Travelers need to video and photograph their hotel room, cruise ship cabin, rental car and luggage when they travel to combat false claims and get the right compensation for lost, stolen or damaged luggage.
When most people think of travel photography or even documentary travel photography they think of landmarks, cityscapes, seascapes and iconic views, whether the video or photos are made on today’s modern mirrorless cameras or on smartphones.
Those videos and images, aren’t the subject of this column.
Today, protective smartphone documentary travel videos and photos, are the ones we use to document the appearance and condition of our hotel room, cruise ship cabin and rental car to prevent false damage claims by hotels, cruise lines and rental car companies. In addition, they’re the videos and photos of luggage in case it’s lost, stolen or damaged, or even potentially caught up in the new luggage tag-switching scam.
I recommend documenting the appearance and condition of hotel rooms, cruise ship cabins and rental cars, plus luggage before and during every trip.
I’ve recommended documenting the appearance and condition of hotel rooms, cruise ship cabins and rental cars for years. We hear about the false claims of damage or missing items from hotels, cruise lines and rental car companies too often. Sometimes the claims are billed long after travelers are home when they can do little or nothing about claims unless they’ve prepared evidence during their journey.
Each of us needs before and after videos and photos as proof of their condition when we arrived and left. I take detailed videos and photos of my hotel room, cruise ship cabin and/or rental car with my smartphone. I’ve added video to my documentation because it covers entire rooms and the whole car, inside and out in sweeping pans that include details the photos might miss.
Make sure all your photos are date/time stamped.
A date/time stamp must be included with every video and photo you make for your documentation. You want to be able to prove the date and time that you made the videos and photos to show your shots were made precisely when you said they were made. Typically, smartphones automatically add this information into each video or photo made on them.
In the case documenting a rental car you want to be able to prove that the before shots were made in the rental car lot where you got the car and that the after shots were made in the return lot when you dropped off the car. You can do that via the smartphone’s GPS, if turned on, or using a long shot to include enough of the lot to identify it.
Hotel Room:
In your hotel room, first take a video that pans around the entire room and shows the walls, floors and ceilings. Do the same in the bathroom and closets. Also video and photograph specific items in the rooms including all furniture, the thermostat, TV, accessible electrical outlets, all remote controls, such as the TV remote and if it has one the thermostat, plus all fixtures in the bathroom.
Video and photograph every damage or defect including: scratches, stains or burn marks from prior guests. When I make my video of the room, I zoom in and out for all damage for context and exact location. One of my readers was falsely accused of stealing the prior guest’s Apple Watch that the guest claimed was accidentally left in the safe. I recommend making a video of the safe being opened for the first time by you.
Video and photograph the minibar or mini fridge making sure that both show all their contents. Also video and photograph all of the individual electronics in the room, with them on to show what was and wasn’t there and in what condition.
In addition to helping to prove false claims, I use my after photos to show me that I’ve packed everything.
Cruise Ship Cabin:
Video and photograph your cabin the same way I described doing the hotel room. There are a couple of differences, however. On cruise ships the toilets are very different than in homes and hotels. They work via a vacuum system. They can solely be used for human waste and toilet paper. Not long ago, I read about a cruiser who was fined for having tried to flush fruit down the toilet as they left, causing damage. I recommend that your after video includes a video showing you flushing the toilet before you leave to show it works and is undamaged. If you have one, also don’t forget to video and photograph the veranda and its furniture.
Rental Car:
For rental cars, too many renters are careful to take great videos and photos of the car’s exterior, but forget to do the same with the interior, particularly noting stains or burns on the seats and carpet. Get it all. Also zero in on the wheels and tires, especially if you’re parking the vehicle in a city with sidewalks and concrete curbs. You’ll want to prove they were fine when you turned in the car.
Take detailed before and after videos and photos of the dashboard while the car is running with close-ups of both the odometer reading and the gas gauge. I hear about renters charged for excess, absurd mileage every once in a while and often a charge for fuel because of a false claim that the car wasn’t returned with a full tank of gas, even though it was.
Luggage:
Fully video and photograph your luggage in case of a claim if it’s damaged, stolen or lost. You need to be able to prove the condition of the luggage, the type of luggage/value and what you actually had packed in it. Just before I close my luggage after packing it I make a video and take photos of its contents. Once I close the luggage, I’m careful to show that the bags are in very good shape and undamaged and always get the name of the manufacturer in the images.
A few international travelers have fallen victim of the “bag tag-switching scam.”
Lately, some international travelers have been caught up in a “bag tag-switching scam.” The scam is designed to help smugglers not get jailed for bringing in contraband, particularly illegal drugs, across international borders. Canada’s CTV news did a multipart series on this problem last May. Criminals switch legitimate luggage tags on to bags containing the illegal items. If the bags are detected by police the problem is transferred to the unsuspecting victim whose luggage tag was removed from their bag and put on the criminal’s bag. The innocent traveler might be jailed for a day or more while trying to prove to police that the bag isn’t theirs, (Their bag typically is at the right airport, but tagged that the original tag was missing.) while the real criminal is free. Photos of your luggage could help you quickly prove that the bag isn’t yours. I also strongly suggest you get a quick photo of your bag after the luggage tag is affixed to its handle.
Unfortunately, these travel documentation videos and photos are becoming more and more important to protect travelers from false claims of damage as well as false charges by the police. Even with the videos and photos, it still may be hard to get the companies or police to listen to you, but without them the effort to prove you’re right may be monumental, if not impossible.
After many years working in corporate America as a chemical engineer, executive and eventually CFO of a multinational manufacturer, Ned founded a tech consulting company and later restarted NSL Photography, his photography business. Before entering the corporate world, Ned worked as a Public Health Engineer for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health. As a well known corporate, travel and wildlife photographer, Ned travels the world writing about travel and photography, as well as running photography workshops, seminars and photowalks. Visit Ned’s Photography Blog and Galleries.
