Single female travellers and male intruders in hotels

No, I have never had this happen.

Did you report the intrusion to management?
I definitely would want to do that!

No, I have never heard of this actually happening either, but I have seen lots of people on the internet recommending these gadgets. It seems a little risky to me to jam the door from the inside.

There are also videos by hotel staff explaining that "room checks" are actually a thing, and staff will drop in on you if they suspect something or if they are worried about something. This is mainly in the US though, and very few people seem to have actually had this happen while they were in the room.

If someone enters the room without knocking that is definitely not on, though.

I was woken at 2am by a man knocking on my hotel door. I was alone in the room. He started shouting "Let me in!"
I rang reception but it just rang out.
I heard a door open in the room next to mine and a woman's voice.
He moved off and I heard the door close. He must have been drunk and got the wrong room but it was very unnerving at the time.

In some of the unusual countries where I travelled solo (Iran, Syria, Lebanon etc) the hotel rooms were cleaned by young men. Some of them imagined that a single European female was "up for it" and needed to be dissuaded from offering their services. Ive had men knocking on my door at odd hours in some of these countries (including Italy). Usually if you ignore them they will go away after a couple of knocks because they dont want to risk attracting the attention of other guests.

In Iran the room boys will try to catch sight of women with their hair uncovered. They would shout out that they were room service and had brought you a tea/coffee/coke that you had not ordered. I would just tell them to leave it outside. I also learned to unplug the phone at night to avoid getting unwanted calls!

If its an old hotel with manual locks I just half turn the key in the lock when I am in the room. Even a pass key will not be able to open the door. Those electronic key cards are more tricky, hence the door wedge. It cant be forced from the outside.

Why these men imagined I would be "up for it" is anyones guess. If I travel in such countries I cultivate an air of cool distance with hotel staff - not arrogant but not over friendly either. If you joke or chat to them they may well take it the wrong way.

Most hotels have security chains by their doors. I've travelled a lot on my own but have not been bothered in this way.

I've stayed in a lot of hotels in the UK, US and Australia because I worked away a lot. It's only happened to me once. I was woken up by the banging of someone opening the door and walking in to it as the safety chain was on. I shouted very loudly 'Who is that?' and heard a very distinct 'What the f***????'. Turned out someone arriving late had been given the wrong room number and magnetic key. He disappeared off to reception sharpish - I think he was more horrified than I was 😄

I’ve travelled all over the world on business for several years and never had this problem.

Only once staying in a small private hotel in York- someone came into our room but promptly left and we went back to sleep!