How "SAFE" is your hotel room?

I got to Las Vegas about 5 hours late due to "mechanical" problems with the airplane. After catching a $9.00 shuttle to my hotel... I decided to go straight to my room and get settled in. Unpacked by bag, hung up my suits, placed all my electronic/computer stuff on the in-room work center...etc.

Then I heard my Dad's voice in my head... "they will steal your stuff, remember lock everything up..." I looked at the in-room safe bolted to the wall in the closet. After reading the instructions on the safe I was still not able to open the safe! I realized the safe was "Closed" which meant that it was already locked... It was not going to be easy to open the safe... I only have a limited tool set with me and my acetylene tank is almost empty! If I start to cut the door open.

1. I won't be able to lock up my stuff

2. Someone is probably going to ask me about the damaged safe...

So I called down stairs. They sent up the hotel maintenance man.

I let he maintenance guy into my room. Immediately asked to see a photo ID are you "Roger Telegan" After he was sure I was me... (this guy seemed really worried I was not Roger Telegan) he proceeded obfuscate the numeric keypad on the safe with his hand, asking me to turn away, secretively the maintenance guy punched in some secret master code and the door to the safe popped open.

As the door popped open I finished a sentence stating the that I had not been able to open the safe... and I was glad he was able to re-set the combo so I could now use the safe to lock up my stuff... he turns to me and says ... YOU MEAN YOU DIDN'T JUST FORGET THE COMBINATION? HAVE YOU PUT ANYTHING IN THIS SAFE?

I said "nope, I just got here... the safe was locked when I arrived, that's why

the front desk sent you up."

He slammed the safe shut and locked it. He said over his radio "I need security in room 381, there is currency in the safe."

Imagine that... currency in a safe! The previous guest obviously forgot their "Currency"... why did he keep saying currency...?

Maintenance guy radios again for a "Digital Camera and Armed Security now please, Officer to room 381 pronto!"

While we wait I can't enter my bathroom, I have a maintenance dude watching a safe in my closet blocking the use of part of my hotel room, and were waiting for an Armed Security guy to show up with a Digital Camera to document the loot!

Hmmmm just how much is in there...? Maintenance guy slammed the door closed so fast he wasn't really sure, and I couldn't see a thing.

The Security guy shows up 22 min. later. Camera in hand, asks me if I have any knowledge of the safes current content. I told him, nope I have never opened the safe. It's not my money. He asked me how I knew it was "money" in the safe? I told him the maintenance dude told me there was currency in the safe.

They took some pictures of the safe in the LOCKED state. They took more pictures as they were opening the safe to prove they were not tampering with the content. I got to see the loot... a ZIP LOCK BAG with $25,000. + in currency... well yeah sorta... it was all in Yen.

Here are the pics I tool to document these two guys who were documenting each other documenting what they discovered in the safe in my room.

After this I wonder how safe is the safe? When the maintenance dude can just press a few keys and open the door to the safe in under 15 seconds?

25,000 in YEN = @ $277.00 in U.S. Currency.