Addalock Original

Why it is our Best Overall

Solo travelers, business flyers in unfamiliar hotels and anyone who wants a proven, no-nonsense way to secure a rental door are the natural buyers of the Addalock Original portable door lock. It suits people who value a device that has been around long enough to be understood by locksmiths, and who want something small enough to forget about in a toiletry bag.

It takes the Best Overall slot because it is the reference design for this category. The steel claw slots into the strike plate of an inward-opening door, the red handle slides over it and wedges the door shut, and the whole thing weighs little and takes seconds to fit. The locksmith source we relied on still considers it a strong option for compatible doors, which is rare praise in a market full of imitators. There is nothing to charge, nothing to set and nothing to misplace except the lock itself.

On a trip it comes out on the first night. You close the door, hook the claw into the plate, slide the handle on, and test that the door will not open. In the morning you slide the handle off, pocket the lock and go. At an Airbnb where the host keeps a key, or a hostel private room with a weak latch, it turns a door you cannot control into one you can.

The drawback is compatibility: the Addalock Original portable door lock needs an inward-opening door with a standard strike plate and enough clearance, so some electronic hotel doors and tight frames will not accept it. Like any add-on device it must be removable in a second during an emergency, so practice once. Skip it if your doors open outward or have no plate; choose it for the simplest proven lock for ordinary doors.