Recently I stayed at a hotel that was the definition of “average”.

It wasn’t too terrible, but it wasn’t super special—everything about it could be summed up by the words “good enough”. The shower? Eh, it’s fine. The bathroom? Not great, but everything works. The bed? It’ll do.

The area was one I wanted to be in, and the price was right—so I figured, what’s wrong with a “fine” hotel?

Well it turns out, a “fine” hotel can put a really negative spin on a trip if it feels unsafe. As I said in my post about bad reviews , there were a lot of things about this hotel’s design and staff practices that lead to creeping feelings of unease, and concern for my safety.

It got me thinking—what could hotels do, to make their travellers feel safe? And speaking from a solo, female traveller’s perspective, here are my pitches to make women feel a little bit safer:

The concierge should never say the room number out loud at the front desk when handing out keys. Write down the number, or just have it on the key card.

Why? Because someone else might be listening. And years of digesting true crime, murder podcasts, and “story time” tiktoks has let us know that sometimes, people follow others to their rooms. I don’t want anyone to know where I’m sleeping—it’s such a minor thing to not say the room number out loud!

Offer to walk us to our rooms. Some of us won’t take you up on this, of course—but some solo female travellers feel safer being walked to the room, and ensuring that there’s nothing (and no one) in the room when we get there. It’s not a fear based in common occurrence, but just having the hotel staff be aware of it can make it clear to us, this is a hotel that’s aware of women’s safety issues.

If we ask not to be put on the ground floor of the hotel, please take that request seriously. Sometimes, it’s not about being on a higher floor for a better view—it’s about knowing that the sliding door leads to a balcony, not a garden that anyone can walk into.

Make sure your Do Not Disturb sign or system is easy to navigate. If someone ignores a DND sign, you know they’re not with the hotel. But if the hotel’s DND system involves going to the front desk to turn it on and off, it’s not worth it. Just give me a tag to hang on my door!

The door needs both a peephole and a deadbolt. I understand that some hotels might have to have a physical carpenter in to make this happen, but honestly, it’s worth it. I had neither of these things at the hotel I felt unsafe at, and let me tell you, I slept with the chair pressed against the door. What if someone swiped a key and just walked up? What if someone from reception thought the room was empty? There was literally nothing stopping anyone with digital access from walking in—and no way to see who might be knocking on my door. These things matter when you’re trying to relax, or sleep!

Put a corded phone in the room. Yes, they’re old-fashioned—and yes, 99% of the time they’re useless. But after I had my number read out loud to a lobby, I started imagining worst-case scenarios. What if someone followed me up, knocked on my door, and said they were from security? Without a phone that connects to reception instantly, my options are to either open the door, or to grab my (international) phone, go to google, look up the hotel, and see if my carrier will allow me to make an international call whilst I’m roaming. It would be so much easier to just pick up a landline, press “0”, and immediately get connected to reception to confirm that the person who’s come up to my room is, in fact, sent by them—and whether they need to call the police.

Let me know if I’ve missed anything—I’m sure that there are a lot more ways that hotels could make travel safer. Please leave any ideas in the comments—and as always, happy travels!