Features

Placing guests at the heart of safety

06 Feb 2014 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

When I book a hotel I look for one that provides comfort and a secure environment. In a hotel environment, safety and security are two sides of the same coin. Let’s examine this on an imaginary – but not totally unreal series of incidents that all occur to the Nemo (‘Nobody’ in Latin) family, when they are picked up from the airport to arrive at the equally imaginary ‘Slovenly Hotel’.

At the hotel entrance a red carpet has been rolled out to welcome a VIP guest. One corner of the red carpet has not been laid properly and entangles with the shoe worn by Mrs. Nemo as she climbs up the steps leading to the hotel doors. She falls on the steps and cuts her knee. The doorman runs towards her to help.
The taxi belonging to ‘Sloppy Tours’(the hotel’s designated travel partner for guest transportation), has a rear tire burst and veers off on the road to the hotel, leaving the travel weary Nemo family shaken but fortunately no one is injured.
As the spare tire in the taxi was not inflated, the Nemo family has to wait 35 minutes until a relief taxi arrives to take them to the hotel.
Mr Nemo whilst rushing into the hotel to get some assistance bangs his forehead against the plate glass on the entrance doors.
The 1st aid box has no cotton nor bandages.
The doctor eventually arrives 45 minutes later to attend to Mrs. Nemo.
Whilst going up in the elevator, the family gets stuck between the 4th and 5th floor. They do not know what to do as they stand fearfully, in the darkness for almost three minutes before the lift starts to work again.
The Receptionist assures Mrs. Nemo that the hotel doctor will attend to her within 15 minutes.
When they reach the room, Mr Nemo realises that his camera has probably been left in the taxi.
The following morning the family decides to check out of the Slovenly hotel and whilst making his way to the cashiers counter, Mr Nemo slips and almost takes a fall before regaining his balance. The shine on the tiled floor hides an unattended wet area, resulting from spillage occurring during the morning mopping of the floor by housekeeping staff.
The manager of the Slovenly hotel apologises profusely and offers the Nemo family a complimentary night’s stay with food and beverage to compensate for all their troubles. Despite this, it is unlikely that the Nemo family will ever return to the Slovenly hotel. Would you? I for one certainly wouldn’t! So what did go wrong at this hotel of horrors? Let’s investigate:

The hotel doctor was at a medical conference and was due to address the gathering as a guest speaker. Consequently, he could not leave immediately. An arrangement to have a ‘back up’ doctor-on-call for such unavoidable circumstances was not considered at all.
The lift car emergency light malfunctioned. In the darkness, the Nemo family could not see where the emergency buzzer and the intercom were located to alert hotel staff that the lift has stopped working. (The service contract with the supplier of the lift had not been renewed).
There were no clear glass warning markers/stickers on the entrance glass doors to prevent accidental collisions that can cause harm.(Note: There is currently no national requirement or standard for installing glass warning stickers).
The hotel has outsourced its guest transport requirements to a taxi service operator. The operator does not own any cars – instead hires cars from outsiders. No one checks the cars. The taxi used to pick up the Nemos from the airport was running on ‘worn out’ tires. The spare was used to replace a previous flat tire and nothing was done to inflate/replace it.
The housekeeping staff was negligent when laying the carpet. The doorman should have been observant and pointed it out to ensure it was properly done.
Periodic checking and re-stocking of the 1st aid box is not done.
Hotel staff especially bellman or the doorman should have checked the taxi to ensure that all of the baggage has been taken out. Some hotels even have a procedure of recording the taxi number or video monitoring cars/taxis arriving and leaving. None of this is done at the Slovenly hotel.
In many cases, the employee will first place a warning sign to indicate the presence of a spill and then get the mop or other spill clean-up equipment. At this hotel, staff is not properly trained to respond promptly in the event of a spill. The hotel also does not have any ‘wet floor warning’ or similar cautionary sign boards for display.

Safety and security priorities
Safety and security of hotels, be it prevention of accidents, theft or for fire safety, is not only the business of the security department. Yes, it is their core responsibility, but it is also every employees business, and everyone in the hotel including those who work in partnership with the hotel must contribute towards it.

Hotels must lay down these priorities so that it’s monitoring and actions are proactively (unlike reactively), in harmony with the identified priorities. These priorities must embrace unwavering care for guest and employee life; guest and employee health and guest and employee property. The basic causes of accidents are inadequate safety standards, People acting in an uncharacteristic or unaccustomed manner, or a combination of all. Whilst some hotels, especially – but not necessarily all, who belong to reputed brands or chain of hotels are diligent in ensuring adequate safety standards, sadly it is not the case in the majority of hotels. Several hotels that practice safety standards do so in a small and loosely defined circle of control, driven more by the need to comply with the local regulations than for the well-being of its guest and employees.

Understanding and managing the risks
As Chris E. McGoey explains “What most hotel guest are still not particularly aware of when travelling on business or pleasure is that your hotel room becomes your home for the night and is your sanctuary while you sleep. It is important to give some thought about security planning. What hotel are you going to select, and what room are you going to accept? The cost of the hotel room is not the best predictor of how safe the room will be. There are a few security rules of thumb that should apply to any hotel room you rent.”

McGoey goes on to add “Upper floors are generally safer from crime but worse for fire rescue. Emergency rescue is best below the 5th floor. I compromise by picking a modern fire-safe and always request a room on the upper floor to reduce crime exposure. Ground floor rooms are more vulnerable to crime problems because of access and ease of escape. In a high rise building, rooms above the fifth floor are safer for that reason. Also rooms not adjacent to fire stairs are safer from room invaders because they use them for escape. Criminals do not want to be trapped on an upper floor inside a high rise hotel. By design, high rise buildings usually have fewer ground level access points and are easier for the hotel staff to monitor who passes through the lobby after hours”.

Perhaps one of the first and most famous cases of a security lapse on the part of a hotel was the case of Garzelli vs Howard Johnson Motor Lodges in 1976.In this case popular singer and entertainer Connie Francis was staying at the Howard Johnson hotel in Westbury, New York. She was criminally assaulted and raped by a man who entered her ground room through the room’s sliding glass doors. From the inside the doors gave an appearance of been locked, but they could be opened from the outside without difficulty. Based on psychiatric testimony that her lucrative career was ruined because of this traumatic experience, Francis was awarded US$ 2.5 Million. She never successfully performed since, despite several attempted ‘comebacks’. The court opined that the hotel had violated basic principles of security by providing sliding doors that could be opened from the outside. The hotel’s fault was a relatively slight oversight that led to a tragic incident that could have been prevented. Doors that appear to be locked but do not in fact do so, are an open invitation to all kinds of trouble.

(To be continued)
(Shafeek Wahab has an extensive background in Hospitality Management spanning over 30 years. He has held key managerial responsibilities in internationally renowned hotel chains, both locally and abroad, including his last held position as Head of Branding for a leading Hotel Group in Sri Lanka. Now focusing on corporate education, training, consulting and coaching he can be contacted on shafeekwahab@ in2ition.biz. Website: www.in2ition.biz)

Features

Placing guests at the heart of safety

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