A flight attendant has revealed the chilling hotel safety tips she swears by, but viewers have also spotted some major shortcomings.
Flight attendant Ally Case has sparked conversation with her hotel security checkpoint tips, which she shared in her TikTok series “14 Days of Travel Tips” in July.
Case captioned a video: “Hotel security check tips from a flight attendant. I do this every trip, for work and play.”
Her routine began with holding the door open with a suitcase while she checked the room for hidden intruders.
“When I first get to my room, I prop the door open with my suitcase. That way I know I’m not locked in the room with a murderer while I do my checks,” Case explains.
A flight attendant named Ally Case has sparked a debate with her hotel security checkpoint tips, which she shared as part of her ’14 Days of Travel Tips’ series in July
Her routine starts with holding the door open with a suitcase while she checks the room
She then scanned the entire room, including the closets, curtains and under the bed.
“I scan the room first and then check the closets to make sure there are no people hiding in there,” she says.
‘I walk over to the curtains and tap tap tap on both sides to make sure there are no people hiding behind the curtains.’
Case continued, “Of course you have to look under the bed, nobody hides under there. And then I go to the bathroom – we’re all safe and sound here.”
After completing her checks, she removed the suitcase from the door and locked the door.
Some praised her caution, others called her neurotic and pointed out the flaws in her system.
She then scans the entire room, including cupboards, curtains and under the bed
After completing her checks, she removes the suitcase from the door, locks it, and engages the latch.
One viewer pointed out a possible danger in her process.
“What if someone comes in while the door is open?” the user responded.
Others shared their own chilling experiences, with one saying: ‘This is happening… A man hid in my mother’s room in Mexico… She saw the curtain move and ran out of the room. The man was thrown out of the hotel.’
Some found her checks excessive. One user joked, “I’m more worried about bed bugs than murderers hiding in my room.”
In another tip video, Case advises turning luggage tags inside out to protect personal information.
“I can’t tell you how many people I see every day whose details are publicly available: their name, their phone number, their home address,” she explained.
“Another thing you can do is fill out the information card and turn it over,” Case suggested.
‘This way, you’re not only giving your details to others when you’re on a plane or train, but if your bag actually gets lost, someone can turn it around and retrieve your details.’
In another tip video, Case advised turning luggage tags over to protect personal information
A former employee of the baggage service disagreed. ‘As a former employee of the baggage service, we will not turn it around. We will assume it is empty. Only include your email address, no phone number or address.’
“You can also write ‘flip over’ or something like that,” she continued.
However, one former baggage service employee disagreed.
“As a former baggage service employee, we will not turn it over. We assume it is empty. Please only provide your email address, no phone number or address.”
Other viewers suggested alternative solutions, such as using a work address and office phone number or setting up a special email address for baggage tags.
“I put my work address and office phone on it. I figure if my bag gets lost and there’s no readily available info, they’ll think I forgot to fill it out and didn’t turn it over,” one user wrote.
Case’s final tip was to use an AirTag in checked luggage for tracking purposes, in case it gets lost.
In response, one user commented: ‘I’m bad at replacing the battery, it seems so simple but I feel like I’m doing something wrong’
“I don’t put my home address on that label either. I created a special email address instead,” wrote another.
Case’s final tip was to use an AirTag in your checked luggage so you can track your luggage if it gets lost.
“If your bag gets lost, you can track it right from your phone,” she explained.
One user commented: ‘I’m bad at replacing the battery. It seems so simple, but I feel like I’m doing something wrong.’
While many accuse her of being too thorough, Case’s concerns are not entirely unfounded.
Christy Bautista, 31, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, was stabbed approximately 30 times in April 2023 by career criminal George Sydnor Jr., 43, after he broke into her hotel at 6:45 p.m.
Bautista had checked into the Ivy City Hotel an hour earlier and parked her car directly in front of room 116, where she was staying
Hotel crime appears to be on the rise, with a 2023 report revealing a terrifying wave of rapists allegedly targeting women in hotel rooms at major hotel chains in the U.S.
Last year, a woman was stabbed to death in a Washington, DC hotel room by an armed robber who was out on bail after he was caught trying to smoke a cigarette that was covered in blood.
Christy Bautista, 31, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, was stabbed approximately 30 times by career criminal George Sydnor Jr., 43, after he burst into her hotel at 6:45 a.m. in April while she was there to attend a concert.
In 2022, a woman was raped at a Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Gonzales, Texas, after a man managed to enter her room after convincing hotel staff to give him a key card.
A lawyer representing the victim said The New York Post: ‘The woman was asleep and woke up to the man crouching at the foot of her bed with his pants open and a condom pulled out.’