Our family vacation in San Diego earlier this year started out with our hotel room being robbed. Without going into detail, let’s just say our identities, money, credit cards, computer, camera, etc. were taken from our room while the family was enjoying its first dinner together on vacation. When visiting with a long term client about the event, he said we should include a warning in our e-letter to help others. So, here’s what we now (unfortunately) know and can share:

1. Don’t hesitate to utilize the room safe. Even if there’s a minor charge for the use, pay it. If we had just thrown our wallets into the safe in our room, our vacation would have had a very different outcome.
2. Own a passport even if you have no plans to travel outside the United States. When our driver’s licenses were stolen we couldn’t have gotten on the airplane to get home and pass through security without a form of accepted ID. Only driver’s licenses, state issued ID cards and passports seem to work with TSA. We were lucky to own passports and could have them overnight mailed to us.

The second reason to own a passport is that you have no access to your bank funds without identification. Our bank here immediately shut down our bank accounts that matched our checks and credit/debit cards and transferred funds to a new account they opened for us. The problem was that we were in California, didn’t have a personal connection to a branch bank and couldn’t get a banker to help us until we could prove who we were. You can have all the cash in the world sitting in a bank account but no one’s going to give you any of it until you provide ID.

1. Before cancelling your credit card, and while still on the phone with the card company, have them authorize a cash advance for what’s available on your card and have them send it to you via Western Union Money Collect. It’s very interesting. We had no ID of any sort, but Western Union has set up a system where they ask you a secret question, and when you answer it correctly on the form you fill out to pick up the cash, it substitutes for ID! Once they issued the cash advance, my credit card company gave me the transaction number which allowed us to go to a local Safeway and pick up the money and then cancelled the card. Since we were robbed on a Saturday evening and couldn’t move bank accounts or get replacement cards until the work week started, that cash saved our vacation.
2. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, NEVER trust the closing thud of your hotel room door. We have no idea how the thief gained access to a secured building – probably just walked in behind someone who had a room key and had proper access- but the police department told us they gain entry and walk down halls pushing on doors to see if they give. Our door had a sticking problem so when it made that heavy, locked door thud, it was still open a crack. Never trust the noise, pull on the door handle and make sure it’s really locked. It will save you the loss and headaches we’re still dealing with.