I once strongly advocated for storing money and passports in a hotel safe while traveling in a foreign country. I think very differently now.
What changed was that some traveling companions of mine in South Africa had several hundred dollars taken out of their locked room safe. The thief opened the locked safe, stole the money, and re-locked the safe.
It ended up being a member of the housekeeping staff who stole the money.
You know there are members of the hotel staff who have the master key or master code to open every safe in the event a guest forgets his combination. How secure do you think they keep that key/information?
Even without the key, one can make an educated guess about the combination and be successful. Read the article below for more details.
How To Deal With Stolen Cash From In-Room Safe? (Grand Hyatt Erawan Bangkok)
27% of hotel safes are programmed with one of these codes.
I stopped putting my valuables in hotel safes. Instead, I lock them in my luggage with a non TSA-approved lock. I think that would be your safest bet.
