A viral TikTok video put up by a user called “leo..lenier” shows how easy it is for anyone to open a typical digital hotel room safe without the combination. Most travelers are familiar with the rectangular, black safes that are usually located in the room’s closet and feature a customizable, programmable code using its digital keypad.
Lenier, a Las Vegas resident, showed himself putting cash and a clothes iron in his safe, then he programmed a custom code and proceeded to close and lock the door. The twist came when he went to re-open the safe; he did not input his custom code but instead showed the world a backdoor into opening this any many other safes like it. Lenier tapped the “lock button” two times, that prompted the digital display to flash the word “super” after which Lenier simply hit the “0” button six times and voila the safe door opened.
The replies to his video were a mixture of shocked people and people who had access to a similar safe and immediately tried the method. Many people posted that it did indeed open their safes while others said it was not successful. A number of other respondents pointed out that it’s likely a number of hotel guests may often forget the code they created and the facility management would need a method to get the safes open. One reply stated that he did just that, he wrote that he forgot his code; the hotel front desk sent someone from the maintenance staff to the room and he had the safe open “in 30 seconds.”
About one in ten travelers say they’ve had something stolen from their room. Of that percentage about a third said they had items lifted while they were present in the room. These crimes would most often happen when the guests are on the balcony, sleeping or in the bathroom. The thieves identify when the guest is paying attention to something else and use the opportunity to sneak in.
