Hotels without video surveillance?

[d2009sd2009s]

Are there any tips how to choose a hotel without these security cams in corridors? It's totally annoying! I've been recently in some hotel in Belarus, where I was at business trip. Nice thin doors with very good sound:) but I was afraid to walk through the whole hotel due to this cams - there was a guy downstairs watching them. So I walked only in corridors on the my floor, and even there I caught some nice action, but right at that moment this security guy appeared in the hall , so I had to go to my room showing that I'm just walking before going to bed.
Now may be I'll go to Germany in winter, also in business trip. Are there any advices how to choose the hotel where you can walk through the corridors without thinking you are watched by the securities?

[jinhui]

You can check out your designated hotel via http://www.hotel.info/en/ before. If they have surveillance it will probably be mentioned in the description.

Good luck.
jinhui

[d2009sd2009s]

Thank you, jinhui. I looked at booking.com, but it seems that they do not mention video surveillance in their descriptions. I'll try this one.

[jinhui]

I've seen one with 3 different types of surveillance there. Entrance, Hall, Floors. So there are definitely hotels which state this in their descriptions.
Some hotels won't state it, even if they have surveillance.
But no matter what, you should check your hotel via that website in any case before booking.

regards,
jinhui

[reggind]

Something to ponder if you are a hall wanderer. Many of the surveillance type cams have IR sources on them so they can see well in low light situations. Many cameras and recording devices are sensitive to the IR. You can check yours out by putting it in movie mode and pointing your TV remote control at it and pressing some buttons such as changing the volume. If you see a series of flashes coming out of the remote, when you play the video back, you have a camera that is sensitive to IR. As it turns out all of the sensors are, but some manufacturers do a better job of filtering it than others. Some specialized cameras have none at all. There is one camera for the raspberry pi that is like that. Anyway, if you have a camera that is sensitive to IR, you might be able to act like you are just taking some pictures in the halls etc. Than you can go back to your room and look for any bright spots that look like IR sources. This is not 100% effective as many cams do well in low light, but a lot of them also have the IR sources on them, and if your phone is sensitive to it, it is free to try.

[findu]

If you want to check on hotels having cams in the corridors I'd advise to check out the hotel on TripAdvisor. On there you get the hotel photos but also photos taken and uploaded by guests. There's a good chance you see some shots involving the corridors there....

[d2009sd2009s]

Something to ponder if you are a hall wanderer.

Never thought about such an opportunity, thanks. But from the other hand if they have cams in the corridors they usually have a warning written somewhere there. And typically the cam view should cover all the space of the hall so if they have cams it will be hard to find the space which is unsurveilled. Or I'm wrong?

[d2009sd2009s]

If you want to check on hotels having cams in the corridors I'd advise to check out the hotel on TripAdvisor. On there you get the hotel photos but also photos taken and uploaded by guests. There's a good chance you see some shots involving the corridors there....

Thanks for the advice

[JohnGypsy]

Hi all! Been gone a while, but now back.

What I do is call hotels acting like I want to make sure there IS video surveillance in the hallways. I usually say that my wife is a little paranoid about security and only likes to stay at places where she knows there are hallway cameras. Works very well so far! Most have them -- but now and then I'll get one that goes "Sorry, we have them in our lobby for the front counter, but don't have them in the hallways." Then I book that one online.

Also, just to mention it, I was told after a decent conversation with one hotel that, by law, the cameras cannot be pointed anywhere where they could possibly see INSIDE a room if the door was open. So, most hallway cameras are always pointed at the elevator doors, any outside entrance/exit doors, and other such places. Normally, they do NOT actually look down the hallway.

They are there for security and trying to have a record of who goes in and out of the building and elevators. There simply isn't much reason to record the hallways most of the time.

So, I now worry about it a lot less than I used to.

[Audio]

Also, just to mention it, I was told after a decent conversation with one hotel that, by law, the cameras cannot be pointed anywhere where they could possibly see INSIDE a room if the door was open. So, most hallway cameras are always pointed at the elevator doors, any outside entrance/exit doors, and other such places. Normally, they do NOT actually look down the hallway.

Thanks for this Information.

[moanspy]

Almost all Hotels are using security cams now , I think its a new law to add security cams same as adding fire extinguishers but the good news is that almost none of the hotels special 3 stars and lower even have someone looking on them ! lets say just 15 to 20% of all hotel have someone looking at the camaras ! employees prefer to watch tv , chat on whatsapp or play candycrush instead , And there is around 50% of hotel cams are fake !

So when you enter the hotel just have a quick look , see if they have a lot of employees specialy on front desk , trust me if they dont have enough employees they wont spend money on someone just to watch the cams . second check if there is security and check if this security have a desk and tv screen if no just don't worry these cams only for emergency and they will only play back them if something big happened

Try to stay away from big hotels coz the risk of getting caught by cams is big , as i mentioned b4 3 stars and less no one cares specialy motels

Good Luck

[JohnGypsy]

In general (in the USA, at least), most hotel cameras are pointed at and intended to observe who goes in and out -- not who is wandering the halls. So, you'll see them pointed at main floor entryways and then, on each floor, at the elevators and, sometimes, stairs.

Again, the intent isn't to observe the hallways really. It's meant to be used so that if something bad happens in the hotel, they have footage of everyone that went into and out of the building and each floor. Again, not who was wandering the hallways. They simply aren't meant for that purpose.

[thomas]

But if you want to change the hallways using stairways or elevators, the cams will probably catch you, wouldn`t they??

[JohnGypsy]

Sure, sure, but catch you doing what? Just wandering around.

I don't mind if someone sees me on camera just wandering around. I can come up with excuses for that. I just don't want them to film me bending down to drop or pick up a USB recorder or something. So, that is all I really worry about with cameras. If they happen to catch me on video using the stairwell and questioned me about it, I'd just say that I like to get my exercise instead of using the elevators (or whatever).

[thomas]

that`s actually true... I would just wonder what you would say if you are always walking up and down chainging the floors and looking for interesting sounds... as I typically do it when I am searching for something... but I understand your argument and agree...