BootsnAll Travel Community

Recently, laptops of my friend and her flatmate have been stolen from their room in London. The window were closed and the lock was not broken.

Just wanna know if anyone of you also left valuable things like that in hostels? And are there any alternatives, other than carrying it all the way around the city?

I typically don't flaunt the laptop and if I do, it's because there is a locker for me to stash it in. Generally, it is at the bottom of the bag otherwise so it will take some time to rife through if they want to steal it or possibly ask the people running the hostel if they have a "secure" area. I gather I have been lucky thus far...

Is it possible to rent lockers/lock boxes in Hostels???

Yes, it usually is...be sure to bring a padlock along with you if you plan to hostel it. They might not always rent locks!

Are hostels reliable for theft of this kind? with windows and doors locked and in good conditions ?

what worries me most is that people working in the hostels, especially those outsourced cleaners can be thieves themselves.

If you're in a private room, the risks are no different from leaving expensive gear lying around your hotel room (or even around an apartment where your landlord or previous tenants may well have copies of the key...my cousin's apartment in Paris was robbed using a key that her landlord had lost, complete with her address). Yes, the staff has access, and could steal your stuff...there's nothing that puts the hostel at greater risk for this.

In a dorm room, though, the risks increase because many don't lock at all, and even if it does, more people have access.

Most people who travel with laptops and stay in hostels carry them everywhere for this reason. I don't travel with a laptop, but have other expensive gear like my camera, and of course the crown jewels of travel - passport, plane tickets, and money. My security system to keep everything out of sight...people don't normally dig through your dirty laundry if they don't know that something of value is there, and keep as much as is reasonable to carry with me when I go out.

On top of that, the usual rule is to only take with you items that you're prepared to lose. And, in my experience, loss is far more common than theft on the road.

Neil,

It's logical, but so far I have never heard of theft in hotel rooms, nor did it happen to me.
As you know, nowadays hotel rooms are using key cards, and I bet nobody could duplicate it easily and therefore tracing will be much easier. Moreover, people who do cleanings in hotels are usually permanent employees, whereas those in hostel aren't.

Another interesting question, is it safer to lock you expensive stuff in your baggage or to hide them up in one's dirty laundry?

-Ron

I carry a laptop cable lock and attach it to whatever is big inside the room. Laptop locks can be quite light and are well worth the investment.

quote:

Originally posted by CaesarRomanus:
I carry a laptop cable lock and attach it to whatever is big inside the room. Laptop locks can be quite light and are well worth the investment.

I`ve been wondering about those locks. I have one but am afraid if I use it I`ll be advertising the fact that I have a laptop (by locking it to a big easy to see thing). Looks like it could be snapped with a pliars or something.

Oh brother, I either leave it at home or carry it all over the place with me. That's why i choose hostels/hotels where I can use the computer in the location rather than mine!

I was also wondering abt those locks...but a friend of mine has a laptop which only works if it sees you and reads your finger print! talk abt security.obviously right now that kind of a laptop is out of reach for me!

I bought a cheap blue EeePC which looks like a toy and hopefully will be less attractive to thieves. Its small size also means that it is easy to stash away in the depths of your backpack or day bag:


Taking a padlock with you and using lockers is good advise. If you have an expensive machine, it may also be worth your while to install a WiFi-based tracking system. These should become more popular worldwide as more and more people are carrying around their laptops.

We have a laptop cable which seems to work ok, or at least has so far. If we don't feel safe about a place, then we tend to just take it with us - it's very small.

We've had a few things taken from our trip so far, nothing major, the most annoying being my trainers - hard to replace cos of having big feet.

That was in the Philippines where the people are, mostly, tiny, so I don't know what they were going to do with my trainers, I'm guessing spray them bright colours and use them for clown boots!