In-room Safes

 

Whilst researching this article I found, on YouTube, that thieves can learn how to crack open a hotel guestroom safe in about sixty seconds. The video details how it can be done in reasonable detail with only a paper clip, penny or other simple device. One article from the New York Times even reported that a safe in the Virgin Islands had been completely removed from the wall using a beer-can opener (the perpetrators kindly left said item in the room).   Reading the online comments to these tutorials would suggest that the older generation safes (5-10 years) are more susceptible to being cracked open easily, but there are a good many millions of these safes still in guestrooms around the world to warrant a look at new technology available to hoteliers today. It was also a revelation to read that the contents stolen from the guests’ safes are only covered by very limited liability from the hotels. So why use them?

 

Apparently, it’s all about peace of mind. We are all accustomed to passwords and simple security measures that we convince ourselves are foolproof and impregnable when the opposite is more often the case. Documents on our laptops are encrypted with a password that is most commonly our date-of-birth, our spouse or child’s name or if none of those is available; the name of our first pet gerbil. Travellers today truck an increasing amount of valuable electronic devices around with them such as laptops, handheld PCs, mobile phones, iPods and a host of peripheral equipment, not to mention the staples of cash, travel documents and other valuable items. Peace of mind shouldn’t enter the equation when we consider leaving these in our room, entrusting them to our safe. We should have a conscious sense of confidence in all the security measures provided by the hotel that act in tandem with the safe or other lock-up service available to us to protect our belongings and personal safety.

 

According to one leading supplier of safes, guests prefer to have the safes more visible and easier to access. Does this mean that safes are coming out of the closet?

 

Not necessarily, says Chan Weng Leong, senior director of Design & Technical Services for Starwood Asia Pacific. “Normally the safe is still traditionally kept in the wardrobe.  It is normally placed just below eye level so that the guest can see the inside of the whole safe clearly.  Top-loaded safes are also very popular since you can open up the top and everything inside can be fully revealed,” Chan explains.  Another location for the safe is in the side return of the writing desk where guests can sit down and open the safe comfortably.  “However, this works better for a safe that is the top-opening drawer type,” he adds.

 

The XL Desk Drawer Safe from Safemark, designed to protect laptops as large as 17 inches, is welcomed by hotel and suite designers. The reason: A desk-drawer safe is well concealed yet offers convenient access where hotel guests typically do their work–around the desk area.

Safemark’s metal, top-open drawer safe is engineered with hydraulic arms and two 3/4-inch/19mm steel locking bolts for additional security. It can be opened only with the guest’s programmed digital combination.

 

“The beauty of this innovative safe is that it’s totally secure and well hidden in the desk drawer, yet right at the fingertips of guests who are busy with their work or on a phone call. As a result, there’s no need to move from the desk area to access important belongings,” says John Foley, Vice President of Sales for Safemark Systems. “And hotel room and suite designers love it because it’s unobtrusive.”

 

Ariane Steinbeck, Principal and Managing Director of Gettys Hong Kong agrees: “The design of this type of safe gives us exceptional flexibility to place it in the prime location for the guest's benefit, and also affords the possibility of seamless incorporation into our millwork design, without needing any aesthetic compromises.” 

 

Onity's latest top end model, the OS600, features a card reader to verify the guest room card. According to Arne Engel, managing director Asia Pacific for Onity, “It is the only safe available in the market that verifies that the guest is checked into a room and is authorised to use the safe. All of our safes have audit trails to show exactly who or when a safe was operated.” 

 

“For ease of use, safes have moved out of the closet and are much more visible than in the past,” Engel continues, “thus the aesthetics of Onity's entire safe range has therefore been refreshed. A larger variety of sizes and colours are available to blend in with any property's decor.”

 

Accountability is an important facet of securing belongings that are entrusted to the in-room safe no matter what shape or form the shape takes or where it is placed. Philip Toh, regional manager for Asia with Safeplace, says that their latest models incorporate fingerprint controls to prevent unauthorised use with audit trails that will track whoever has accessed the safe. This audit trail cannot be erased even when power is lost and units are fitted with anti-tampering devices. “Two new models are proving popular with clients such as our Tiara Top Open and the innovative Impact Finger Print Safe that offer unparalleled security and adaptability for hotels and their guests,” says Toh.

 

In general, hotels normally advise guests to store their valuables at the front office safe deposit room since that area is monitored by CCTV 24-hour a day.  They suggest that the in-room safe should only be used for storage of personal items like passports or articles of reasonable value.  

 

Chan of Starwood warns: “There is a trend to provide electrical sockets inside the safe to charge notebook computers.  This can cause the computer to overheat causing damage. But there is also a danger that the batteries could ignite damaging other valuables stored inside the safe.  As such, we try not to provide this feature for our in-room safes.”