I’ve stayed in a handful of suspect hotels during my travels where I have actually propped a chair under the door handle just in case any unsavory characters wished to pay me a late night visit.
So far the chair has either worked, or I was overly paranoid and had nothing to fear to begin with.
There is a slightly more effective way to keep out unwanted intruders. The $12.85 Door Stop Alarm is a small portable wedge which rests against your hotel door. If someone tries to come in, the wedge will not only prevent the door from opening any further, but it will also emit a piercing alarm.
This one-two punch is far more effective than the old propped chair. And yet, for some strange reason I still prefer the nostalgia of the old film noir, time-tested chair method. If it worked for Raymond Chandler characters and countless three stooges episodes, then it’s good enough for me.