J. Kb sent me this article: Hilton, Holiday Inn allegedly let predators into women’s rooms: lawsuits (nypost.com).

Horrifying cases of women being raped in their rooms at top hotel chains are occurring because staff are allegedly handing over keys to sexual predators unchecked, The Post can reveal.

In two separate cases in Texas, men allegedly broke into women’s rooms after lying to staff to obtain keycards.

In an even more shocking incident, one man was allegedly able to convince police and hotel staff to deliver his victim to his room at a Hilton-owned property.

Back when I worked hotel security, the fastest way for anybody to get his/her ass on the street besides stealing from a guest was to give somebody access to a room without proper verification. If the person was not registered to the room, access was automatically denied. It made some people mad, but the risk of having somebody raped or killed was simply too much for the bean counters to accept.

That being said: shit will happen because workers suck, are tired or have momentary lapses of high-grade stupidity like leaving master keys unattended.   It always made me a bit upset that women, knowing they could be targeted, did not care much about being safe. In all my years, I only got one request from a female to escort her to her room and she actually had a tac light with her which she used to check the room from top to bottom before settling for the night.

Hotels are locations with multiple access points and most of them are not secured from uninvited access. Move around as if you were in enemy territory, head on a swivel at all times and prepared to repeal attackers. Never give away your room number to anybody and don’t charge anything to your room so people nearby do not know where you are. And above all, do not trust the locks and “security” devices that come with the doors (or even the doors) as there are many ways to bypass them. A security door jammer that uses the floor to resist attacks is the one I would recommend as I am not too sure about devices that attack to the lock and doorjamb. And as extra security, you may want to place a chair and luggage or whatever bulky objects are available against the door to slow down anybody who manages to break in. Noise is an ally and early warning is a good thing so you can access the legal tool of your defense.

And don’t forget: Just because you are away from home, does not mean you get to act like a fool. You are in a strange land, strange building and more than likely have zero idea of the behavior of the locals.