Accommodation Safety: Hostels, Hotels & Airbnbs

To make sure you get the most of your hostel experience, there are a few helpful tips you can follow. Here we have compiled the most important ones:

Did you know there are actually different categories of hostels, including youth hostels, party hostels, co-working hostels and even luxury hostels? Make sure that you choose the right option for you. If you are a solo traveler who would prefer to stay away from loud parties and copious amounts of alcohol, maybe a co-working or luxury hostel is a better option.

Depending on which country you are in, how much experience you have as a solo female traveler, or for any other reason, you may feel apprehensive about sharing a room with male strangers. If that is the case, you can filter your search for female dorms only on certain sites such as Hostel World.

If there are no female dorms, you can pick a single room in the hostel instead. There are a few other reasons you might like a private room, as they tend to be cheaper than hotels and Airbnbs but still offer you the chance to escape and have your own space.

While staying at hostels can be the most incredible experience, you do need to pick the right one. Sadly, some hostels leave much to be desired, whether that is on the hygiene front or even more concerning the safety side of things. Therefore, carefully check up-to-date reviews of the place you have your eyes on and pay particular attention to anyone who mentions anything related to safety.

Especially when you are arriving to unfamiliar cities, it is a wise choice to do so during the day. Also, make sure to carry your booking information with you either as a note or screenshot on your phone or written down in a notebook.

Hostel staff are usually very friendly and helpful. They also know the city you are staying in very well. Therefore, go to them for advice in terms of areas to stay away from, common tourist traps and scams and anything else important about the city you are in.

While at most hostels people seem really friendly, the truth is you do not know them very well, so it is smart to keep your wits about you. Therefore make sure to always lock up your valuables and never leave your electronics charging unsupervised, no matter how trustworthy you deem your roommates. Hostels tend to have lockers in rooms or common areas, so for extra safety bringing your own lock is recommended. Flexible luggage locks are best for accommodating different locker configurations. While lockers deter most opportunity thefts, determined professional thieves will be able to crack them if they really want to, which is why you want to travel light in terms of valuables. Some hostels offer extra safes for money and passports; if they do make use of them. If lockers or safes are unavailable, which should only very rarely be the case, you can consider bringing a portable safe.

Hostels usually offer many opportunities to socialize and meet fellow travelers. There may be walking tours, happy hours, trivia nights or larger trips by tour operators who work with the hostel. This is a great way to make friends with other travelers so you feel less alone and by proxy, this can make you feel safer.

If you are traveling alone and want to make sure someone know where you are and when you are expected back, then you can inform the front desk of your plans for the day.

While meeting new people while traveling can be especially fun, do not be too trusting with people you just met. Do not share the location at which you are staying with people you barely know.

While we cannot guarantee 100% safety – no one can – staying in a hostel is overall a fairly safe experience and you should not let any initial worries put you off. If you follow the above tips and keep your wits about you, you should be absolutely fine.

While overall hotel stays tend to be very safe, there are instances when criminals exploit safety loopholes. According to a survey conducted by Global Secure Accreditation (GSA) and commissioned by YouGov, one in five business travelers in the UK either have personally experienced or are acquainted with someone who has fallen victim to crime while traveling for work.

When planning your trip or vacation, finding the right hotel is crucial. While location and amenities are important, it is equally essential to prioritize security and safety. Aside from that you can take active steps in order to minimize the risk of becoming a target for criminals. Whether it is petty theft or something more sinister such as individuals following you to your room, it is not a bad idea to take some precautions to ensure that you do not offer individuals with bad intentions any further opportunity to do harm. Here are some tips on how to stay safe when staying in a hotel.

Once you have chosen your safe hotel, there are some things to keep in mind upon arrival. When arriving at your hotel by car, you want to par and unpack your vehicle in a well-lit area, ideally near the entrance. After all, many thieves target travelers due to the likelihood of valuable items being left unattended in their cars. Therefore, no matter how long you are staying, it is a good idea to unload any valuable belongings from your vehicle. After all, isn’t it better to have to deal with a broken window than to risk losing something valuable or irreplaceable?

Since you want to ensure your personal safety in case of emergency, make sure to make yourself aware of the emergency exits in your hotel. While some rooms may display notices outlining safety and evacuation procedures, including fire escape plans, it is unwise to assume that the exits will always be clear and easily recognizable.

After checking in, look around to identify your nearest emergency exit. Locate fire exits at both ends of your hallway. Note the distance to each emergency exit in both directions and check if the doors open easily. Check out whether the exit signs are illuminated, and if they are not, let the front desk straight away.

Another idea is to take a photo of the fire escape plan and the hotel safety checklist with your phone for quick access. This way, you can quickly access the information if needed.

Also inspect whether the hotel complies with local safety regulations, including fire sprinklers and smoke detectors in rooms, hallways, and meeting areas.

Once you have entered your room, also be sure to confirm that it has a deadbolt lock and a peephole. Deadbolt locks are highly secure because they can't be easily opened with a knife or credit card due to their design.

In addition to the regular lock, many hotels offer a latch. The latch can provide an extra layer of protection. While the aforementioned deadbolt prevents unauthorized access via duplicate keys, the latch prevents the door from being immediately opened if it is not bolted. By using both the latch and deadbolt, you add two additional and effective security measures to safeguard your room.

Making use of the "do not disturb" sign hanging on your hotel room door is a good idea, as this will limit the amount of people attempting to gain access to your room. This way, you can quickly determine that someone attempting to enter your room is not a staff member. Unless you are overdue for check-out, well-trained hotel employees should refrain from disturbing you when the sign is displayed.

In case the hotel needs to contact you, they will reach out through your room phone or cell phone. Therefore, if you hear a noise at the door despite having the sign out, it should raise a red flag since it is likely not a staff member. Call the front desk if this happens.

To give you one final extra layer of control over who enters your room, a compact, lightweight door stopper that can easily fit in a purse or bag is a great item to carry with you on every trip. Some hotels even have one as a standard room equipment.

The most efficient door stoppers make use of the door's weight to redirect any external force towards the floor. Once fully secured, they remain firmly in place without any risk of loosening.

This can give you ultimate peace of mind that no one will simply be able to enter your room unless you expressly say so.

To enhance privacy and minimize the risk of someone with bad intentions overhearing your personal information, consider using your last name instead of your room number in public spaces. This way noone in the lobby or public area will be able to have access to that information.

You also want to refrain from using your first name upon check in. You can just use the initial of your first name or a title such as Mr. or Ms. Reveal as little of your identity as possible in the hotel, to make it harder for a thief to impersonate you to gain access to your room.

In terms of personal safety, you want to instruct the hotel not to disclose your name and room number, and request them to contact you if anyone inquires about you. Finally ask the front desk, if room telephones allow outside dialing, and make sure that guest phones in common areas do not allow direct room dialing.

Furthermore, even if you misplace your key, there's no need to disclose your room number to the staff. Instead, you can simply present your identification, ensuring a secure and confidential process.

With over 2 million people reserving stays in homes every night, Airbnb has transformed from a small, quirky booking platform to a colossal player in the industry. It now offers more than 6 million listings worldwide. This means it outnumbers the available rooms in the top five hotel chains worldwide combined. This includes Marriott, the largest hotel company in the world with approximately 1.4 million rooms globally.

But how safe is it to book accommodation on Airbnb? Here is a short overview of their safety policies.

Airbnb ensures digital safety through secure payment and communication platforms, multi-factor authentication, and account alerts for changes.

The company is the one who handles payment processing, ensuring that hosts do not have access to guests' card details. Hosts are further not allowed to request any money from guests outside of the Airbnb platform, both in-person and online. Moreover, if a host intends to modify the booking details, such as price or dates, they must obtain the guest's permission beforehand.

The safety of personal information can be a crucial concern when using Airbnb. However, not all your information can be accessed by anyone using the platform. While user profiles and bios are visible to other users, the contact information of guests and hosts, including phone numbers, remains hidden from each other until a booking is confirmed.

Once a booking is confirmed, hosts gain access to the guest's phone number, while the guest's email address remains undisclosed. Even so, many hosts prefer to communicate with guests through Airbnb's messaging system rather than directly contacting them via phone. It also makes more sense for guests to do so, as this way Airbnb can see all the communication between the two parties in case of any disputes.

While Airbnb provides free smoke and carbon monoxide detectors to hosts, it does not guarantee other important safety features such as multiple exits or code-compliant appliances. Additionally, not all Airbnb listings include safes for travelers’ personal belongings. Although Airbnbs may not have 24/7 lobby staffing like hotels, the AirCover program introduced in 2021 offers a 24-hour safety line accessible through the app.

Airbnb ensures safety from other people by screening hosts and guests against watchlists and conducting background checks for hosts in the U.S. They employ machine learning to detect suspicious activity, including fraudulent listings.

Aside from that, a 24/7 global customer service team is available to assist with various aspects of bookings, refunds, reimbursements, and insurance.

You as a user can also pick listings with a high likeliness of being safe. Only look for Superhosts, as they have earned and maintained Airbnb’s highest standards. You can also read their bios before booking to get a feel for who they are as a person.

Airbnb hosts also have the option to offer either a "host greets you" or a self check-in experience. "Host greets you" entails the host or co-host personally welcoming you at the property during check-in, providing a tour of the place, and sharing essential information. On the other hand, self check-in involves hosts sending instructions, which may include details on keypad access, retrieving keys from a doorman, or locating a key hidden under the front doormat. If you look for self-check in properties, this means you won’t even see your host when you check in and if the property is not attached to their own lodgings, it is highly likely you will never even see them at all throughout your stay.

While overall Airbnb can be a great option, it needs to be said that it is not infallible. Here are some of the issues you may encounter if you go for an Airbnb:

1. Possible cancellations Since Airbnb hosts are just regular individuals and do not have a large hotel staff, if anything happens to them such as health issues or emergencies of any kind, you may suddenly find yourself without accommodation only days before your trip.

This happened to our Content Creator Laura when she booked an Airbnb outside of Melbourne in 2019. Only two short weeks before the flight date, the host got in touch to say they had broken their leg and couldn’t host. Of course by this time, the remaining rooms were three times as expensive.

However, Airbnb was very helpful. Upon contacting them, they immediately agreed to book an alternative location selected by Laura at the same price as her original booking. In the end, Laura stayed in one of the most amazing houses she has ever seen at a fraction of what it would have normally cost.

So, while getting your accommodation canceled only days before your trip can be initially very stressful, you can be fairly confident that Airbnb will sort the issue out for you.

2. Scams on Airbnb While overall Airbnb is very thorough and scams are few and far in between, they can still happen. A research project revealed over 28,000 complaints about scams and 7,700 complaints regarding unsafe conditions on Airbnb based on public guest complaints published on Twitter between 2015 and 2020.

Here are the most common ones and what to do if you encounter them:

Some hosts may try to get you to cancel the booking for them. Be aware that doing so could affect your refund. Airbnb determines reimbursement based on who initiates the cancellation. To avoid problems, politely refuse the host's request and let them know you won't cancel for them.

If a listing appears too good to be true or has suspicious details, it's safer to choose another one. To avoid the danger of falling for fake listings, prioritize listings with high ratings (4.8 or higher), a significant number of reviews (20+), and clear photos of the bedroom, bathroom, and entrance. Make sure the listing's details and host bio are properly filled out.

Be cautious if a host asks you to switch rooms, as it could be a deceptive tactic or an attempt to accommodate multiple guests in a single listing. Regardless of the host's reasoning, you have the right to decline the request and stay in the room you originally booked. If the host insists on the switch, you can contact Airbnb for assistance.

If a host asks you to pay them directly, it goes against Airbnb's payment terms. Additionally, your host should not request money from you after your arrival. If this happens, deny the request and inform the host that this violates Airbnb's terms. If the host persists or makes you uncomfortable, report them to Airbnb.

Instances of hosts falsely claiming damage by guests have also been reported. Hosts may manipulate images or intentionally present their place as damaged to support their claim. To mitigate the risk of false claims, take photos of the property upon arrival and departure, and consider sharing them with the host to establish dated proof of the property's condition.

So, while getting your accommodation canceled only days before your trip can be initially very stressful, you can be fairly confident that Airbnb will sort the issue out for you.

3. Conflicts between host and guest Despite many safeguards, there is still a potential for conflict between guests and hosts. These could include disputes over property damages, misrepresentation in the listing or safety concerns such as faulty locks.

In case of any problems or disputes between hosts and guests, Airbnb serves as a mediator. Both hosts and guests have the option to raise a case to Airbnb's Help Center. Airbnb carefully reviews the details of the case, including any evidence provided, and takes appropriate action based on its company policies. This may include determining compensation or resolution between the parties involved.

Airbnb generally provides a comparable level of safety to hotels and can sometimes offer even greater safety measures. It implements enhanced cleaning protocols to minimize the risk of disease transmission, offers secure messaging and payment platforms, and allows ample opportunities to engage with hosts, review feedback from previous guests, and contact Airbnb for assistance in case of any changes to plans.

We hope we could provide you with a relevant overview on what to consider when booking your accommodation abroad!

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to contact us at hello@vigilios.com.

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