We all have our habits when staying at hotels. Some are logical, and some are a bit irrational. However, I’ve never seen anything quite like this before.
Some unusual safety tips for solo female travelers
There’s currently a video going viral sharing hotel safety tips for solo female travelers. In less than 24 hours, it has been viewed roughly eight million times (and counting) on X, in addition to lots of views on other platforms, including TikTok.
Let me start by acknowledging that many female travelers do face travel safety concerns that the average male traveler doesn’t have to deal with, so it’s smart to take precautions, and it’s helpful for travelers to share tips online. However, I’ve never seen anything quite like these tips before. In the 60-second video, the female solo traveler makes several recommendations for hotel room safety:
- Place big men’s shoes in front of the door, to make it look like there’s a man in the room
- Place the “do not disturb” sign on the door
- Cover the peephole with a tissue
- Lock the door, and use a portable lock for extra security
- Block the door by placing an ironing board against the door
- Install a door stop alarm, so if someone tries to break in, an alarm will sound
- Install a hidden camera in the room
- Use a spy detector mirror to check for hidden cameras
- Check every corner of the ceiling and walls, along with the phone, lights, sockets, switches, and ventilation openings, for any listening devices
- Use binoculars to look out the window and make sure no one is watching you
Are these travel tips intended to be serious?
First of all, let me admit that I find this video to be utterly fascinating, and I’ve now probably watched it 10 times, because… well, I’ve just never seen anything like this before.
Maybe I’m dense, but I’m genuinely curious, is this intended to be serious, is it a joke, or something in the middle? As mentioned above, many female travelers understandably feel the need to take extra precautions when traveling. But as I watch this, my mind is sort of blown:
- Placing shoes in front of the door of a room?! When did that become appropriate hotel etiquette?
- The number of blocks in place with the door just makes no sense to me, and if anything, it seems like it would increase danger, in the event that a prompt evacuation is necessary
- We do sometimes hear of rooms being broken into, and items being stolen; however, a vast majority of the time it’s either when the room is unoccupied, or when the latch isn’t being used
- If you’re so concerned about someone breaking into the room (to the point that you have five mechanisms in place to prevent the door from opening), how do you safely enter and leave the room, when you’re out in the open?
- If you’re concerned about your privacy and safety, standing in front of a window near other buildings in just a towel probably isn’t a best practice 😉
Like I said, I can’t quite figure out how seriously this is intended. Regardless, it’s an incredibly captivating video, so if you haven’t seen it yet, it’s worth giving a watch, as I appreciate the creativity. This same TikTok user has all kinds of other videos about hotel safety, which are equally, umm, detail oriented.
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Bottom line
A video with hotel safety tips for solo female travelers is going viral. I’ve never seen anything quite like this before, because these aren’t just your typical safety tips. The video includes recommendations like placing men’s shoes in front of your door, and using five different mechanisms for locking and alarming your door.
What do you make these female solo travel tips? Am I the only one who can’t figure out whether this is intended to be serious or not?
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