Travelers: Hotel Safes Not as Safe as You Think

Think your jewelry, passport, cellphone and any other items are protected in the little 17" by 14" safe hidden in your hotel room closet?

Cracking the security code on these safes could be as easy as 000000 or 123456, if the hotel has set an easy-to-figure-out override code. This video shows you just how easy it could be for those in the know to get into your personal belongings:

Gizmodo reports a manufacturer of hotel safes, Nationwide Safes, as saying the safe in the video is not made by them and that most hotel safes have two codes: one for the user and a second override code:

When a guest forgets [his or her] code, the safe may be opened by hotel security using the override code.

It is important to note that only the most negligent of hotel operators would leave the override code set to all 0's, a default code, some other easy to guess code. The override code can (and must for obvious reasons) be changed to something difficult to guess prior to putting the safe into operation.

So next time you're trusting a hotel safe with your valuables, check the usual easy codes (000000, 123456) or ask the hotel if the default code for their safes is difficult and secure.