In Reply to: How safe are hotel SAFES? posted by Fran on Saturday, 24. July 2004 at 10:36 Bali Time:
any problems with cash in any hotels safes re the security.Another funny issue happened last trip but not with security.
Different hotels have different set ups.Sometimes you will find a safe in your room that you set up with combinations of numbers that you choose & one would think that unless someone else knew the number that it could not be opened.
Other places have their safes in a room behind reception.Very often you will find these safes need 2 different keys to unlock & will not open with one key.You keep 1 of the keys & management keeps the other.A staff member goes into this room with you when you want to get your money or valuables out,you hand them your key & they use both keys to unlock & either turn their back or walk out the room while you retrieve what you want.They return,relock the safe & hand you back your key.Keep in mind that many hotels say if you lose this key it will cost $100US to replace.I believe this is because a locksmith has to be called to drill the old lock out & replace it.
Don't think I posted this embarrassing incident before,we had a bit of a "funny" incident happen to us re the safe at Ubud village.We'd been there a few days & headed off to Lovina for a few days.Afterwe settled into our room in Lovina my husband asked me "Where did you put the envelopes"? I said what are you talking about ? He said did you get the envelopes,tickets,passport etc out of the safe at Ubud Village ? I asked how on earth could I since HE had the key in his bum bag ! Long story cut short- it was me that put our money & stuff in the safe BUT I immediately handed him the key.We both mistakely thought the other had got our stuff out of the safe.Fortunately we had plenty enough money between the 3 of us as well as credit cards to last in Lovina.On the way back to Kuta we had to call into the Ubud Village to retrieve our property.We were not worried about the safety of our money etc because upon realising what had happened I immediately phoned Dayu at the hotel reception & she reminded me that it could only be open with 2 keys.