3 days ago
What's The Most Dangerous Room In A Hotel?
This summer, don't take hotel security for granted. Here are some strategies for a safer stay. getty
When you check into your hotel, you might want to ask where your room is located. Chahanler Marks wishes he had when he stayed in a hotel in St. Louis recently.
He ended up on the ground floor, in a room with a sliding door that led to a patio.
"I didn't think much of it at first," remembers Marks, an IT specialist from Chattanooga, Tenn. "But around 2 a.m., I woke up to the sound of movement outside. I brushed it off as paranoia until I noticed the sliding door was slightly open. I knew I had locked it before bed. Nothing was missing, but the latch looked like it had been messed with. I barely slept the rest of the night."
There are so many unknowns about hotel safety. For example, how often are hotel rooms burglarized? No one reports these statistics in a centralized way. Are hotels becoming crime magnets? Again, no statistics, so we have no idea.
What we do know is that many travelers are worried about hotel security — perhaps more than ever. Kim Kardashian's robbery at gunpoint in a Paris hotel back in 2016 made the issue real for many travelers. We live in troubling times, and each hotel break-in gets amplified on social media. The fear is enough to keep you up at night, and even ruin your hotel stay. These are the most dangerous rooms in a hotel
Marks says he learned a few lessons about hotel safety.
"Now I always request a room on a higher floor, ideally somewhere between the third and sixth," he says. "Too low and you're an easy target. Too high and you run into fire safety risks."
He also avoids rooms near emergency exits or stairwells — places where someone could slip in and out without being seen.
"Every time I check into a hotel, I do a quick security sweep: double lock the door, check that the windows are secure, and wedge a doorstop under the main entrance," he says. "It might seem like overkill, but after that experience, I'd rather be cautious."
But the biggest mistake he made was failing to ask where the room was. Most hotel guests just accept the room they're given. But that room could be anywhere in the hotel. Stay off the ground floor
If there's any consensus among security experts, it's this: Ground floor rooms are risky, mostly because they're easy to break into.
Other dangerous accommodations:
Connecting doors. Sheri Howell recalls staying in a room with a connecting door. She checked to make sure it was locked when she arrived. "At some point during the day, a hotel staff member must have unlocked it," says Howell, who works for a traveler protection membership program in Birmingham, Ala. "That night, around 2 a.m., I woke up to a very large, seemingly intoxicated man in his underwear barging into my room, having mistaken it for a bathroom. Thankfully, his wife quickly pulled him back. But it was a terrifying moment that could have ended much worse."
Emergency exits. Jenny Lynn Anderson was assaulted during a hotel stay in Atlanta several years ago. "The room was the last one at the end of the hallway, beside the emergency stairwell," says Anderson, the CEO of a marketing company. "I personally believe this is a terrible place to choose because you are more vulnerable there." The man escaped easily and they never found him.
Rooms with less foot traffic and surveillance. Chad Barnsdale, a former hotel worker, remembers a break-in at his hotel in Miami Beach. "It was right next to a service entrance and had a window facing a relatively quiet side street," he recalls "The guest lost their laptop and some jewelry," Barnsdale says the incident changed his entire perspective on hotel security. For him, the most vulnerable rooms were at the end of hallways. "There's less foot traffic, and that equals less natural surveillance."
I've never been robbed, but I was once mistaken for a hotel burglar. I was staying at a beach resort in St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands. After taking a long walk along the beach, I headed back to my ground-floor room. As I grabbed the door handle to open the sliding door, I heard a "NO!"
In the distance, I saw a panicked couple waving and screaming to get out of their room. I had gone to the wrong room — an easy mistake to make, since there are no room numbers on the beach side. I sheepishly backtracked, apologized profusely, and finally found my room. Which hotel rooms are safer?
The expert advice on this is remarkably consistent:
Mid-level floors are the safest. But don't go too high because evacuating during a hotel fire might be a challenge.
Request a room near the elevator but not next to the elevator or the ice machines. Hotel elevators and ice machines are noisy. You want to be at least three doors down in either direction. The foot traffic will deter opportunistic thieves.
Get a standard room. A suite or corner room may be more vulnerable because a determined burglar may assume you have high-value items in it. Stick to the smaller room (you'll save money, too).
"Check the security features," advises Jascha Lewkowitz, who runs a bike tour company in Rio de Janeiro. "Ensure your room has a deadbolt, security latch, and a peephole." If it doesn't, you can always improvise by using a portable door lock or wedge to provide extra protection. Be smart when you book a room
I've seen a lot of stupid things in hotels, when it comes to safety. And I have done a few stupid things, too — like the time I checked into a ground-floor room in Phoenix and left my sliding glass door to the pool unlocked at night. (My teenagers escaped to the game room. That could have ended badly.)
But the dumbest thing I've ever seen is watching people check in and announce their room number for everyone to hear. It's an easy thing to do. Try it with me: "How do I get to room 1234 from here?" But in a public lobby, people are listening, and as they say, loose lips sink ships. Or at least, they can lead to unwelcome hotel guests at 2 a.m.
So the next time you check into a hotel, don't just hand over your credit card and accept whatever room key they slide across the counter. Ask questions. Do a little detective work. Because that 'cozy' ground-floor room with the charming patio might as well come with a neon sign flashing 'Welcome, Intruders!'
The truth is, hotel safety isn't just about luck — it's about strategy. Request a mid-level floor, double-lock your door, and for heaven's sake, don't announce your room number like you're hosting a midnight meet-and-greet. A little vigilance can go a long way in ensuring a safe hotel experience.
