someone bolder just said, oops - forgot our camera! And waltzed in.

It was our last day in the parks, we had been there for 8 days, we decided to go commando and leave everything not obsolutely needed in the room.

We filed a report. I didn't get warm fuzzies from the staff about doing so. Had to wait two hours for someone from security to take the report. I kinda felt like they were - Oh sure, everyone had a camera stolen on the last day... never heard back from them, even followed up with several calls to the number.. nadda. A year later I lost another camera, in Epcot! its my thing.

 

[Disneefun]

Did you see my post? Here is what we do: We take a bike lock along. We lock the laptops in the suitcase with a combination lock. I run the bike lock through the suitcase handles and then lock it to the bed frame and shove it under the bed. (Don't lock it to the leg b/c the bed can be lifted and the lock slid off. Lock it to the long bed rail.) Once, when the bed didn't have a good railing to lock to, I was forced to lock it to an exposed pipe under the sink, but that's rare.

Someone who is desperate can either cut open the suitcase (soft sided) or go get bolt cutters and cut the bike lock, I guess, but then someone that desperate won't be deterred by much. I'm guarding against the snatch and grab, or the unscrupulous housekeeper.

 

[pixiewings71]

Well why don't you download that app that let's you locate your iPad/iPhone and have that just in case, but if you're really concerned what I would do is take them into the parks with you and put them in a locker there.....Put them in a bag big enough for them and small enough for the lockers and secure them there.

 

[Lewisc]

An increasing number of hotels have in room safes large enough for a laptop, sometimes with an electrical outlet for charging.

Locking a suitcase with a bike lock suggests there is something worth stealing in the suitcase. I can see both sides. Just hiding the computer under clothing might actually give better protection.

 

[momof1princess]

you can put your ipads in your largest suitcase, then lock the suitcase with a luggage lock. we always use luggage locks when we travel, for every bag we bring. no thefts thus far.

 

[radev104]

Well why don't you download that app that let's you locate your iPad/iPhone and have that just in case, but if you're really concerned what I would do is take them into the parks with you and put them in a locker there.....Put them in a bag big enough for them and small enough for the lockers and secure them there.

That app doesn't always work. My fiance had his iPhone stolen from the bathroom at his college last year. And even with the app he never got it back. Its easy to wipe an iPhone so we are wary about anything like that.

 

[mommy2allyandaveri]

Thanks for all the great suggestions! I hadn't thought of a lot of these. Thanks!

 

[CC12005]

There is a video on the internet about how you can pick open luggage with just a ballpoint pen & no one will be the wiser afterwards. So just locking the luggage is of minimal use.

 

[labdogs42]

There is a video on the internet about how you can pick open luggage with just a ballpoint pen & no one will be the wiser afterwards. So just locking the luggage is of minimal use.

But it hides the valuables and makes it take longer to steal them. People who steal things from hotel rooms are looking for an easy grab. Locking your stuff in a suitcase makes it less easy and less obvious that there's anything worth stealing there. Heck, I'd just throw my iPad under a pile of dirty clothes and leave it at that!