TikTok can be many things if not as entertaining as it can be informative. Based on one user’s recent experience, some videos on the app can save people from possible dangers.
“I remember watching that video. She saved me,” TikTok user @darlene_octavia said in a video.
In the now-viral video, Darlene details how she viewed an earlier, also viral video about hotel safety. According to her, the information might have saved her life.
Taking TikTok’s Advice
In the original, but now-deleted video, a TikTok user shares the importance of keeping a traveler’s room number discrete. She detailed the possible dangers of having strangers know that a person, especially a woman, is traveling alone and what room they’re staying in.
Darlene referenced the video when she recalled a story about staying at a hotel in “the middle of nowhere” for a food convention she was visiting. She said she was in town by herself and arrived late in the evening at the hotel.
While checking in, Darlene said, an older man entered the room and was standing close to her. She said the man noticed her United Kingdom accent and commented on it. This sparked a casual conversation about what she was in town for.
@darlene_octavia Thanks @patricejwill … could’ve been completely harmless but I’ve seen enough true crime shows,not to risk it 🥹 #travel #solotravel #hacks #safety #la ♬ original sound – darleneoctavia
Darlene described herself as a friendly person, so the conversation was not initially concerning. Then, as the person checking in gave her the room key, she said he announced her room number out loud.
“[The older man] clearly heard it,” she said in the video.
After getting her room key, she left the check-in area to walk toward her room. The older man followed. Darlene said he pointed toward the room direction, confirming that he had heard and taken note of her room number. The man claimed his room was next door to hers.
“So, now he knows, single woman, literally in the room next door to him,” she recalled.
Navigating Privacy and Safety with Hotel Staff
She said she felt uncomfortable with him having that information and decided to go back to the front desk. There, she told the person working that announcing her room number in front of another guest had made her feel unsafe. The person working the front desk apologized and reassigned her.
Though nothing else happened, Darlene said she was happy to have seen the original video mentioning hotel safety for single travelers. She also encouraged other people to speak up for themselves if they feel unsafe or unsure when staying at a hotel alone.
“Don’t feel like you’re being difficult. Be [authoritative]… Be friendly and be kind, but be firm,” she said.