Hi, Shrimper. Just back from Tunisia on an all inclusive holiday. We had a safety deposit box in the wardrobe in our hotel for which there was no charge.

I think that was a deal I could have gone with,that's even better than cheap.

The first thing we do, as we check in at reception, is hire a safety deposit box. The price does vary but just for peace of mind, we would always hire one. Have been to a few hotels where there isn't a charge, which is a bonus

hi all....subject Ive thought about in the past...maybe some one with more knowlege can clarify things..
I always use a safety deposit box...and was told one time that part of the fee is insurance...have also read but cant remember where ...that if your box gets broken into you are entitled to ??? amount of compensation within ??? amount of hours...or before you leave the hotel....I have been given a receipt in the past which told me what amounts ect I was insured for...but cant properly remember now what it said...so I have happilly paid my £10 to £15 for peice of mind

When you pay a fee for your deposit box you have paid insurance....but what is the possision if you are given it for free and it is tampered with or been stolen from...

Being me Im going to tell you a story....I paid for use of a box....no key...make up your own code...buttons to press.....got given a peice of paper explaining how to use it...couldnt get it to work...so reception sent man up to sort it....he just pulled out a plastic knob inserted something in the hole behind it...it overode all the codes ect...door opened and it was working again...

every so often over my hols I had a quick check...kept thinking cant believe Ive spent that much...at end of hols there was atleast 200 euros I couldnt account for...but thought Id probably forgotten stuff ....though Im usually good at totting up ect

Then chatting with someone a good while after about hols I mentioned Id gone through a lot more cash than I thought I would have done
Havent time now but will tell you what I was told tommorrow

Based on reports in the past on HT the so called insurance cover often has a cap on the total amount. For anyone tempted not to bother if you try to claim on your own insurance then if you have not put things such as money, passport, cards then they will likely not pay out.

fwh

always the first thing we ask for after checking in.usually about £20,of which half is refundable at end of holiday.
percy123.

YOu definitely won't be able to claim on your hol insurance if anything valuable (including cash)in your room is stolen and it wasn't in the safe. I know from experience. Thought we'd hidden the money well but obviously not. Won't make the same mistake again. Even if (as some say) cleaners can tamper with it and steal, you'll at least be able to claim from the insurance (barring any excess).

I always use a safety deposit box. Most places we've stayed at the box has been in our room free of charge!

shirley h wrote:

YOu definitely won't be able to claim on your hol insurance if anything valuable (including cash)in your room is stolen and it wasn't in the safe.

Not strictly true. Our policy actually covers anything stolen from our "locked accommodation" as well as safety deposit box.

However I would imagine there may be a problem claiming if there was no forced entry.

At one hotel we stayed at in Cambrils there were a lot of rooms burgled over a period of days. Every one of them had taken the safety deposit box which was either broken into or removed from the wall altogether.

luci

hi all...sorry but had to get off to work last night... but as promised Ive returned to tell you what I was told...

For my own and obvious reasons I cant tell you names places ect....but its from a very honest source...and it really did happen...and so am posting this to warn others....I have used these boxes every time I go away and never had a problem...and will always use one in the future but will in the future be taking more notice ...will be taking my own little cash box to put cash in before I put it in safety deposit box...and keep a peice of paper in it to note down what Ive taken out and how much is left each day ..

This is what I was told.....They had a free box in their room....they had taken foriegn currency out ..enough for about 4 days....they put a set amount in their wallet for first day...putting the rest in the safety deposit box and went out for the day ...not returning till tea time.......

on the morning of the second day they had a liitle bit of cash left from the previous day but still took the same set amount of cash from their safety deposit box ....and same as the day before went out not returning till tea time ..

on the morning of the 3rd day they went to take that days set amount ...in addition they had decided to go pay that day for an excursion.... so he counted that out to take with them as well....after counting it out it was obvious something wasnt right ...there was less money than there should have been....and they knew what they'd put in and what they had spent

They knew that by taking the cash for the excursion they wouldnt have enough for the next (4th ) day...and had planned to get currency the next morning to replace the excursion money and for another 3 days...

The next morning his wife woke with a bit of a headache ...so she took a few paracetamol and had an extra hour in bed...while he nipped out to get the currency...when he came back wife was fine and ready to go out..

He put enough cash for the day again in his wallet...and put the rest with the remaining cash in the safety deposit box....he re counted it all again as it had bothered him the night before...and went out for the day again on an excursion ....when they went back that night he decided he would count the money again...the box had been locked properly again with the key everytime he'd been in it...he was shocked to find the money had gone down...not wanting to cause an upset over something he couldnt prove....he left it

But the next day he decided instead to use some of the the cash left to pay for another excersion they wanted to go on.... and keep the rest on him...which he did... he decided to just get cash then as he needed it..

That would have been the end of the story if the wife hadnt left her rings by the bathroom sink...she'd left earings and bits in the room before...and nothing had been touched...theyd not got far from the hotel when she realised...and after the money going missing she was really worried ...and so they went straight back..

When they got back to their room they found a man in there with the safe deposit box open he had the big brown envelope in his hands that the money had been originally kept in along with their passports and tickets.....

The man who told me this story is a person who doesnt like trouble...but can sort it out if he needs to ...he kept the man there while the wife phoned the reception...she asked them to call the police....when the manager and owner came to the room they hadnt called them...there was an argument...my man said he was really worried ...he was on his own with the wife and there was 3 of them....but he stood his ground...he had put the envelope with theifs prints on in the wifes hand bag by then ...and began to walk away...when he reached the room door he told them he was going to get the police to sort it ...there was by then other guests around...and he felt a bit safer

Once the owner realised he would go to the police he looked worried ...began apologising ...said he would replace whatever money had gone missing....asked him not to involve the police ...said was all a mistake the man had gone to the wrong room...he was opening the box for some one who had lost their key....my man didnt believe a word of it but in the circumstances he accepted apologies ect ....the owner gave him what he said had gone missing ...and for the rest of their stay didnt charge him for drinks....but my man couldnt wait to get out of the hotel and was glad they'd only booked a week and not 2

The man had watched them leave the hotel together each day...it was very basic SC ...and most people went out after breakfast and didnt return till untill later to get a shower and changed to go out for for their evening meals and to the bars , clubs ect ...it looked like he was making a visit each day and taking small amounts...that the more you had the less you would notice

I really hope I am wrong...I hope it really was my mistake....and the same thing hadn't been happening to me....This was the first time I was ever unsure about how much Id spent...and no matter how mant times I wrote every thing down I was still was short...maybe Id given the lads a bit more cash than I thought I had ....but not 200 euros worth....

Sorry to be so long winded...any one else spent more than they could account for

I still trust using a box ...but will be more aware and take steps to avoid it happening to me if I can now....even in the nicest barrel of apples you may still find a worm

When taking out insurance I always make sure it covers items stolen from a "locked room" and not necessarily from a safe!

I have posted a separate topic but we had money taken from the safe in the room.
I said to my OH that I thought money was missing, he just thought I had spent it by mistake, checked amount in the morning went out all day, on our return checked again and money was definatly missing, we then got our friends to check their money and another couple we had met too, and all had a little bit taken.

At this point we went to reception to complain, and told everyone within earshot to go and check their safe, this is where it came to light that the staff were dipping into many of the guests safes. I lost the plot at this point and to cut a long story short.....everyone in the hotel knew about it!!! we even put up posters (inside of the lift doors etc)to make other aware of what was happening and told all the reps.

After that we have always been a little wary of putting our valuables in these types of safe so we bought from e-bay tamper proof stickers that read VOID if peeled of and will not re stick if removed these need to be put on the centre part of the safe as this is the bit that can be removed to reveal the lock, or you could put a fresh one on when you open the door.

I hope this makes sense Trina

PS just looked £3.99 (£1.00 p&p) for 50!!!

Thanks Travellingtrina - going to look them up on ebay now.

I get a bit confused..if they safe is 'over-ridden' by someone else..would not the code you put in then become defunct?

Is it possible to post the link to these labels?

The centre section of the safe can be pulled off which reveals a lock and a "master" key can be used to open the safe and as far as I know it does not effect the combination that we programmed in, this would make sense as just a little money at a time went missing.

I will PM you with the item number

just put the tamper proof stickers each end of the electronic safe where the centre section is, so you will only need two or you could put on on the door but you would need to replace it every time the door opens! and if you are anythinf like me you always forget to put someting back!!!

Regards Trina

Oooh Trina could you please post it to, as it sounds like a very good idea, this as happened to us before i am sure but never want to think that this could be happening. I remember last yr when we was in Goa that a lady in our hotel had stuff taken, and said that she was going to get the police in, The hotel staff where terriable too them after. they moved out in the end because they made there life unbareable.
Pip
x

Hi Walks,

will do!!!.......I did'nt get the red hair but I got the paddy!!!!

Trina

thanks for this information

found these:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/50-Void-Security-labels---Tamper-Evident%2fTamper-Proof_W0QQitemZ270476171714QQcmdZViewItem?rvr_id=&rvr_id=&cguid=23f6b6c11250a0aad2337703ffe701e7

now this is where i get really paranoid - what if the person accessing your safe has similar stickers and can replace them - would it be worthwhile writing your signature or something on the label so that if the label was tampered with, it could be seen easily?

It only happened to us once but that is enough to make you wary,
make it as difficult as possible to get to your hard earnt money..... the labels once peeled off cannot be restuck and read VOID there are others that totally disintergrate if peeled off, if you feel safer sign your name over it, originally my OH took a lockable cash box (to put in the safe) but this was quite heavy and bulky so then we invested in the pacsafe travel safe for extra security.

Principle of it I would give anything to anyone (within reason!) but If someone stole even a penny from me I would get the hump.

......on a lighter note on the same holiday we were scuba diving and my o/h left his money belt in a changing room with a lot of money and bits and every single thing remained untouched.

Don't be too paranoid......says she who after a neighbour kept on taking my pegs off the washing line wrote stolen from... on each one!!!!!

Don't be too paranoid......says she who after a neighbour kept on taking my pegs off the washing line wrote stolen from... on each one!!!!!

BRILLIANT pmsl!