High Rise Hotel Preparedness

Would You Be Ready for SHTF While Traveling?

Last night I was out of town to speak at a conference for work.  It was held in a very nice hotel and the conference sponsors paid for my room.  If it was on my dime or on my employer's, I'd have ended up staying in a much cheaper place down the road a little ways.

The hotel had a couple of 6-8 storey towers with rooms.  My room was on the third floor.  Safe from a ground level forced entry, and low enough to safely escape in a fire.

Upon reaching my room, I scouted out the emergency exits.  I was at the far end of the hall from the stairs.  The stairway door was at the end of the hall, not on the side, so if I had to head that way in dark or smoke, I would just go until I hit the wall, then find the door.  My room had a sliding glass door that led to a foot wide "balcony" with a sturdy railing.  It would be easy to drop my belongings over and climb over the rail, then hang and drop the remaining 10-12 feet to the ground.  It was grassy below my room, so I should be able to do that with minimal, if any, injury.

Before going to bed, I prepositioned my pants, shirt and slip on shoes.  I had my wallet and car keys in the pants pocket.  Other essentials such as my EDC kit were in my overnight bag, ready to grab.  Beside the bed I put my glasses, cell phone, and headlamp.  If the fire alarm sounded in the middle of the night, I could slip on my glasses and headlamp, get dressed, grab my phone and overnight bag, and be on the way to safety in less than a minute.  If the hotel burned down after I got out, I'd have all of my crucial belongings so that I could get home.

In other, general planning, I parked on the outskirts of the parking lot so that I could easily get out if the lot was filled with emergency responders.  The folks attending the conference were avid participants in the open bar provided by one of the corporate sponsors.  I poked my head in there for about 15 minutes to be polite, but I can't fathom the idea of being all tanked up at three in the morning in a strange location when the fire alarm goes off.  The hotel was in a decent part of a decent medium sized town.  There was nothing about the conference that was controversial or that might attract unwanted attention.

All-in-all, I'm confident that I had an effective emergency plan for my overnight stay away from home.  What do you all think?  Anything I overlooked?  Any tricks you use when you stay in a hotel?