Size of a TB Motel - Is There A Consensus?

[+elina_maree]

Hi. Just wondering if there is a consensus on how large a TB Motel must be? Obviously has to fit in a few bugs but...what do people think?

My ammo tin was either stolen or washed away (not far from a drain...but was under a massive piece of concrete so not sure!). I don't want to replace with another ammo tin. So will relocate slightly and change containers. Trying to decide on a container. There are jumbo bison tubes for instance on eBay...just not sure how large a TB Motel needs to be. Any feedback welcome.

[+Twentse Mug]

A TB hotel is not meant to collect Travel Bugs. The purpose of travel bugs is travelling.

 

[+hal-an-tow]

Not sure this is the place to look for a consensus !

If you hope to attract TBs, the container needs to be large enough to accommodate them, so think about any awkward things you've seen with TB tags on which might give folk difficulties finding a cache to drop them in.

I've found TBs with 20cm tall soft toys, Barbie sized dolls, giant plastic ducks and other strange items, and had to search out a big enough cache to move them to (or in some cases attend an event and make them someone else's problem ... like the trackable oar, or several roadsigns ...)    My personal opinion would be a proper regular sized cache, (i.e. one with a capacity of 1L or larger) would be the smallest I'd consider useful as a TB hotel, and it needs to be a good, quality waterproof container too, as some of those soft toys etc are vulnerable to damp. If you don't want to buy another ammo can , a quality cliplock box of around 2L capacity is big enough for most TBs, but small enough to be hidden from muggle view in many locations.

When I think about dropping TBs in a cache I check out the cache listing and previous logs. Any cache which has been lost or muggled in the past, has logs mentioning missing TBs, or otherwise suggests to me that the container may be an insecure place sounds alarm bells and I will probably not choose to to leave the TBs I am temporarily responsible for there. As you say your ammo can went missing from flood or muggle I'd suggest you are right to think you should move the new container to a new spot , that massive concrete you mention could also be a memorable landmark for a nosy muggle looking around for another 'free box of trinkets someone left just lying there for me to take ' !

[+cerberus1]

Since there's no such cache type as a "TB Motel", I'd say it can be whatever size you wish.       We saw a peanut butter jar and a pill bottle called one once.

We stopped dropping trackables in those called a "hotel" by their owner.  Here, they're the ones that have the most trackables missing or improperly logged, and are a thief magnet.  Add in many "hotel" CO's additional logging requirements, saying how we're supposed to log or retrieve them and we go elsewhere.   Lately we're finding more trackables in caches not having one listed in inventory anyway.

As you noticed, even PMO may have issues.  Placement is key. Similar to hal-an-tow, If me,  I'd archive the current hide (it's already compromised, and "very well known locally"),  and would probably look to the outskirts of town instead.   Good luck.   

 

[+hal-an-tow]

Thinkig about it, of the half dozen or so caches I've found which the setter called a TB hotel only one stands out as a model : this cache is a quality clipbox, with a second clipbox inside especially for the TBs, in a place which has a great view, is not much frequented by muggles, and offers a good hide. It would be a good cache and location without any TBs, and the CO takes good care of it without being officious about trying to impose 'rules' of TBs in/out.

If you read back through the 5 1/2  years of the listing it gets frequent CO check up visits, has been relocated a considerable distance after an early muggling, has been the victim of farm machinery once, and picked up by a curious local once - who handed it back to the CO ! The CO adjusted the hide intelligently after each problem to ensure the same thing  didn't happen again.

I'd not hesitate to drop any TB in that cache .

[+Mausebiber]

Coins and small Tb's have there own room and you can change the sign on the door to indicate. that the room is being used.

Larger TB's have a shared room downstairs 

All inside a big metal case with a secured (padlock) metal door.

[+CAVinoGal]

On 1/1/2018 at 8:44 AM, hal-an-tow said:

Not sure this is the place to look for a consensus !   Haha - good point!

If you hope to attract TBs, the container needs to be large enough to accommodate them ...  My personal opinion would be a proper regular sized cache, (i.e. one with a capacity of 1L or larger) would be the smallest I'd consider useful as a TB hotel, and it needs to be a good, quality waterproof container too, as some of those soft toys etc are vulnerable to damp. If you don't want to buy another ammo can , a quality cliplock box of around 2L capacity is big enough for most TBs, but small enough to be hidden from muggle view in many locations.

When I think about dropping TBs in a cache I check out the cache listing and previous logs. Any cache which has been lost or muggled in the past, has logs mentioning missing TBs, or otherwise suggests to me that the container may be an insecure place sounds alarm bells and I will probably not choose to to leave the TBs I am temporarily responsible for there ...

I agree with all of the above by hal-an-tow, and I too, look at the cache history and trackable history before leaving the ones in my care in a cache, whether it's called a TB hotel or not.  An accurate inventory is always a plus, but I find that's rare.

I have one hide I use as a trackable drop; it's well hidden from muggles, but not from geocachers, it's large enough to hold several trackables, close enough to home that I can check it frequently, and it's not called a TB hotel!  It's had several trackables dropped and retrieved in it's (relatively) short life.  We used a large plastic spice jar that holds about a quart, with a screw top lid, painted the outside to match the hide, and it's placed lid down so water will not get inside.  (Yes, I've had to "fix" it a couple of times so it's replaced properly!)

I guess the answer to how large a TB Hotel should be would depend on how many trackables you intend it to hold at one time!  

[+thebruce0]

IMO, a good example of a TB hotel implementation is one posted on the owner's property, large, secure, and even with a lock for which only geocachers would have the combo. That doesn't stop geocachers from stealing, but it's more unlikely to happen if it's on private property (especially if there's a 'surveillance' sticker nearby ;P)

[+CAVinoGal]

On 1/4/2018 at 6:00 AM, thebruce0 said:

IMO, a good example of a TB hotel implementation is one posted on the owner's property, large, secure, and even with a lock for which only geocachers would have the combo. That doesn't stop geocachers from stealing, but it's more unlikely to happen if it's on private property (especially if there's a 'surveillance' sticker nearby ;P)

Something like GC7DB7B, perhaps?  (Belongs to my son and daughter-in-law)  We are considering doing something smiliar to the final stage of this multi in our own yard.

[+thebruce0]

On 1/5/2018 at 7:48 PM, CAVinoGal said:

Something like GC7DB7B, perhaps?  (Belongs to my son and daughter-in-law)  We are considering doing something smiliar to the final stage of this multi in our own yard.

Exactly. (btw, the photo on that listing has an EXIF location; may want to contact the cacher to edit/repost the image with it stripped ;))