What do you do with your stuff, when in a hotel?

[Stan Smith]

Not the most interesting of posts that im sure you guys are used to. Forgive me. But....

 

When you stay in a hotel without a safe, do you leave your valuables in the room and trust that the cleaner/maid is trust worthy, or do you pass them over to the reception staff?

 

Im off on holiday for a week tommorow, Ko Samui, before i go to BKK for a few days, and my usual hotel does not have a safe. Usualy, whenever i leave the room, i hand my laptop over to the reception staff to take care for me until i get back. Even if its just a couple of hours. They always give me a funny look when i do this, even though there is a sign in the room saying i should do exactly that, or 'som nam naa' if anything happens. Its a nice hotel, not a dive.... and the staff are very proffesional. There is no security though; cameras, security guards. Just the staff, albiet 24/7.

 

I also hide my passport and bank book in some wierd and wonderfull places within the room, before i go.

 

Its a pain in the arse unplugging the laptop, bagging it up, and plugging it back in 3/4 times a day and its even more of a pain climbing all over the furniture to reach that little gap behind the wardrobe where i put my passport etc :smirk:

 

Do i realy need to do this? What do you guys do if there is no safe in the room? A friend of mine from the UK nips over to Bangkok twice a year for a week each time and he leaves his room FULL of gadgets; PSP, Sony Vio Laptop, Blackberry, maybe a decent watch or even a couple of thousand Baht in small notes. He has never had a problem in all the time he has been coming. Then again, he does stay at the Landmark.

 

Am i being a little too cautious? If i had my laptop stolen, i would loose all of my work. The laptop is only worth 35,000 Baht but the stuff that is on it would set me back 6 months, should i loose it. Plus, i dont like the idea of handing over my bank book with all my transaction info and ballance details. Its human nature to be nosey and im sure they would take a peak.

 

Any thoughts?

 

 

[Mekong]

Pay a visit to the nearest pharmacy and get yourself some valium.

 

 

The laptop is only worth 35,000 Baht but the stuff that is on it would set me back 6 months, should i loose it.

 

Back it up then numb nutz

[Stan Smith]

I had a home network - an idle desktop that i didnt use - that i backed up my stuff onto from the old laptop. The Desktop is now buggered, and this is a new laptop.... i cant burn a thing for the time being. It wont let me do it. Any disk i bung in says 'disk not compatible, try another brand' etc etc. Ill figure it out shortly but for now, i dont have the time.

 

Anyway, thats not the point.

 

Why would i need valium by the way? I get by very well on 20 Jack Cokes and an isarn munchkin on a night out....that keeps me sweet and calm. valium or no valium, im fucked if my stuff is stolen from the hotel room which could happen.

[Mekong]

Well why not have a decent hard cased case with locks and combinations and use a good locking device (same as you would use for a laptop) and secure it to a fixed point in your hotel room?

 

This basic form of securety has worked for me in many SE Asian Countries over the years, the reason I advise Valiuim is because you see problems and not basic solutions, and if you are unable to back up your "precious data" I feel so sorry for you.

[samak]

ever heard of a external harddisk?

for around 100 usd you can get one and you can save regularly all your stuff on the PC in a couple of minutes!

 

[rickfarang]

Just be careful to read reviews before you buy. I am starting to regret buying the iomega network drive that I bought last week. Oh, well, I have to make it work -I'm heading back home to Thailand tomorrow, and there is no time to exchange it.

 

I would not leave valuables in a hotel room without a safe. Hand them over to the hotel staff. Any place you can think of to stash valuables is a place that a thief already knows about.

[Guest lazyphil]

put your passport, credit cards etc in a sock you've worn all day. i did this all the time. never lost them.

[Hamokhamok]

Backup - no time mmmmmmmmmmmm

 

I recently had the unfortunate experience of my NEW laptop going Blue Screen on me.

 

I had backed up some weeks earlier but nonetheless I lost an amount of software that I had to load all over again.

 

I now backup all my work as I do it onto a small 80GB hard drive that I use USB to connect to my laptop. I don't go to the toilet now without copying all my work.

 

I backup too on a regular basis.

 

It is foolish (to say the least) not to backup especially any work you have spent hous working on.

 

Ok software can be loaded on again but everything else will be lost.

[The_Munchmaster]

I take my laptop with me to LOS every trip, partly for work reasons and partly for personal. I take it out with me early afternoon, usually to the Hare and Hound which has wireless, and then take it back to the hotel later before heading out for the rest of the day/night. When I take it back to my room I put it back on the desk and plug it in to recharge. It's always there when I get back and to be honest I never worry about it being nicked. Nothing ever has. Don't know why folks are so suspicious.

[mainsail]

There are many online backup services. Use one of those and you don't risk corruption of your CDs or failure of your external hard drive. You can set them up to automatically to backup your stuff regularly wherever you are in the world.