Electronic security great, but human touch still needed

By Marni Andrews

There is no doubt that electronic technology has made great inroads in the lodging sector—from the time a room is booked to arrival at the guest suite to checkout. In some cases, swipe card systems for arrival, elevators and room doors have eliminated the need to interact with a human at all.

Upgraded parking lot lighting, the widespread use of cameras and key carded room doors provide a feeling of security for guests that was not always present before the arrival of widespread technology. And yet, perpetrators seem to have relatively easy access and opportunity with some properties.

The front door of the hotel and the hotel’s own staff are two other security weak points mentioned by travellers in the know.

“It seems like anyone can walk through a hotel front door and gain access to the whole property whether a guest or not,” says frequent traveller Larry Hahn, corporate accounts executive with Allens, Inc. “This and the fact that hotel staff and service employees have complete access to rooms and the entire facility leads to security breaches.”

Though Hahn has never experienced crime or a security incident while staying at a hotel, he knows of colleagues who have. One case involved missing personal items from a locked room. Access was assumed to have been by cleaning staff but when challenged, the hotel manager defended his staff and offered only an apology along with an offer to file a police report.

The value of the stolen items did not warrant a police report in the guest’s mind so it was dropped.

In another incident, a frequent traveller was staying at a national chain hotel in Cincinnati recently and two individuals tried to break into his room overnight. After a call to the front desk and some loud yelling, the intruders left and the police were called. First among the questions was how did the perpetrators get into the hotel—was it through the front door, via a discarded room key that still worked on a perimeter door or even through a staff member.

“While I think steps have been taken to secure the exteriors of hotels, there needs to be more attention paid to interior entry and to room security,” concludes Hahn.

Claire Belilos, hospitality management and training consultant, and owner of CHIC Hospitality Consulting Services, thinks that the widespread use of video cameras in hotels has actually decreased the level of security in cases where security people no longer make regular rounds throughout the hotel.

“Several hotels have installed cameras that film continuously but when I taught hotel management courses in Vancouver, I discovered that most of the time no one actually watches the monitor to see what is happening at the various doors and exits,” she says. “Also, many hotels have dispensed with front office cashiers and have installed video cameras pointing to the cash register to protect payments received but here too no one watches what is actually happening.”

“Previously, hotels knew that they had to provide full safety and security to guests and they had full-fledged security departments or rotating shifts of security personnel at smaller properties. To my mind, nothing can replace the human system. Digital products should be regarded as additional safety and security measures, especially with widespread terrorism,” explains Belilos.

One important advance in guestroom security is the ability to record and audit entrances and exits from a room. Robert Sydor, VP business development, KABA, which offers a range of access control security systems for the hospitality market through the ILCO and Saflok brands, says that in one case a guest’s claim of content theft from his room was promptly dropped when it was revealed that there had been no entrances or exits from the room during the time he claimed he was away and the theft had occurred.

RFID locks popular

Onity electronic door lock

Sydor says that RFID (radio frequency identification) locks that offer contactless technology are his most popular products. Hoteliers are switching to RFID because the keys don’t demagnetize, thus providing greater guest convenience as well as savings on labour for staff who formerly had to reprogram keycards.  Remote check-in options include RFID loyalty keycard programs where member keycards can be used to access assigned rooms in any hotel worldwide within a specific hotel chain.

“RFID locks that eliminate the magnetic stripe lock are becoming the standard,” says Larry Cechet, president, Select Hospitality, which offers electronic lock systems, electronic in-room safes and privacy logic.

“Many new construction projects are considering online wireless locking systems that integrate with an in-room management system. Cell phone locks will be the next application to catch on. Most lock systems today are cell phone enabled, but the phones are not yet compatible,” Cechet adds.

The cell phone room key can operate through a time-sensitive audible tone sent to a phone or with an NFC (Near Field Communications) chip inside a smart phone that operates like a keycard when presented to the lock card reader, says Sydor.

Self check-in lobby kiosks that dispense a room key are being widely adopted to provide an option for guests who want a more streamlined, anonymous check-in procedure. And hotels are now opting for online solutions that enable programming and auditing of electronic locks directly from the front desk, says Sydor of KABA.

VisiOnline helps report intruders at Le Germain Calgary

VingCard Elsafe’s VisiOnline wireless RF-online locking system allows a hotelier to not only encode key cards wirelessly and remotely but also to cancel cards remotely if there’s an issue with payment, for example. The Sequential Intruder report alerts front desk by e-mail if a guest is trying to access the wrong room. Someone can be sent immediately to assist the guest, which saves them from having to come to reception.

Mark Schaay, director of rooms at the 143-room Le Germain Calgary, which includes an 85,000 sq. ft. office complex, says that he sees the Sequential Intruder report about once a week with his VisiOnline installation. The Wandering Intruder report is generated less frequently, perhaps a few times a month. This is triggered when a guest key is being used on three or more doors. The card is cancelled immediately.

“Another good thing for security is that we can do a detailed readout on the locks that tells us when a door was opened and closed and whether it was opened from the inside or outside,” says Schaay. “We had an office tenant who didn’t close the door properly when he left and was convinced someone had gone in overnight. Because of Lock Log, we could show him that the last time the door was opened was from the inside.”

Safes as furniture

Minibar Systems safe with keypad

New construction projects are looking to build safes with furniture designs as opposed to putting them on a shelf in the closet, says Cechet of Select Hospitality.

Walt Strasser, executive vice-president, Minibar Systems, which offers battery-operated in-room safes to the North American market, agrees. He says there is a definite trend towards the Top Open type safe in new hotel room designs. They are mounted in a drawer to keep them out of sight and to free up space in the closet where safes have been typically mounted. The Top Open-type is also easier for shorter guests to use as it is not mounted on a high closet shelf, he explains.

Minibar Systems’ battery-operated in-room safes

Safemark Systems’ most popular models include a space-saving drawer safe and one with a laser-cut door, however there has been a recent increase in demand for in-wall safes that occupy the cavity of a standard partition wall, says John Foley, vice-president sales. After much research, Safemark determined that guests prefer the simplicity of a four-digit personal user code for safe access versus other types of interfaces such as biometric, key card, RFID or key fob. Demand for safes that accommodate a 17-in. laptop outpaces all other sizes.

Safemark has also teamed with Privacy Logic to introduce self-closing Speyeguard stationary peephole covers that they claim eliminate all forms of peephole tampering.

Safemark in-wall safe

Insurance for hotels

Hotels have a duty to protect their guests, not to mention the damage that adverse publicity from an incident can inflict upon a hotel’s reputation. This risk increases if the guest involved is a celebrity or VIP, says Ken Fingler, director, risk management for Western Financial Group, Group Insurance Solutions.

In addition to installing electronic door locks and self-closing, self-locking solid-core or steel guestroom doors, Fingler recommends securing office and money room doors with magnetic locks, closed circuit cameras outside the doors that can be viewed by anyone inside, and installing a telephone and panic alarm button inside the money room in case of a break in. He suggests that simply having a closed circuit camera monitor at the front desk can reassure guests while deterring troublemakers. New monitors also have the capacity to display images from multiple cameras at the same time. Fingler recommends that front desk staff not repeat a room number out loud while issuing a room key to a guest in case someone else is listening.

Cameras with DVR recorders can be of real assistance in avoiding claims. Fingler recalls one situation in which a hotel guest jumped into the pool wearing boots covered in manure. The pool had to be drained and decontaminated, and the guest paid the bill once he saw the video.

Mashood Ali, president, Total Access Corporate Insurance Services, says that it’s important for the hotel to notify their insurance company about any changes in security details. As proof, he cites a case in which a mid-sized hotel in downtown Toronto hired a security company to check identification and assist with potentially troublesome situations at its hotel bar lounge for new weekend events. When a bar patron was thrown out and sustained head trauma and broken ribs a few months into the launch, he presented a claim for $315,000 for injuries, damage and loss of income. The claim was denied on the basis that the insurance company had not been notified the security company had been hired. It was also discovered that the security company had an expired license. In the end, the hotel had to pay about $250,000 of the claim. An expensive mistake.

Good security benefits everyone including guests, staff and management, says Fingler of Group Insurance Solutions. Security is a value-added service that can be used both to promote safety to guests and improve business.