Skyranger Productions posted an interesting video recently (on YouTube)concerning a possible issue with a hotel room safe at a location they were staying.  Even though this issue is specific to the location they were at, you can rest assured that other hotels have done the same thing (LINK) Hotel Safe YouTube Video (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=vW7M84khZy8&feature=player_embedded)

The issue involves the “default password” that comes with those hotel room safes. The instructions (which are posted on the front of these safes) allows you to create your own password that resets after a specific amount of time. What most people don’t seem to understand is that every single one of these safes comes with an Administrator or “Master” password that allows the hotel management access to the safe in case of an Emergency situation or in case you forget the password that you configured.

The safes come with a default password like 000000 (as shown in the video), 999999, 123456, 111111, among others depending on which manufacture made the safe. Any hotel worth its name will before installing these safes change that default password to something that only specific members of their staff know.  In addition, if you need to have them open the safe for you, they should (as part if proper procedures) walk up with you and open the safe. They should never give you their Master account.

Some of the biggest risks with the default password being left involves a bad guy just waiting for cleaning time (where it seems housekeeping always has every room open at same time while they clean just 1 at a time), then just walk in use the default password and take whatever they can find.

So very simply, look at the steps printed on the front of the safe and then try opening the safe with 000000 and the other codes listed above (plus anything you can think of) and if you can open the safe, I would consider if you really want to trust it.