Solo travelers have to be extra vigilant about safety on the road, and there’s one tiny tool you should add to your personal protection arsenal for your next trip—a doorstop.

This small, inexpensive item can help keep you safe in hotel rooms. Simply wedge a doorstop under the door to your hotel room (from the inside) and you’ll be able to prevent intruders from entering.

I recently traveled alone and was alarmed to find that at two major hotel chains, my hotel room door didn’t have a security chain—so anyone with a key (hotel staff or not) could easily enter my room. Packing a doorsop gave me peace of mind that no one would be able to enter my room while I was inside. On that same trip, another solo traveler I talked to had a rude awakening when hotel staff entered her room unexpectedly at 6am because she didn’t respond to a wakeup call (that she didn’t actually order). Using a doorstop can prevent unwanted entry and help you sleep better. Even if your hotel room has a security chain, these can be easily broken with enough force, whereas a doorstop makes it nearly impossible to open a door.

If you’re staying in a vacation rental, where multiple people could have keys/the entry code, a doorstop can make sure that no one can’t enter the bedroom you’re sleeping in.

Any standard doorstop will be effective at preventing anyone from forcing open the door. If you want to be alerted that someone is trying to enter your room (and scare them off), pack a doorstop alarm. This doorstep features a built-in, battery-powered alarm that will be triggered if anyone tries to open the door. There are three levels of motion sensitivity, and all will set off an extremely loud 120 decibel alarm.

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