Portable safes

[Keen Punter 272]

Somebody a while back posted a link for a lockable travel type safe for keeping your belongings in.

I can't for the life of me find it, can anybody point me in the right direction ?

Ta

[Billions 687]

The products that get repeated mentions are "milockie" and "pacsafe". Must be one of these?

[VPI78 11,528]

http://www.pattayatalk.com/forums/topic/41602-pacsafe-innersafe/?hl=pacsafe

[streeteats 30]

I believe that was me. Pretty simple. Pick your self up a good steel tool box that takes a pad lock. You can fill it with stuff when packing so your not out the luggage space. Get one of those bike cables that's loops on both ends. Choke it (putting one loop thru the other) around your toilet or sink drain pipe. Now hide it. Need e you can throw some laundry over it to cover it up. I don't think to many of them are gone to go thru your laundry on the bathroom floor looking for valuables. If you don't have any laundry fake it with a few t shirts or something. I always include a pair of underwear to give it the growdy effect and keep them away from it. But even if they do find it, unless they are a locksmith or carry a pipe wrench with them, it won't really matter much. Another advantage is that when you come back to your room you can excuse your self to the bathroom and circumvent that awkward moment of showing you don't trust them. Another good thing is that believe me, not all these hotels practice good key control on those safes. They all have bypass keys. Hope that helps. Any questions, e mail me.

[Keen Punter 272]

Thanks, I am just a bit concerned because I am booked into a hotel in Angeles and a pal alleges he had money stolen out of the safe.

[Butch 3,456]

Streeteats is right, but if you can't source a small steel box then get a length of wire from a hardware store and either make the loops in each end yourself using a couple of small wire loop shackles, then get a good padlock and wrap it around your case and onto something fixed into the ground.

 

Never, ever trust in room safes anywhere (have a look on youtube as to how to open them) and don't, under any circumstances trust reception staff / hotel safety boxes whatsoever while in the RP.

[Gary 4,119]

When I was still in tourist mode, I carried mt US bank ATM card and kept a credit card hidden in my luggage. Both these cards are rather expensive to use regarding fees but I paid those fees in exchange for peace of mind. It makes me too nervous to have a large amount of money in a hotel room, any hotel room.

[too_mutt 10]

It seems like the consensus is that it is safer to lock your money and passport in the luggage as opposed to a room or front desk safe. Some front desk safes may be okay depending on the place though. (In Pats that is) Agree that RP is another story.

[nkped 1,208]

It seems like the consensus is that it is safer to lock your money and passport in the luggage as opposed to a room or front desk safe. Some front desk safes may be okay depending on the place though. (In Pats that is) Agree that RP is another story.

I would not describe that as a consensus!

 

Front desk safes always struck me as one stop shopping for thieves. I'm glad I have not encountered a hotel which had them in several years.

 

I use in room safes as it beats most of the alternatives. A few years back, I checked into the Residence Garden and found the safe was locked. I told the front desk. A young woman came to the room with a hand held electronic device. She had the safe open in a couple of minutes.

[jacko 8,822]

I would not describe that as a consensus!

 

Front desk safes always struck me as one stop shopping for thieves. I'm glad I have not encountered a hotel which had them in several years.

 

I use in room safes as it beats most of the alternatives. A few years back, I checked into the Residence Garden and found the safe was locked. I told the front desk. A young woman came to the room with a hand held electronic device. She had the safe open in a couple of minutes.

Similarly for me, but the maintenance guy held the computer while a manager entered some codes to pop open the safe.

That little bit of Shakespeare gave me confidence.

I have used room safes extensively in Thailand, my only real issues was but one. A rural hotel that used lock boxes behind reception and something got pilfered.

But you hear of incidents, a pal had his room safe opened while,he believes, he slept in the room. Another hotel loses the complete contents of its safe when it leaves a relatively new employee with the keys..... it need only happen once to be a major problem. Most hotel room safes could be broken into within 5 minutes with tools. Even those that could not can often be carried off and opened elsewhere.

[misteregg 709]

I can recommend Pacsafe. I have two of their bags.

[GearsOfWarBro 2]

I was planning on staying at Tims Boutique , I was going to stay there because I herd they have in room safes, now you guys got me nervous? What should I do?

[too_mutt 10]

I was planning on staying at Tims Boutique ,I herd they have in room safes. What should I do?

I am starting to think that locking it in your luggage (and tip the maid well) is the best bet.

[atlas2 4,329]

'Portable safes' could be considered an oxymoron……...

 

I've tended to trust the safes at reception with my passport, calculating that it if goes missing and I have a problem so does the Hotel.

 

Room safes can be reset easily and you only have your word as to what you've put in them………I see them as a decoy. I keep a card and a copy of my passport on me in a little internal zipped pocket.

 

The seams of curtains……..hollow shower rails……..a small hole cut into a foam seat lining……It's fun finding a little hiding place for some emergency cash.

 

Short of using a cylindrical container stuffed up your arse like 'Papillon' there's not much more I could offer to some of the suggestions above.

Edited May 5, 2015 by atlas2

[Fatboyfat 361]

I was planning on staying at Tims Boutique , I was going to stay there because I herd they have in room safes, now you guys got me nervous? What should I do?

I, along with I daresay the majority of contributors here, have been using room safes or lobby boxes all over the world for more than half a century now; andd have NEVER been robbed. Now should you be one of the vey unlucky ones you will likely take a different view, but I would recommend avoiding paranoia on the subject. However, should you still continue to worry, a check on the hotels trip advisor pages would likely highlight any repetetive problems with a hotel, and I would advise against huge sums of cash notes being held. I am highly suspicious of those claims involving huge sums though, as are the insurance companies, who will rarely insure much more than a days spend in cash.

In Thailand I have also never locked away my laptop, ipod, tablet etc etc. either, but then again I have also avoided freelancers and katoeys ! , who seem to cause most of the problems in this field.