OOh Jodie how terrible for you. I would Imagine that the loss of your Wedding Rings was the most upsetting thing for you.......

We go to Protaras In 32 days, any hubby was on about taking half cash, putting It In a sare when we get there, and half from the Banks (we have a cashcard)...... not anymore I dont think.......

I hope you get some kind of compensation regarding this matter.

......... big hugs.

Louise x

Mulder wrote:

Just wondering what other people do with Cash

I personally withdraw it from an ATM as and when I need cash, just the same as I do in the UK. And as has been said on numerous different threads related to this question, if you have a Nationwide FlexAccount you will not incure any charges.

I don't carry large amounts of cash around with me at home, therefore why should that be any different when I am on holiday?. ATM's are to be found in abundance im most resorts these days.

Apply for a little 'plastic friend' from the nationwide if you do not aready have one. Thats my best advise.

But what happens if your cards get stolen?..i know u can prob get replacements but that would take a little while i would think

But what happens if your cards get stolen?..I know you can probably get replacements but that would take a little while I would think

Yes, that is a good point, but you could equally say the same if your card is stolen or swallowed by the ATM back here in the UK. I never let my ATM card out of my sight. I carry a small shoulder bag with me everywhere which contains my important documents, including my ATM card. I carry it over my shoulder with the zipper clasped firmly in my hand. Whilst I appreciate this may not be ideal for some tourists, it suits me fine. At night, the shoulder bag 'sleeps' under my pillow. In the Dining Room if I am alone it comes with me, or if my parents are with my, they keep an eye on it. Same applies in the Bars and Shops.

Whilst I cannot obviously rule out the possiblilty of my bag being lost or stolen, I take approapraite precautions as I do back at home and to date I have never experienced any problems.

Those people who leave their bags and property unattended on the beach, or the men that walk around with their wallets in their back pockets, or the people that carry a back pack on their back whilst walking around densley populated areas are simply asked to be robbed.

I ommited to mention, I would rather carrry an ATM card with me asopposed to large amounts of ready cash. ATM cards as you state can be replaced, all be it after some time. Lost or stolen 'cash'...ie Bank Notes(not Traveller's Cheques) cannot be replaced.

I have to agree with Ndshelton on this one. To only take an ATM card on holiday Mmmmm, does not sit right for me. I would sooner have our money/traveller cheques in a safe at the back of reception than have to carry a bag with a sum of money in it be a little or alot.

If the ATM for some reason swallows up the card and you have no cash what then

Unfortunately for Jodie the security regarding her safe was hardly anything, wooden shutters wasn't it. Surely this has to be the fault of the hotelier

kazee

Kazee wrote:

I have to agree with Ndshelton on this one. To only take an ATM card on holiday Mmmmm, does not sit right for me. I would sooner have our money/traveller cheques in a safe at the back of reception than have to carry a bag with a sum of money in it be a little or alot

.

I can appreciate that, but as I say, I see no reason to alter my normal custom simply because I am in a foriegn country. I can 'budget' what I will need on a daily basis based on previous holidays, and I very rarely carry more than thirty five euros on me at any one time. If I need to withdraw more I use Nationwide Flex. I have no need to worry about being charged each time I use an ATM, and whilst in Benidorm I always use the ATM's in the Old Town where you have to swipe your card through a slot to gain access to a secure lobby area where the ATM's are located.

I appeaciate that other people like to spread their holiday money around via several sources, ie - Cash, Travellers Cheques, Cebit Card, Credit Card, Prepaid Cards etc.

Well, I don't use Credit Cards as I don't believe in them, (as I think I have already mentioned somewhere else), so that rules that one out for me. I no longer use Travellers Cheques as I personally think these are an outdated way of obtaining foriegn money IMHO. (again I think I've already said that somewhere else?).

I do not carry large sums of cash around with me at home, so I see no reason why I should whilst I am overseas. Why alter a habit of a lifetime? I do however use my Debit Card extensively now....in fact almost all the time now that Chip & Pin has been introduced. I even use my Debit Card for very small purchases now, I'm talking of around £1 or less....something I would never dream of doing before Chip & Pin. And as Nationwide Flex do not charge me for obtaining my own money abroad, I use this.

I do carry a Prepaid Mastercard with me which acts like a Credit Card (accept as it is my own cash it is not) which I tend to load with enough money before I travel, that I think I might need in an emergency, (I appreciate there will be charges associated with using this type of card though) which to date in the the years I have been travelling overseas has never been something that has happened to me.

Everyone has their own views and opinions on how to carry and obtain their money whilst on holiday, but I would never ever leave cash or cards in a Hotel Room Safe. NEVER. Airline Tickets, Insurance Documents and Passports and any other items of value, well I might consider leaving them in a safe provided that safe is located within the Reception Area, but as a rule I carry those documents on me in my small shoulder bag. That is my own personal choice and I am certainly not recommending that others should do the same.

Mulder asked

Just wondering what other people do with Cash

and this is what I do.

If a personal locked safe facility is provided at your holiday accommodation, either within your bedroom or in the reception area, it will most likely be a condition of your travel insurance policy that it should be used for securing valuable personal items and documents during your holiday.

If you choose not to use that facility and are unfortunate enough to experience total loss or theft whilst carrying all valuables around the resort with you, the insurance company may well decide that you have failed to take adequate care of your belongings and reject your claim. Likewise if any valuables are stolen from your bedroom, an insurance claim may be declined if you did not secure them in the personal safe provided.

It is highly unlikely that any insurance company would support or accept the notion of leaving a personal locked safe facility unused and empty, electing instead to carry all valuables, tickets, passports, holiday funds, etc on your person or in a shoulder bag for the entire duration of your holiday.

It would be wise to check the terms and conditions of your insurance policy and ensure that you take adequate and sensible measures to protect your belongings, and don't assume that an insurance company will automatically cover you in the event of loss or theft. If a safe is provided, it may not only be considered a sensible and secure option to use, it may be essential, and the onus may be on you to prove that adequate security measures have been taken.

David

i couldn't have put it better myself David!

i would NEVER dream of not using a hotel safe and for a small fee of around €20 a week i think it is worth every single cent!
i would also NEVER walk around any island or resort with my cards money passports tickets or any other valuables and i class all the above as very important to me when on holiday!

i don't even like having my valuables on me on our last day of our holiday let alone for 7/10/14 days and nights !!!!!

i also agree with David on insurance reasons how ever would explain that one !

these are my own opinions everyone to their own!

lou x

David, I appreciate your comments and once again you make numerous very valid points. I have to admit I had not thought about the Insurance side of matters, but that said, I still will not use a safe inside a Hotel Room. I have stayed in Hotels where fellow guests have had all their money and valuables stolen from what they thought was a 'safe' safe. And whilst I admit I am no expert on safes, I don't like the look of the safes that you tend to find in most overseas holiday accomodation. The fact that the safe is inside a room which is accessed whilst I am not 'at home' by maids and even maintence men is enought to deter me from making use of the safe.

I have used safes that are located in Reception areas but these type of safes seem to be few and far between these days. The Fee that is charged for the use of a Hotel Room safe is not the deciding factor in my own personal case. I'd pay double what has been quoted, but ONLY if I believed the safe to be a secure place, which I am sorry to admit I do not. I have been stayed in Hotels where the safe was not even secured down to anything. I tried to lift it up and whilst it was way too heavy for me, it did move and I am certain a younger more fit person than I could have easily removed it. I appreciate that not all Hotel Safes are as UNsafe as this one clearly was, but again it was enough to deter me from making use of it.

Whilst I admit that my practice of carrying my valuables with me is not to be recommended, it is what I feel most happy doing. And I believe that whatever method makes you feel the most secure, happy and at ease, well that is the method that you should adopt.

David HT Mod wrote:

If you choose not to use that facility and are unfortunate enough to experience total loss or theft whilst carrying all valuables around the resort with you, the insurance company may well decide that you have failed to take adequate care of your belongings and reject your claim. Likewise if any valuables are stolen from your bedroom, an insurance claim may be declined if you did not secure them in the personal safe provided.

But David, with all due respect, if I was able to prove to my Insurance Company that the safe in my room was anything but safe, IE photos etc etc would that still count? I mean if I could clearly prove that the safe was not secured down....things like that, surely that would prove that I did in fact take "adequate care" by not using a facility that was clearly not designed for the purpose it was meant for? Just a thought?

I will NEVER use a safe inside a Hotel Room overseas, but I am not saying others should follow my suit. Each to their own.

And forgot to mention, the author of this post had their safe broken into:-

Just got back from Majorca and was broke into on the fourth day, from the safe.

So clearly safes DO get broken into. This is not the first sad story I have been privy to of Hotel Safes being broken into, and I am sure it will not be the last.

But David, with all due respect, if I was able to prove to my Insurance Company that the safe in my room was anything but safe, IE photos etc etc would that still count? I mean if I could clearly prove that the safe was not secured down....things like that, surely that would prove that I did in fact take "adequate care" by not using a facility that was clearly not designed for the purpose it was meant for? Just a thought?

Gary ... that is a completely different scenario which your insurance company would take account of, along with other evidence such as what action you took to remedy the situation, whether you asked for an urgent repair or immediate change of room, etc.

However, rather than a specific problem with the security equipment provided, if you are just saying that you will never use a personal safe because you do not have sufficient confidence in the hotel's security, then your insurer may question why you so often stay at accommodation with inadequate security.

Problems with safes do sometimes occur, and we sometimes hear of safes which are not permanently fixed to the floor or wall. But such cases are very rare and thefts from personal safes are very few and far between, in comparison with muggings or street robberies. That's why most insurers make it a condition of their policy that you use a safe if it is provided.

Most holiday hotels now provide safes in rooms instead of in public areas, because that is what is favoured by most guests and insurers. Holidaymakers don't like having to go up and down to reception every time they want to secure or retrieve some valuables. And insurance companies know that unless the safe is actually in the bedroom, guests will not secure what may be their most valued or valuable possessions at the end of the night, they will just leave them lying openly in the room.

Not using a personal safe at a hotel in case a chambermaid empties it, is a bit like not keeping your money in a bank in case a teller robs it.

David

David, do you know you are beginning to sway me to your point of view, but I still need to think very carefully about this and clearly I need to read my Insurance Policy through in much more detail then I have doen in the past.

Mark.....where are you mate? What are your views on this?

Mark.....where are you mate? What are your views on this?

I couldn't have put what David has written better myself. Take his advise - you can't go wrong

Mark

Mark HT Mod wrote:

I couldn't have put what David has written better myself. Take his advise - you can't go wrong

Wow that was quick!! Now you guys have got me thinking

David, do you know you are beginning to sway me to your point of view, but I still need to think very carefully about this and clearly I need to read my Insurance Policy through in much more detail then I have doen in the past.

Gary ... if you firmly believe (for whatever reason) that all your valuables are much more secure carried on your person or in a shoulder bag for the entire duration of your holiday, rather than secured in a locked safe at your hotel, then yes I would agree that you perhaps need to give some serious consideration to your personal security and perhaps even to your choice of holiday accommodation.

David

I don't think it is the actual choice of Holiday Accomodation that I am so concerned about, rather the somewhat 'flimsy' safes that are at my disposal. As I said earlier, I have stayed in a Hotel (Not the Venus ) where fellow guests have had their Hotel room safe broken into and it was subsequently discovered that whilst it was not the actual Hotel Employee that was the culprit, he/she (pefer not to say which) had an 'outside' accomplise (spelling). That and the fact that I have stayed in a Hotel, a different Hotel (again not the Venus) where the safe was not secured down, and from reading sad stories like this one (I have also read several similar stories on other Holiday Related Websites and Forums) has been enough to put me off wanting to make use of the facility.

Gary .. I have never encountered a 'flimsy' or insecure safe in any hotel which I have stayed in and it's because you seem to have such experience of them that you would prefer to carry all valuables with you at all times, that I think you may need to give some consideration to your choice of accommodation.

Yes, personal safes will be robbed from time to time, just as banks will. But that doesn't mean that your cash and valuables are safer in a shoulder bag. You will understandably read some negative points about personal safes both on this site and others. But the number of cases pale into insignificance compared with the more positive experiences of hotel security which we tend not to hear so much about.

After all, when reviewing a hotel, we don't usually have people say "By the way, I wasn't robbed", so when you do hear of those very few rare and stressful cases where people have suffered losses, don't let it make you take action which may actually adversely affect your overall personal security and the level of insurance cover which you think you may have..

David

I completely agree with David on this, and while I appreciate bhic is not reocmmending that everyone follows his example, I think it is madness to carry all your important documents with you at all times. I seem to remember in the passport thread that bhic you leave our passport in the hands of your solicitor while at home and obtain it from him when required - so you obviously don't carry it with you at all times in the UK.

I hope that you do not encourage less experienced travellers to follow your practice of not trusting hotel safes by making people think that this is a big risk. If you are encountering "flimsy" safes in your accommodation, perhaps you should rethink where you stay. I have never encountered this in many years of travelling and would never dream of carrying everything in a shoulder bag - hope you have a good insurance policy!