Use the company name and phone number on luggage tags; never your home information.
Go to personal wardrobe extreme to have only carry-on luggage. At minimum, all critical items (wallet, most money, tickets, travel documents, valuables, glasses, schedules) should be in a soft canvas travel attach that never leaves your sight. As an aside, next time you get new glasses, don’t throw the old ones away. Keep it in your travel attach�.
Keep a photocopy of your passport in your pocket at all times. The American Embassy can move a lot faster with that photocopy. Better yet, get two passports. Some countries require you to leave your passport with the hotel. Keep (another) one on you person 100% of the time.
Pocketbooks should always be carried over your front. Never over the shoulder.
Women — carry a whistle in your purse outer compartment. Better use it by mistake, than to not call attention when you should have.
Always use the lobby entrance.
Women should avoid hotels with multiple access doors.
Select floors 3 to 5, with a room nearest the stairwell. The 1st floor has more crime than all other floors put together. Floor 3 and above avoids the lobby noise. In the event of a fire, you can jump from Floor 3 and Floor 4 and have fair odds of making it (not intact). You have a slim chance of surviving a jump from the 5th floor if you land in shrubs. Above that, no way Jose. Even in the event of a stairway evacuation, there no reason to work your way down multiple flights. Those of you who have walked down the stairwell from Floor 22 at 1:00am (in a false alarm, hopefully) know what I’m talking about.
Count the doors from the stairwell to your room. In a power outage or smoke condition, you may need to feel and count your way to the stairwell.
In yellow and red countries, have the bellman check the entire room before he leaves you.
Be aware of hidden spaces in the hallways.
Never put out a breakfast room-service door hanger. A sharp thief will make note the night before, ring your bell 5 minutes before the appointed time (catch you off guard and probably half-dressed), enter and rob. If you need breakfast, call room service the night before.
If you receive a call from the desk clerk asking for credit card information, absolutely don’t give it out. A favorite credit card theft prank.
Car rental trunks at hotel parking lots have high vandalism rates. Take all your luggage to your room.
