Hotel-Motel Security
As an Amenity
Safety and security
is a growing concern among travelers throughout the world. Let’s face
it, traveling is stressful enough without having to worry about
becoming a crime victim while away from home. One only has to look at
the negative impact on hotel bookings, following a highly publicized
tourist attack, to see how important the
perception of security is to the traveler.
When there is a
choice, frequent travelers will seek out a hotel property that has
superior security amenities. Initially, savvy travelers will select a
property that satisfies their criteria and balance of location, price,
business facilities, and food service. However, after visiting the
property, it’s the security features
that might determine the continued loyalty of a guest.
DESIGN FACTORS
The first
opportunity to present a positive impression
about the relative safety of a hotel property is at the perimeter. For
maximum effectiveness, there must be an obvious and distinct design
transition as you enter the property from the public street. Solid
deterrent cues include significant barriers like perimeter walls,
decorative fencing, landscaped terraces, and a well-defined driveway
and main entrance. A strong transition sends a subliminal message to
the criminal that this hotel is private property and for use by hotel
guests only.
LIGHTING
Good exterior
lighting is designed to fill the gap between the property boundary and
the hotel entrance and is the most important nighttime security
feature. Public areas, when bathed in light, are both inviting to the
guest and a powerful deterrent to crime. Good exterior lighting will
allow you to see a potential threat at 100 feet. This minimum level of
visibility gives you time to respond to the threat before being
confronted by it. Exterior lighting must be even and balanced.
Balanced lighting appears warm and comfortable and makes a property
feel safe.
To achieve a
balanced lighting effect, more fixtures are often necessary to fill
the lighting gaps. Huge floodlights are not the best choice
because they are not energy-efficient and tend to create glare and
heavy shadows between fixtures. A surprising benefit of adding more
and smaller light fixtures is that the total wattage can be reduced
which will save significant amounts of energy. Many properties have
been able to pay for their entire lighting fixture upgrade in just one
year, based on their energy savings
alone.
CURBSIDE DETERRENTS
Parking lot
security is often the most overlooked area on a hotel property.
Stranger-to-stranger crimes against persons are more likely to occur
in the parking lot than in any other location. This is because parking
lots offer the criminal the best hiding places, the fewest witnesses,
and the quickest escape route. Parking lot
surveillance can be relatively inexpensive by installing video
cameras, but nothing beats a highly visible, uniformed security patrol
that is capable of responding to a criminal incident and can call for
help. Besides, a hotel guest would rather see a "live person" on the
job that is paid to look out for their welfare.
Highly visible
doormen and valet parking attendants are a great crime deterrent,
especially on smaller hotel properties. Nothing instills more
confidence in a hotel guest than a capable doorman who greets and
makes eye contact with them as they
enter the property. Criminals don’t like doormen for two reasons:
First, they don’t want to be identified, and second, they don’t want
to be captured should they have to escape in a hurry. Without
competent curbside security, crimes like purse snatches, car thefts,
and luggage thefts would increase substantially on most urban
properties.
A doorman can
monitor a property better if the number of entrances is limited,
especially at night. This design philosophy gives the hotel the
advantage of making the criminal feel "out of place" and therefore
more likely to be deterred.
Access control cues
must continue inside the property to be totally effective and to
foster that "safe and secure feeling" within a guest. As for the
criminal, access control is like peeling
an onion...the more layers they penetrate, the more uncomfortable it
should feel.
INTERIOR ACCESS CONTROL
In addition to
physical barriers, access control involves the use of electronic
equipment, personnel, and procedures. For example, the entire hotel
staff should be trained to be attentive
to all persons and report suspicious activity to the manager-on-duty.
Hotel guests love this high level of courtesy and staff attentiveness,
while criminals hate it. Hotel criminals prefer to remain unnoticed
and anonymous. Multiple staff contacts will make them feel very
uncomfortable and is usually enough to make them go elsewhere to ply
their trade.
In a high-rise
hotel, the ground floor lobby presents another major opportunity to
deter crime. The best security designs
position the registration, bell, and concierge desks in a position to
view critical access points. Important access points include the
front, back, or side entrances, elevator banks, lounge, and restaurant
entrances. In large metropolitan hotels, extra attention needs to be
paid to guest luggage, briefcases, and handbags left casually on the
lobby floor.
GUESTROOM SECURITY
The guestroom
represents the inner-circle of a hotel security plan. The guestroom is
the sanctuary for the weary traveler where they expect to be safe. The
guestroom doors and windows must be fortified
to prevent forced entry, especially at the ground level. Doors must be
nothing less than solid-core wood or metal, and be self-closing and
self-locking. The door lock must consist of a high quality deadbolt
with at least a one-inch bolt. The lock strike-plate must be bolted
securely to the metal doorframe or by using three-inch screws when
attached to a wood doorjamb. Accessible sliding windows must have
secondary security devices attached to prevent forced entry or lifting
out of the frame.
Visible signs of
door lock maintenance are important to travelers. Doors must be tight
fitting and the locks must be in good condition and should give a
distinctive "clunk" as the deadbolt slides and locks in place.
Guestroom doors must be equipped with a wide-angle
peephole so a guest can see who is
outside before opening the door.
A much appreciated
guest amenity is the personal in-room lock-box. Electronic and keyless
lock-boxes are best, as long as they are securely anchored. Although
not designed to replace the hotel safe deposit box, in-room
lock-boxes provide extra peace of mind
for storing small valuables and personal documents.
KEY CONTROL
Metal room keys are
slowly being replaced by electronically coded key-cards. There is
nothing more unsettling than checking into an upscale hotel and being
issued a metal room key with the correct room number stamped on the
key. Metal keys require a hotel to maintain an elaborate key control
system with daily inventories and master key and E-Key checkout logs
for the staff. The guest has no way of knowing adequate key control
systems are in place. If a room key or master key turns up missing,
technically the locks must be changed and this creates an on-going
maintenance expense for a hotel.
Metal room keys do
not make the same "security statement" as coded plastic key-cards.
Key-cards have the capability of being randomly coded at the point of
registration, which re-emphasizes the guest perception of room
security. Key-card control is computer-based and therefore creates the
necessary audit trail automatically.
Master keys can be changed in a matter of a few keystrokes and lost
key-cards are easily removed from the system. One of the best
features, is the ability of the computer to interrogate each door lock
and get a printout of everyone who accessed a particular room.
PREDICTIONS
Traveler demand for
hotels that promote enhanced security will increase in the coming
decade. Security amenities are important to travelers, especially the
elderly and women traveling alone. I
predict security conscious properties will gain advantage over
competing hotels that fail to recognize this important new trend. |
