3 Inexpensive Hotel Safety Tips

Excited travelers who just want to get out of the hotel room and enjoy the sites often overlook simple hotel safety tips. Taking a few inexpensive precautions to keep your room secure only takes a few minutes and requires little effort. Be sure to think about the safety of your hotel room the next time you travel, especially if you have expensive or sentimental items left behind in the room.

Bring a nightlight. When staying in a hotel room, bringing a nightlight helps to avoid frustration for both adults and children. Staying in a strange, dark room can be uncomfortable for people of all ages. Leaving a standard light on in the room is usually too bright and using the television as a lighting source is much too distracting, especially for children. For the perfect ambiance while staying in a hotel room, pack a soft nightlight or two which cost just a few dollars each.

A nightlight placed in the bathroom is ideal for nighttime trips to the toilet while another placed in the room reduces any anxiety caused by staying in an unfamiliar environment. Hotel rooms typically have a multitude of outlets available for use, so using a few nightlights should not pose any interference with other electronic devices such as alarm clocks or cell phone chargers.

If traveling with children, choose a fun nightlight that is new and exciting, such as an LED glitter lamp or a paper lantern. This type of diversion helps to take the fear of the strange place away from the kids at bedtime. Alternately, using the child's favorite nightlight from home adds a sense of safety and security. It all depends on the child.

Use the do not disturb sign when venturing out of the hotel room. Placing the do not disturb sign on the door even when you are not there allows potential thieves to think you are still in the room. Most thieves will not take the chance, even though they know it is likely you just forgot to take it off the doorknob before leaving for the day.

Arrange a specific time to have the room made up when you are there, or during a quick window such as when you are at breakfast downstairs in the hotel. Then before leaving for the day return to your room and place the do not disturb sign back on the doorknob for added hotel safety. Since the sign is free, thhis hotel safety tip costs nothing at all.

Leave the television on. Okay, it may not seem like the most environmentally friendly thing to do, but if you are seriously concerned about the safety of your belongings, it is a great idea to leave the television turned on while you are not in your hotel room. Potential thieves will be leery about entering a room that has the sound of the television heard through the door even if knocks go unanswered. It may cost the hotel electricity, but it will not cost you, the guest, a dine to take advantage of this easy hotel safety tip.

To ensure the sign stays on after the cleaning staff leaves, be sure to return to your room and turn it back on. If the cleaning staff sees that you have left the television on, they will turn it off after completing their job. Pair this hotel safety tip with leaving the do not disturb sign on and your room is twice as likely to be passed by potential thieves.