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Tonight was gonna do some exploring through the halls after midnight to see what i could capture with my Sony digital recorder. Assumed I would walk the halls and stop when I heard something, sit down next to their door with my recorder and record, acting like I was on the phone. How do you hide the recorder, and is this your go-to method for capturing? Also, is just after midnight the best time? I'm at an old Red Roof Inn.

The best way to place a recorder depends on the on site situation, I have used a cupboard, an emergency exit sign, even a furry teddy bear that was used as decoration at a hotel hallway. Smaller family hotels tend to have more decoration than business hotels but you won´t get many chances for recordings in the latter at all.
The best time on weekends might be after midnight - and somewhat earlier during workdays I guess.

I wouldn't recommend sitting in front of someones door while they are going at it...lol. I'm staying at hotels nearly each week for about 5 1/2 years now and I have never seen someone sitting on the floor of a hotel corridor! (Except there is a chair)

As yeppie mentioned it's probably best to record in smaller hotels - with probably more decoration, less cameras, less staff like room service or house keeping wandering the halls all night and day. I wouldn't leave my recorder unattended. Only if there would be a really secure spot where no one could really see it. But never in front of the door, wrapped into a towel etc. (had bad luck with this setup )

good luck and take care,
jinhui

If I were to go that route, I would paint my recorder beige as that tends to match the color of many hotel halls, and I would get some of that tacky putty that you use for hanging posters on walls with. The stuff that will not damage paint. I am tall so if I were going to try something I would have my painted recorder with the sticky stuff on one side of it and I would quickly stick it up on the top lip of the door jam. It would be mostly out of sight there. If you frequent the same hotel you could snatch a little piece of paint and get a pint mixed up to match it. Same color and of direct sight would seem to be the perfect combo.

I would focus on small Family run bed& breakfast hotels in tourist areas.
Like JinHui I wouldn't leave my recorder unattended.

If you're going to be sitting in the hallway, it's best to act as though the wi-fi is not working in your room, or that you are taking a phone call and don't want to wake your 'significant other'. Then you need to babysit the recorder. First, make sure you're really on to something. Don't just put it down because you can hear some sort of noise inside. The person inside could be doing anything and easily exit the room and then you're in big trouble. RULE NUMBER ONE - Don't take risks.

If you're sure they're occupied then place the recorder and go into fake phone call mode. Check for cameras and pace around near the recorder like you're on the phone, but all the time be listening for anyone else coming. You can listen to the sounds you're recording later. It's more important to know if someone is coming from another direction. And, if they are, get your recorder back as quickly as possible. If it's too late to do it discretely, pretend you are taking off your shoe and get it back. Then get out of there quickly.

Two things you might want to try (1) Carry a towel with you. It's good to drop and get your recorder back in emergencies. (2) A pair of shoes outside the door is a great place to conceal a recorder, but any hotel staff who see them are likely to helpfully collect them. Never leave a recorder unattended unless you don't mind losing it (and there's nothing incriminating on it).

Your best bet is to rig the recorder so it is in your own shoe. Get a long mono ear piece that runs from the recorder to your ear. Walk around the hotel listening for sounds. If there's something, stand very still and wait. Any movement from you will make huge noise over your sound file so don't move unless you have to. Alternatively you can take off your shoes and leave them near the door and stay 'on the phone' while you rub your sore feet while anyone goes past. But remember, if the noises are loud enough you're going to look suspicious. So use it as a last resort. Also remember to smile and greet anyone who goes past. That alleviates suspicion in a big way.

But before you do any of that check for cameras. And check for possible emergency exits if you need them. Some people have recommended hiding in hallway decorations. In my experience this will never get you close enough to the source to get a good recording. And a lot of hotels have noise from air con, ice machines, vending machines and other sources. You really need to be as close to the door as possible. (Note, it is possible if they hotel has poor security, to turn off vending machines etc to get a better recording).

As always keep your key with you and be ready to fake going in to the room if you have to. But remember rule one. Don't take any risks, and don't attempt any of this until you're sure they're occupied.

But if you're really serious about this, invest in a smaller recorder. Even some of the spy type cameras have a decent enough microphone in them. They're cheap and look like every day objects (car keys, pens etc). It will save yourself a lot of hassle in the long run. Good luck and don't take risks. It's not worth it.

This is why I'm now using (and loving) the little USB voice recorders! They are cheap, they work surprisingly well (people have repeatedly said that some of my recordings sound like I'm in the room under the bed!), and they don't look like recorders while sitting there! So, if I lost one, I wouldn't even worry about the cost, and I actually doubt that the person would be likely to realize that it was a voice recorder - even if they plugged it into their own PC to check it out!

Because they are the size of a USB drive, I can just set them on the floor next to the door jam (on the side with the hinges). They could open their door and walk out and be pretty unlikely to notice it.

And, if anyone ever saw me picking it up, I could just say that I dropped my USB key, show it right to them, and it would be reasonable.

So, I don't stand there at all. I walk until I hear something; determine which room it is coming from; walk by; switch on the recorder; walk back by and set it in place outside of the door; and then keep on walking. I actually just go about my "hunting" during that time and hope for another. Then, depending on the size of the hotel, every 5-10 minutes, I walk by just to make sure the action is still going on. As long as I hear something, I leave it. If it sounds like they are done, I walk by and quickly pick it up. Works very well for me.

The hard part, lately, has been finding anyone doing it! I keep having hotel stays on a Sunday night when only business people are staying!

Hey John,

Quick question - where do the recordings get stored on those little memory stick gizmos you're using now? Reason I ask is that I think I've been unlucky with these so far. The 3 different models I've picked up all put recordings in a folder named RECORDER or some variation of it, which I couldn't change or hide. Sure, surrounding it with other junk is a measure that might divert someone if the shit was to hit the fan and it got picked up, but it's not an ideal solution to have so much of an obvious folder name waiting to be discovered.

Is your experience of these any different? Am I being overly paranoid?

Sc0tt-UK

sc0tt-uk wrote:Quick question - where do the recordings get stored on those little memory stick gizmos you're using now? Reason I ask is that I think I've been unlucky with these so far. The 3 different models I've picked up all put recordings in a folder named RECORDER or some variation of it, which I couldn't change or hide. Sure, surrounding it with other junk is a measure that might divert someone if the shit was to hit the fan and it got picked up, but it's not an ideal solution to have so much of an obvious folder name waiting to be discovered.

Is your experience of these any different? Am I being overly paranoid?

On the first ones I bought, I discovered that you could actually rename the "RECORD" folder to anything you wanted - and it would still put the files inside! The one I got already had some folders written in Chinese on it - so I just copied a few random Chinese characters from the other folder names and used them to rename the "RECORD" folder. So, those look like just a bunch of random Chinese characters.

However, the newer ones that I've bought (which come in identical packaging) no longer seem to do that. On those, if I rename the "RECORD" directory, it just creates a new one. So, I've just created other garbage on there to try to make it not so obvious if they were to take a quick look.

There's some really good thoughts on here. Thanks, guys.

If you're keen enough to leave your (tiny) recorder unattended:
1.) Get the "Do Not Disturb" sign of your room
2.) Tape the recording device on the back of it
3.) Leave it at the door knob of a room of interest
4.)

there are some good hints here. I have to try These tiny usb Recorder.

John

can you recommend me a model which you use and got good results?

lido wrote:If you're keen enough to leave your (tiny) recorder unattended:
1.) Get the "Do Not Disturb" sign of your room
2.) Tape the recording device on the back of it
3.) Leave it at the door knob of a room of interest
4.)

That's just GENIUS...!!!

What about the best hotels in the UK? Is it common that there will be cameras in the hallways or not?

I'm not used to staying in hotels very often so I'm looking for a decent one to try out.

Some good discussion on the use of the usb recorders, which I use as well in a similar way to John Gypsy.

I too have left the recorder just on the floor in the corner of the door, even before I could determine there was any action going on. If it sounded like a young-ish couple inside it could be a good enough reason for me to hope they would progress into action.

Apart from the people from the room coming out themselves, you have the issue of the people passing by on their way to their room, or even worse: hotel staff. As mentioned I do this but it feels like it is only a matter of time before one will get found.

Using the do-not disturn sign is very clever. But again if the people from the room themselves find it they will also find the recorder and the hotel should launch some sort of proper investigation. Not nice when you are still in the hotel yourself..

I need more good excuses in case I do get asked by either a hotel guest of staff "WTF are you doing, is that a recorder??"