Handy hotel hints

• Small is best, so choose a hotel of 100 rooms or fewer. You want the staff to recognise you and get to know you. The smaller the lobby, the more noticeable loiterers will be

• Make friends with the concierge - they take professional pride in looking after guests and their local knowledge is usually legendary. Ask the concierge to book your restaurants, and to call ahead, explaining that you're alone and will require a taxi back

• Pick a hotel in a busy area, with street lighting, restaurants, late night stores and plenty of people. Avoid dark side streets and poorly lit areas.

• If you're driving to the hotel, park in a well-lit area of the car park. Ask beforehand if valet parking is available

• Ideally, hotel keys should be plastic, with no identifying room or name details, and the number should be written down at reception, not barked across the whole lobby area for everyone to hear!

• Always have your room key ready when you leave the lift or ask if a member of staff could walk to your room late at night

• Debate rages about which rooms are the safest, but most pundits agree on these pointers: try to secure a room near the elevators, away from refurbishment work, away from emergency exits as someone might try to pry it open (that one is particularly debatable!), on upper floors not street level, and away from terraces. But - if you want to be able to get out fast in an emergency, and you enjoy sitting on a terrace, your idea of a perfect room will clearly be different! Basically - use your nouse.

• If there's a bolt on your door, use it, especially at night. Use a rubber door stop if you're still not comfortable.

• Make a note of where the nearest emergency exit is and which way you turn to get to it

• Don't use the "Please make up my room" sign - it's obvious you're not in. Call housekeeping instead. Use the "Do not disturb" to make the room look occupied

• Put your best clothes on hangers in the wardrobe under less expensive ones

• Lock your valuables in the hotel's front desk safe

Top Travelling Tips

• Use covered luggage tags, and put your office rather than home address on them

• In public toilets, use the corner cubicle, and keep bags and valuables away from the door

• Always take your handbag to the toilet with you during flights

• Tear your name and address off any magazines you brought from home, if you leave them on the plane. Why make a public announcement that you're away?

• Never get in an unmarked taxi

• Always wear a seat-belt when there is one

• Don't get out of a taxi until you've arrived at your destination, and pay in the vehicle. Check your change before leaving the taxi

• If you rent a car at a strange airport, and you're unsure of the way, consider hiring a taxi to lead your rental car to the motorway or main road

• On the road, if someone tries to get your attention or your car is bumped, don't stop until you get to a well-lit and busy area

• Put guidebooks, maps, etc out of sight in the car as they're a clear give-away, and don't rent hatchbacks. Make the car look as "local" and lived-in as possible - a child's dummy or toy on the dashboard, local sweet wrappers, and the country's newspaper on view, perhaps. (How does your car look at home?)

• Rent a mobile phone, or bring your own. If you're extremely uncomfortable driving around a country, find out the local police number and put it on speed dial

Be smart on the street

• Do whatever you can to avoid looking like a tourist! Look at the map before you go out, or discreetly in a coffee bar, rather than at main road junctions. Use a pocket-sized guide

• Ask the concierge or female hotel staff if there are areas you should avoid, or if carrying a bag is unwise

• Dress down, certainly until you are more sure of the country and the area. Don't wear jewellery, but do consider wearing a wedding ring - perhaps not your real wedding band, but a cheap one just for the trip

• Use a money belt, and loop it through your belt hooks to make it more difficult to steal

• Carry your bag away from the street side, and make yourself familiar with the currency before you have to use it. Separate large wads of money from small change, so you can tip and make small purchases without showing too much cash

• Carry one credit card, and photocopies of important documents

• When you're walking, should a car start to follow you, turn smartly and walk the other way

• Cross over the road to avoid anyone suspicious

• If you need to ask directions, approach women with children. Say, "Where is xyz please? I'm meeting my husband there."