Room safes

[Bob and Michele]

I have read a couple of reports about burglaries and the room safes. Does anyone know? Are they safe? Or do we need to bring really big condoms??

[Ron]

No, the room safes are NOT safe and can be and have been compromised. My visit included but that's another story.

[pghfunseekers]

This is a travel safe that a member of the old forum suggested, and I purchased it but have not used it yet (we are returning to Desire 11/16 - 11/20/08 - woo hoo!):

http://www.rei.com/product/671241

http://www.backcountry.com/store/PSF0001/Pacsafe-TravelSafe-100.html

Here is a coupon code for 20% off for 1 person at backcountry, good until 11:59 pm 10/29/08 3BG-1-AEMTB

You can find other codes for other stores at www.retailmenot.com

Yes, I'm a professional online shopper.

Craig

[WestHoustonCouple]

So why do they call it a room SAFE, when it's not so SAFE?

Then they should just call it the "put your stuff in that square hole in the wall at your own risk" thingy...

BTW, we've never had any problems w/ our square hole in the wall before, & felt pretty SAFE...

[seisdnueve]

The Desire room safes were custom designed for "redistribution of wealth"

[Ron]

The Desire room safes were custom designed for "redistribution of wealth"

The absolute top post of the year!!!!!

[P&K]

Simple question: Has the safe problem been solved? We lost five crisp U$20 bills from our safe (intended as tips) in May. We mentioned it to the front desk, but did not learn till we got back home, that this was a too common problem.

Has the situation improved? We can't afford to have passports, cash, and credit cards go AWOL from a locked safe.

If we hear the problem is over we'll book again. Till then it's back to Hedo II.

P&K

[CokeMann]

P&K

As far as I have been able to determine there has been no other "reported" incidents since May (PS - I was personally there the week in May that the rash of safe thefts occurred so know this to be a provable fact)

All I can offer is that we were there in August for 10 days - no issues during that period and two of the other board mods (mfay and eddieandjojo) where there in September and didn't heard any reports.

I'm not saying that the issue has gone away, just that there appears to be no feedback suggesting that it is not as "in your face" like last May

[Ron]

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, truth be told, the perps made enough money during to year to buy a house and car for cash and are now living the good life in Cabo in a beach front property and are driving a Mexican made Toyota. $100 bucks here, $50 bucks there and it all adds up during the year. I guess by management looking into the situation the bad guys just moved on to another resort. Or maybe not.

[miranda]

What are you really saying, Ron?

[bozack]

anyone here any newer problems with this?

Didn't see the point of that travel safe unless a knife can't cut through it.

Then again what is more unnerving is who the hell is going through the rooms then we you aren't there

[ottawa_cuple]

... Didn't see the point of that travel safe unless a knife can't cut through it. ...

The PacSafe has a very strong wire mesh embedded in the tough material cover. Even if you cut all the material away, you wouldn't be able to get anything out that's bigger than about 5" around (equivalent to a 1.6" dia circle, or a 1-3/4 x 3/4" rectangular object such as a cell phone). It would easily protect a netbook, for instance, and most cell phones and Blackberries.

For smaller items like jewellery, or for money or passports, you'd probably want to get a metal case that you'd put inside the PacSafe and put the smaller items inside of so they couldn't be drawn out through the mesh.

We have a PacSafe and used it the last time we were at Desire, locked around the closet rod in our room. We didn't bother with a metal case for the small stuff, but then again, we don't take expensive jewellery or carry a whole lot of cash when we travel. Our passports, credit cards and the little cash we carried were in a leather wallet which would have added to the time and effort needed to extract the contents.

To us, the PacSafe is more of a deterrent than anything. Thieves intent on getting your stuff can pretty much always get it if they really want to, but if your security precautions make it more difficult or not so lucrative to go after your stuff, they're a lot more likely to move on to easier and better pickings.

[bozack]

good info thanks

I'll have to check out the local REI and then change out that darn key lock

I am sure it can happen anywhere just makes ya wonder what else and who is snopping through your luggage or vibrators, LOL

[gandsl425]

We noticed on our last trip in March that when we called to have a light replaced there was a security person teaming up with the repairman. Not sure if that has always been the norm but it may have been in response to concerns.

In any case we didn't have any problems, and we haven't had any in the five years we have been going to Desire. We also keep a couple of hundred in cash in the safe for tips.

One warning- even though we tend to be very concerned about security, I always seem to find that at least one time during the week I forget to lock the safe. I've been lucky that the cleaning staff have always been honest- one of them even tracked me down to let me know I left the safe door open. But no safe is worth a damn if it is left unlocked and that probably happens more often than anyone wants to admit. Team up and make sure that both of you check the safe before you leave- good habit to get into.

[XMXER51]

my wife and i have been to desire several times and have never had a problem with stuff being stolen. last year however there was one issue. we leave a $5 bill on the pillow everyday for the maid. we also leave $2 in the fridge for the guy who brings the drinks. one day i came back to the room between when the guy brought the drinks and before the maid came. he had taken the $5 bill off the pillow and replaced it with the $2 from the fridge. we were not stolen from really, but our maid was. the drink guy seems to run around very fast and stay ahead of the maids when possible, so he has the opportunity to do this a lot.