safe depost box

Hi,

Besides sending email to hotel, can I assume if a Barcelona hotel is 4 star, it will have safe (in room or at front desk)? Sometimes hotel fail to mention safe in description.

Also, does older hotel only use key safe (vs digital)? I read review people lost valuables from key safe.

Thanks,

April

If the hotel is 4 star it will have a safe in the room. These days the hotel safes are digital.

LondonTowner,

Thanks for the info.

April

One needs to be very clear about hotel room safes. We use them all the time, but they are not totally secure and not the best place for anything of real value. All European hotels have some type of safe deposit system (fully insured) which is handled at the front desk. Most room safes are not guaranteed for security (there is often a sign disclosing this fact) and you take your chances. If I have a lot of cash or DW happens to be carrying some expensive jewelry we will take advantage of the hotel's main safe deposit system.

Hank

Hank,

Do you mean the front desk safe is safer because it's insured?

Will all hotel have front desk safe?

How does it work? Do I show them what I put in and they sign to confirm?

Thanks,

April

Hank,

 

Do you mean the front desk safe is safer because it's insured?

 

Will all hotel have front desk safe?

 

How does it work? Do I show them what I put in and they sign to confirm?

 

Thanks,

April

The procedures vary with hotels, just like is does with USA hotels. Bottom line is that you simply need to ask :). When we fly into Europe we often arrive at our hotel pretty early in the morning and dump our luggage with the Concierge. But even before we check-in at a hotel we simply go to the front desk and tell them we have some valuables we want to lock-up. Some hotels (usually larger ones) will actually have a safe-deposit vault room and you get a key just like you do with a bank safe deposit. We have also been to some that will either give you a box or a large envelope which you fill and then hand back...and they lock it in a hotel safe and give you a receipt.

Guess I am sensitive to this issue because many years ago my own Mother (long departed) was staying at the rather upscale Plaza Hotel in NYC. She had some valuable jewelry which she locked in her room safe. Returning from dinner she found her safe open and all the better jewels gone (the cheaper stuff was still there). Even the Plaza, being a very high class hotel, refused any liability even though they admitted they knew a professional thief had been targeting their customers. They made it clear that their hotel rules (called tariffs) stated that the hotel was not responsible for anything left in a hotel room..including the safe. And apparently this is supported by the laws of New York State and most other places in the world.

Hank

P.S. My mother was able to collect on her own insurance less the rather large deductible.

Hank,

Thanks for the detail explanation. Just curious, would the receipt indicate what's in the safe?

Thanks,

April

Do you mean the front desk safe is safer because it's insured?

No, the front desk safe is safer because its built to be that way. After all, that's where the hotel stores its money collected from the check out desk, bars, restaurants, and other points of sale. The amount of hotel money being protected is significantly larger than the amount the ordinary individual tourist has on hand. At the least, the safe is located in an area where access is restricted. (In older hotels, occasionally the hotel safe is visible but it's behind the front counter and kept locked except when being accessed. These are the beautiful huge versions with a brass lever handle in the middle of the safe. Truly old fashioned.)

Will all hotel have front desk safe?

Yes. Newer hotels will have their safe in the back office area so although you might not see it, every hotel has one. After all, these safes exist for the hotel to use for its own needs.

How does it work? Do I show them what I put in and they sign to confirm?

Here's what I have encountered:

Some hotels have safe deposit boxes in the back office area. You put your valuables in your assigned box and you keep the key for the duration of your stay. Other hotels store everything in the same safe. If that's the case, they will give you a large brown paper envelope. You put what you want in the envelope and the envelope gets sealed. You are then asked to write your name across the sealed envelope flap. Someone from the hotel does the same thing. This maintains the integrity of your contents even if the envelope gets tossed into the large safe along with other people's valuables and the hotel's money.

There are probably other systems for dealing with individual valuables within the hotel's safe.

ETA: Just realized Hank had already answered this. Oh well, there's a bit of new detail in my post.

Pet Nit Noy,

The new detail is exactly what I'm looking for. I've always assumed that in-room digital safe is safer until Hank mentioned the incident, as I thought too many people can access front desk safe. Your description helped me to know how it works and why it's safer.

Thanks,

April

Hank,

 

Thanks for the detail explanation. Just curious, would the receipt indicate what's in the safe?

 

Thanks,

April

That is a good question and I had to ask DW. Except in one recent case we have always been in hotels that actually had safe deposit boxes like a bank. But on our recent trip to France one hotel just handed us a large manila envelope. We put our valuables (and passports) inside and then sealed the envelope which was put in the hotel's main safe. They gave us a receipt for the envelope. When we later retrieved the envelope it was still sealed and we had to again sign a form. The hotel had no knowledge of what we put in the envelope.

Hank

Other hotels store everything in the same safe. If that's the case, they will give you a large brown paper envelope. You put what you want in the envelope and the envelope gets sealed. You are then asked to write your name across the sealed envelope flap. Someone from the hotel does the same thing. This maintains the integrity of your contents even if the envelope gets tossed into the large safe along with other people's valuables and the hotel's money.

Hank didn't mention signing across the fold of his envelope. If you find yourself in this situation, there is nothing to stop you from signing your name, even more than once, across the flap of the envelope.

The reality is that things you leave in the main hotel safe or hotel safe deposit boxes are more secure -- but less convenient -- than anything left in the room safe. Writing your name across the envelope may give you yet-another level of comfort if you are faced with a shared use safe.