Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/08/15/watch-how-to-open-this-hotel-s.html
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Lagavulin though O_o Now, Glenfarclas…
Hey, if I find my safe has this admin override, how do I set it to unoverride so I can use the damn safe?
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Ah, good old factory default settings…
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Andrea James says to ask the hotel to change the override. That’s not a conversation I look forward to having with a desk clerk at 9:00 PM. (No disrespect to desk clerks; it’s just a different skill set.)
What I’d try first is to see if I can find the doc online and change the super-user password. In the morning, I’d tell the desk clerk the new password if I’m feeling magnanimous.
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Hotel owners are not security experts. If they were, they would be security experts. There’s a good chance the documentation tells them in BIG LETTERS to change that combination, and nobody read the documentation.
There is no solution to this problem.
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When I’m in a foreign country, I always carry my passport with me. There are too many ways to beat these hotel room safes. Almost every one has a cover that you can pop off or peel open to get at a keyway or pokehole that will open the safe as well.
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Right. Like all casual security, it isn’t about making your stuff objectively secure, it’s about making your stuff relatively secure. A thieving hotel manager or housekeeping staff is, on the margin, looking for the loose $20 or odd piece of jewelry or electronics left out and about.
More than that, I can’t think of a time I’ve seen housekeeping operating with a door all the way closed behind them and the sound of the safe is pretty tell-tale. I’ll continue to put my stuff in these things without too much worry.
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There, fixed it for you 
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Nope, I carry my passport with me. If the police ask me for identification, it’s routine to be able to prove my citizenship and clearance (passport stamp) to be in the country. A foreign DL isn’t sufficient.
I also am careful to not put myself in locales or situations where I might be held up.
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The safe shown in the lower video can be easily opened without knowing any codes. The oval brass plate below the combination module conceals access to the locking mechanism. If you unscrew the plate, you can open the safe.
The same kind of access is probably under the beveled trim ring on the SafLok.
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Then they’d have one safe that was different from the rest. I don’t imagine they’d be interested in that. Or is each safe supposed to have a different master code? Like the room number? 
I’m having trouble understanding how their interests matter to me – especially when they ignored my interest in having the safe in my room be secure. Nevertheless, they can set it to whatever they want (even back to the factory default) if I tell them the new password when I leave.
You could always reset it to the factory default master code before checking out.
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I happen to have a sentry ca110es hotel style safe where I am staying. I couldn’t find the factory code online for this model with 10 minutes googling which seems like a good amount of safety. It seems that security through obscurity today basically means not on the first page of google results. At least that is all I expect from a casual thief like housekeeping.
As far as passports, I have two: a real US passport and a passport card. That way I can leave one at or with the hotel and still have ID when I am out and about.
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