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HOTEL AND TRAVEL (IN) SECURITY for
WOMEN
When you have to grab your briefcase and dash off to some assignment,
there are a thousand and one things on your mind, usually having to do
with taking care of business matters for yourself and everyone else. The
last thing usually on your mind is security, lack of security and potential
perpetrators.
For your own protection on those trips, please read and learn the following:
- If you're traveling alone, for heaven
sake, don't tell that information to anyone! Whether you're in your
home town, or traveling abroad, let everyone, (and we mean everyone)
think you're not alone. (Your husband is right behind you, your boyfriend
is meeting you, your boss or business colleague is joining you, you're
traveling with a group and sharing a room with your associates!) Never
give the impression you are by yourself under any circumstances!
- Even when you check in at the desk,
let everyone think a business associate is expected to join you. When
you're in your room and the phone rings, talk to an "invisible"
husband or male associate and tell the caller your husband or associate
is making so much noise in the bathroom they'll have to speak up.
- If someone phones and says he's hotel
maintenance and asks questions, tell him that you and your husband or
boss will be in your room all evening working, and that everything in
the room is functioning just fine. (Maintenance should not be calling!)
Then contact the desk. Maintenance work is always scheduled to be done
well before your arrival.
- If someone is on the phone representing
himself as a hotel employee, ask for his/her name and tell them you'll
call them right back. When you hang up, call the desk or that department
to verify. If they had no such person authorized to call you, notify
security immediately, and do it yourself - don't rely on others! Someone
may well be "working the hotel" and the sooner security is
notified, the better. (People just accept the word of the caller and
rarely even question it, something a victimizer knows and uses to his
advantage!)
- Women should think twice before going
into their room's alone if it can be avoided. (If you're with a group,
use the old "buddy system.") If you're alone, make up an excuse
to ask for an escort. And NEVER book a hotel without peepholes for looking
out into the hallway. Do not open your door to anyone whom you don't
know!
- Always try to think like the bad guy,
and take every precaution you can imagine. Would a bad guy pose as someone
else? Do the bad guys pose as hotel employees, room service, even the
manager or security officer? The answer is yes/ During the night, tuck
a chair under the doorknob if the locks are of inferior quality or lacking.
Don't leave windows open if there is any kind of access to your windows.
Learn to listen and be alert. Leave your lights on. If you're a woman
alone, consider relinquishing a portion of quiet by booking a room near
heavily trafficked areas like the desk or the bell station or the ice
machine.
- If you put your valuables in the hotel
safe (assuming they have one) get a detailed receipt after a written
disclosure of their insurance coverage!)
- Consider a stroll to the security room
and introduce yourself as Mrs. so-and-so who's traveling and rooming
with a husband or boss or business group. Remember, never give the impression
you're alone, not even to hotel security. While you're looking around,
scope out the security cameras. Are they even on? Are they functioning?
Is anyone actually watching them? Do you see reading material lying
about, and what kind are they? And how many security guards are on the
shift that day or night?
- Be absolutely creative and see if you
can gain access to your own room without showing proof of your identity.
Be fair and do not attempt to gain unchallenged access with housekeepers
or other staff members who already know you.
- For our own business or social trips,
we carry our own locks and keys and advise the desk that the maids will
skip our registered rooms, ("We make our own beds, thank you!")
There are a few things, which the precautionary traveler can do to assist
in his or her own protection, and, we'll list a few:
- Remember that you are on "someone else's turf" and not controlling
your own environment. You have absolutely no idea who may be "working
the hotel", who may be lurking, who may be stalking, and who may
be just plain crazy.
- When you leave your hotel room, leave
lights on and closet and bathroom doors open. Reason? You want the best
inside view possible of all the rooms before re-entering. Never walk
into a dark room.
- Remember that crooks and perverts
don't always took like crooks and perverts.
- Information is valuable to potential
victimizers-don't give it out.
- Make a concerted effort to use the
"buddy system" with people whom you know, or with hotel assistance.
- Ask the professionals (not sales people)
about protective items you can purchase for your travels and solicit
their advice.
The Most Difficult Aspects of Precautionary Travel are "assuming".....not
wanting to know, not finding out what you should know, giving your trust
to others, and not accepting a larger portion of responsibility for your
own safety. You don't want to be paranoid, but you don't want to be a
victim either. Remember that the first step in protecting yourself is
to learn all you can about how "the other guy's" system really
works. This puts you in a far better position to defeat his errors. The
second step is to learn how the bad guys operate. This too, puts you in
a far better position to defeat his intentions.
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