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Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Fri Oct 16, 2015 5:00 pm
by WildBill
dlh wrote:I don't have any data to back it up but my gut tells me that motels/hotels have trouble geting good help these days.
Several years back (in San Antonio) we stopped at one of the motels on IH35. About two in the morning we get a knock on the door...I look through the peep-hole and it is a young male dripping in sweat in a wife-beater t-shirt. Freaked me out and of course I did not let him in. By the time the motel sent somebody to check on it he had already left.
Back at the beginning of the summer in New Mexico former CNN news-anchor Lynne Russell and her husband were robbed at a motel. Her husband was carrying and he killed the robber but was himself shot and wounded. Had to spend weeks in the hospital recuperating from his injuries.
My only suggestion is the usual situational awareness and to try to rent a room in the "good" part of town.
dlh
Once I attended a talk given by a woman who worked in the travel industry.
She told the audience that hotels are one of the most dangerous places [especially for women] for people travelling.
She worked for several large corporations, and stated that this didn't apply only to "lower class" hotels or neighborhoods.
I can not vouch for her data, but the hotel chains would not want that information to be well-known.
P.S. I always keep the hotel door latched.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 3:16 am
by Dragonfighter
A collision of being really tired and a clerical error:
We had driven way past the "road signs turning into people...walking point" and stopped at an older but decent motel. The clerk entered the card key and told me the room number. I accidently went to the room next door and the card key worked. I woke a lady out of a dead sleep who screamed, I stumbled backwards out of the door way and my wife had a "what just happened" look.
When the feathers settled I told our distraught neighbor she needed to use the safety latch.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 9:16 am
by Abraham
If you folks are referring to the chain latch, it was designed to keep very small children from straying out of the room.
While it does, to a very small degree, prevent folks from coming in, it won't hold up to a good shove.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2015 10:39 am
by The Annoyed Man
ELB wrote:Interesting scenario to play what-if with, and a good lesson in the problems of identifying friend (or fool) or foe.
You are presumed to have acted reasonably if you employ deadly force against someone who has
unlawfully and
with force entered your habitation...but the young man enter unlawfully or with force? He may have deceived the maid on purpose, which might indicate unlawfulness, but he may have really been mistaken. And if the maid let him in with a key or pass card, did he really enter with force? hmmm. Had you "drawn and pressed" after one more step., would you be in the legal right? moral right? Tough scenario. If you had actually bagged the fool, I think in the end you probably would have come off OK legally, minus perhaps some lawyer fees and plus some gray hairs, but you might not feel all that good about it.
Expanding the scenario slightly, I have been given keys/pass codes by the front desk to rooms that were already occupied. If I sauntered in and didn't see you immediately...until you started to draw...what then? I would certainly argue that I did not enter unlawfully or with force. I would
especially argue that if my draw and press were faster than yours...
Would the calculus change if this were midnight instead of noon? You were asleep instead of awake talking to your son? If it was a woman that walked in? etc.
Oh, this is an excellent training scenario.
Glad you came out OK in the end, and hope the wedding goes well, and hope you can calm down enough to enjoy it!
Very good post ELB! BTW, you
do realize, don't you, that you've posited a sort of "
Kobayashi Maru" scenario, right? Because of the unknown variables for the good guy, almost any answer that ends with "shoot him" is a 50% losing answer. You might well be shooting someone who richly deserves it, or someone who is as innocent as you are. That's the kind of odds that forces the good guy to think outside the box......which isn't a bad thing.
James T. Kirk's test
James T. Kirk took the test three times while at Starfleet Academy. Before his third attempt, Kirk surreptitiously reprogrammed the simulator so that it was possible to rescue the freighter. This fact is revealed in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, as Kirk, Saavik and others are marooned. Saavik accuses Kirk of never having faced the no-win scenario. Kirk replies that he doesn't believe in such a thing. Despite having cheated, Kirk was awarded a commendation for "original thinking".
Is there such a thing as a "no-win" scenario.......or only a continuum of choices from best to worst, leaving us some room for creative and expeditious thinking/planning/reacting?
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2015 11:53 am
by KC5AV
Abraham wrote:If you folks are referring to the chain latch, it was designed to keep very small children from straying out of the room.
While it does, to a very small degree, prevent folks from coming in, it won't hold up to a good shove.
It won't keep out a determined individual, but it will prevent an individual from accidentally accessing the wrong room.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 4:19 pm
by karder
I travel a fair bit for work, and although it has not happened to me, I have had several co-workers who have been given keys to rooms that were occupied. It seems to happen more than I would expect.
About 2 months ago, my wife and I had a family get together in Phoenix. She left ahead of me by a couple of days as I had work commitments. On the day I was to meet her, I hit the road in the late afternoon and arrived to the hotel at about 1am. My phone was dead due to a long work day so I could not call her to get her room number. I walk in to the hotel lobby and up to the front desk. I told the rumpled looking lady that I was there to meet my wife and asked for the room number. The lady gave me the number and asked me if I needed a key! No questions. I was very surprised how loose the security was. I expected them to ring her room and tell her I was down stairs.
I had them ring her room anyway and tell her I was on my way up as I did not feel like getting a couple of 9mm to the chest at 1am.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2015 4:45 pm
by striker55
I worked the front desk at a hotel, the main thing is security, don't hand out key cards without checking id. One night I was swamped with helping people, checking in, answering questions, I was a little over extended. 2 young girls I knew were checked in wanted a replacement key. First and only time I didn't check the room number, took their word for it. Turns out it was wrong room, they came back and told me. Luckily nothing bad happened, learned my lesson on that one.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:26 am
by RoyGBiv
I've traveled full time for work... for 10 years.. 40+ weeks/year. Fun while you're single. Not good for married/family life.
I always chain/latch and deadbolt the door. I have no illusions that those devices will stop a determined assailant, but the extra few seconds might be the difference between living and dying (sp?).
I've been given the key to an occupied room several times and had my room key given to others once or twice.
And don't get me started about hotel comforters/duvets.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:08 pm
by mr1337
Just got this thing in a few days ago - going to bring it to Japan with me in a couple weeks to test it out.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 9:07 pm
by ELB
mr1337 wrote:
Just got this thing in a few days ago - going to bring it to Japan with me in a couple weeks to test it out.
Interesting widget. I looked at the instructions, but still not really sure how it works.
In any case...MAKE SURE YOU CAN UNDO IT AUTOMATICALLY AND BY FEEL, WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED. It would be very unfortunate if you could not exit your hotel room during a fire or other emergency because it's dark and you can't see, it's smokey, you're excited, ...
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:14 am
by mr1337
ELB wrote:mr1337 wrote:
Just got this thing in a few days ago - going to bring it to Japan with me in a couple weeks to test it out.
Interesting widget. I looked at the instructions, but still not really sure how it works.
In any case...MAKE SURE YOU CAN UNDO IT AUTOMATICALLY AND BY FEEL, WITH YOUR EYES CLOSED. It would be very unfortunate if you could not exit your hotel room during a fire or other emergency because it's dark and you can't see, it's smokey, you're excited, ...
The metal part anchors into the strike plate, and the red portion pushes against the door, effectively gluing the door to the strike plate.
To undo it, you just lift up from the handle on the red part and the red part comes right off, allowing you to open the door.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:32 am
by tlt
I had people come bursting into my room at 3am. I assessed the situation first, rather than reacting. It turns out, the hotel resold the room. The people were also innocent victims. Always keep a clear head, and take action ONLY if there is a real threat.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:00 pm
by SA_Steve
Yes, don't shoot !
I once checked in at a hotel, and upon opening the door it was very embarrassing for all involved.
I also went to lady friend's [img]vacant[/img] condo with her to help her move out some furniture. Opened the door and there's a whole family living there - turns out her ex had rented out the place and the renters were not happy with us at all. Amazing what you can do with the key and a known vacant condo.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:13 pm
by JALLEN
It might even be the SWAT team on a no knock warrant busting into the wrong room.
You never know.
Re: KEEP THE LATCH LATCHED ON YOUR HOTEL DOOR!
Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2015 1:31 pm
by tyree
Adding additional barriers like this to opening hotel room doors is pretty important. 5 minutes on YouTube can give criminals more than enough ingenuity to get into a hotel room uninvited or noticed. Search engine keywords like "hotel room door lock hack" or "open hotel door lock from outside" reveal some real eye openers. This supplemental lock is just one of several we can choose from.
As mentioned in other places in this thread, criminals have varied techniques to get into rooms like
- social engineering (tricking people)
- leveraging relationships with employees
- inexpensive tools (ex. snare [long wire] or shim) with a little knowledge of the layout of the locks on the door to quickly open the door from the outside. These techniques easily defeat the lock and on just about room I've ever stayed in.
- inexpensive electronics to attack known vulnerabilities in electronic door locks.
- brute force
- any combination of the above
I'm a big believer in layered security.
@JayInSat: I'm glad you're all OK. I hope your time with friends and family turns out awesome for everyone. Prayers for the happy couple!
