TOP 4 SECURITY ISSUES FACING HOTELS

Security can be a tricky issue to deal with in the hospitality sector. With so many people coming and going, there’s a lot of security concerns to keep track of. And hotel grounds tend to be more extensive, making it harder for staff to cover every area while working to ensure guest happiness. 

Still, General Managers and hotel Staff have a responsibility to have a plan to protect their guests and their personal property, along with their employees and property. But you don’t have to do it alone. To help you out our professional security experts have put together this list of the top four security issues facing hotel and lodging facilities along with some suggestions for addressing them.

Trespassing and Loitering

With so many guests at once, a high rate of turnover, constant visitors, and numerous employees, there’s an awful lot of people to keep track of at a hotel. It’s often extraordinarily difficult to know who belongs in a particular place at any given time. If there’s a bar, restaurant, or convention center for events, the problem is even more pronounced. 

Since employees and security officers can’t tell the difference between a guest and someone who’s planning to steal just by looking at them, access control measures need to be put in place. After certain hours, requiring keycards to get into all doors is a must. Consider also requiring a swipe to get into all amenities 24/7 to ensure only guests can access pools, fitness centers, business centers, and other areas that have expensive equipment that can be damaged.

Theft of Property

Lodging facilities and other public accommodations tend to have a problem with theft. Despite popular belief, most instances of theft occur in common areas rather than in rooms. In fact, while some people do break into hotel rooms to steal, many of the thefts that occur in rooms are that of hotel property that guests take when they leave. 

Some of the more brazen guests might copy their keycard or claim they lost it so that they can enter the room after they check out to take things without being charged. Perhaps even more surprising, five-star hotels are more likely to have high-end items lifted by guests than 4-star ones. Keep an up-to-date inventory of items in each room and have your cleaning crew check

Also, be sure to educate guests when they check in about best practices for keeping track of their personal items when using the pool, fitness center, or common areas of the hotel. Some guests may come from different areas or countries where such practices aren’t well known.

Parking Lot Theft

Hotel parking lots are usually full of cars that are often left unattended for long periods of time. This can lead to carjackers and petty thieves targeting these areas. Higher-end hotels tend to have more expensive luxury cars in the parking lot that could signal to passersby that big-ticket items can be found inside them. It’s not uncommon for high-priced stereo systems, other electronics, jewelry, cash, or even the car itself, to go missing from the lot. Statistics show that items being stolen from inside cars are more common than actual auto theft, making up 85 percent of all auto-related theft, and cars are four times more likely to be stolen from parking lots than other places.

To help increase the safety and security of your hotel parking lot, look closely for shadowy corners, dingy pathways, and other scary-looking areas. Consultant lighting and/or security experts who can recommend solutions that fill those areas with light. You should also consider security cameras that can both serve as an active deterrence to crime as well as a way to catch thieves in the act.

Disorderly Conduct

Hotels and lodging facilities want their guests to let loose and have a good time. After all, isn’t that often the purpose of taking a vacation? However, sometimes people take it a little too far. Guests can act out of character while away from home by drinking too much, getting loud, or being confrontational at which point having fun becomes disorderly conduct. 

When guests become belligerent or get into altercations, they become a risk to guest safety. Even just playing loud music or having rowdy parties can be a disturbance to other guests. This can be a real issue for hotel employees trying to ensure that every guest enjoys their stay. Having an on-site or mobile patrol security officer who actively monitors for guest behavior and specific areas where things can get out of hand, such as party/event spaces and pool areas, can help keep the shenanigans to a minimum and free up your front desk staff to focus on providing good service.

Finding the Right Security Solutions for Your Hotel

These issues may cause you some anxiety. To calm your fears and provide peace of mind to your staff and guests, find the right security solutions for your hotel property. Every hotel and lodging facility is unique with its own distinct issues, needs, and solutions.