Do you keep your passport in the hotel safe or keep it on your person at all time?

In the past, I've always kept in in my neck pouch. However, I've received conflicting information regarding keeping it in the hotel safe.

Hi CathyM! I just used the SEARCH link above/right and through that found the previous " Hand over your passport, please. " thread. Good luck!

Hi all,

I read through the very interesting "hand over your passport" thread, which I note is mainly focusing on whether we should let the hotel/hostel front desk keep your passport in lieu of outstanding payment.

If CathyM's query is primarily about hotel safe, I may perhaps offer a true incident happened 2 years ago in Madrid. A friend of mine (2 girls in a group) stayed at a 4-star hotel and thought it might be a better idea to leave their passports (British National [Overseas] - in case you have no idea about this, many Hong Kong people held these passports before the handover of sovereignty and there still are HK people using these) in the hotel safe. Guess what happened? The first night they returned to their room, the entire safe VANISHED from the wardrobe!

When asked, the hotel management said they did not have the slightest clue and even refused to call the police for them. As two foreign girls who spoke no Spanish at all, they were very helpless and the only thing they could do was to scream at the front desk until they called the police reluctantly.

Of course they needed to spend quite a bit of time to get the passports replacement (somehow this type of passports and their holders did not and do not get very high priority at a British embassy). I wonder how much they worth in the black market.

This is not the end of the story.

After they returned, they still were very unhappy understandably. They asked a friend, who was an editor in a renowned English newspaper in Hong Kong to write an article on this case. Guess what? The next day after the article was published, the Spain embassy called! The officer said it was a shame and they would try their very best to investigate what had happened.

In another month or so, the embassy actually got hold of the 2 passports and returned them to my friends!!!!! So I guess somewhere someone could always do something behind you.

I know many many people leave their valuables in hotel safes and have never had any problems whatsoever. I am just offering an alternative thought.

We may be too fragile to make sure that bad things don't happen to us, but perhaps we can always a bit more careful.

My advice is to keep your passport with you personally, and perhaps leave only the copy in the hotel safe.

Saludos.

JJB

Hi!

I usually prefer to keep my ID card and my passport with me when I travel abroad. What happens if the police try to identify you in a forgein country and you don't have any document? You normally get in trouble and loose a couple of hours.

Where better than with yourself? If someone rob you they will usually go after money, not your passport, so keep them in separated pockets.

Also, and this is just a clue, if you feel safer you could have a wallet with some money (less than 5.000 pesetas) in case someone rob you, and have another one with the rest of the money as concealed as you can.

Anyway, I'm 23 years-old and I have never been robbed in Madrid nor I have been in a tricky situation with weapons or knifes involved. Of course a tourist is more probable target for robbers (easier to identify, and also easier to intimidate), but just use your common sense and you won't get in trouble. This is not an unsafe country you will find

Fernando

CathyM - Keep your passport with you. Always.
Only somewhat 'tongue-in-cheek' does anyone remember AnchovyFront's tale of woe using the hotel safe while in Madrid?

I always use the safe in the hotel for the mere reason that if you are mugged or lose your belongings, you'll have it safe in the room when you return. I've never had a problem with a hotel safe, and I've stayed in varying classes of hotels. (And what are the odds that your room & yourself would get robbed on the same day?!)

What you should ALWAYS do, however, is have copies of the front page of your passport with you, tucked somewhere else in your suitcase, and even one in the safe too. That way if the real thing gets stolen, it should be much easier to replace it if you have a paper copy to prove it existed at all!

I've always keep my passport in the front desk hotel safe, and asked for a receipt. I never use the safe in my room here or abroad. That's the first place a thief will look. I do take my international driver's license with me in my money belt. That way if I am asked for identification I have something official handy, the authorities can call my hotel for passport verification.
And as the others have adviced already take plenty of copies of your passport. I used to mail a copy to myself at the American Express office of the country I am visiting, or leaving from, in case I loose my passport and luggage, that way there's a copy handy. I usually pick up the letter on my way out.

It never hurts to be careful when you travel.Particularly if you are a woman alone or one traveling with kids.

We usually leave a copy in the room safe, carry photocopies around and leave a photocopy with a friend with a PC and scanner back in the UK, that way we feel pretty well covered.


We did the same with all our insurance and booking details etc for hostals/car etc.

Jo

[ 09-22-2001: Message edited by: Jo-Anne ]

I probably dont want to hear the answers , but I never like to have all my cash with me on trips and put most of it in room safes . Who has some bad experiences to relate and at what hostals please?