Security and safety are becoming bigger issues for hotels. Working closely with Crowne Plaza hotel, Birmingham, Securitas Mobile in the UK has developed a suite of services designed to enhance hotels’ security arrangements –and profitability.
For hotels, the main attractions of Mobile Patrol are the opportunity to operate effectively with very limited staff, to keep experienced, highly trained personnel focused on serving guests, and to respond effectively to increased security demands from corporations and tour operators.“We’re a big business here and we have a lot of duty managers, so there’s lots of support,” says Michael Mason General Manager for Crowne Plaza Birmingham. “For a smaller hotel, however, there can be little back-up if there’s an issue. They might have only one duty manager on at night, and the security officer, particularly one who has training in first aid, can be a key back-up.
“Another advantage of using a third-party security service provider is that they have the right kind of training. And from a risk perspective, a full-time guard on staff is not necessary for the hotel. Mobile patrol, in which a business shares a guard’s time with other businesses, works just fine.”
Heightened security awareness also means that corporations and tour operators are now also likely to ask about a hotel’s security and safety measures in their annual request for tender programs. “Security standards are becoming more and more discussed,” confirms Robert Brown, the hotel’s Sales director. “We can be asked to submit up to 400 different types of information and this increasingly includes a requirement to show due diligence regarding security and safety.”
Understanding the business
With an existing long-term relationship with Crowne Plaza in Birmingham, Securitas Mobile approached Crowne Plaza, among others, with a view to assisting them to put a bespoke mobile security package together for the hotel sector. First, Securitas took a detailed look at exactly how a hotel operates the staffing levels, the duties of each member of the staff and the issues and problems. Then it looked at the client bases of different hotels and how these changed, depending on the size and location of the hotel.With that information in hand, Securitas then began to look at what it had to offer hotels and how it could benefit them, not only in enhancing the security arrangements but also about how it could increase the hotel’s profitability.
Standard hotel duties
In the hotel business, there are standard hotel management duties that must be performed, Brown explains. They include the “hotel walkaround”– effectively a patrol of the hotel corridors that should take place at regular intervals day and night.Explains Brown: “The hotel walkaround helps eliminate a multitude of things that can go wrong. The things we look for on walkaround are firstly that hotel standards are being maintained in terms of hygiene, brand values and service standards. We also want to ensure that the hotel’s fire door are shut properly, that fire exits are cleared and that luggage carts, luggage and other obstacles are not left in the corridors.”The walkaround also helps identify noise levels on the floors. If guests are creating a disturbance, that can be fixed before things get out of hand. “This is of particular concern for airline crews, who work early schedules and need to be assured of a quiet night’s sleep,” Brown notes.
Traditionally, these are all basic hotel management tasks normally carried out by hotel personnel, but ones that a mobile security service also can deliver easily. “The research we did showed that there were a lot of bottom-line benefits to the customer from using our security solution,” says Carrie Rackstraw, Business Development Manager, Securitas Mobile. “For example, we found that by using Securitas, budget hotels could improve security without increasing staff. Their staff could then focus on their core hotel duties.“We also looked at what the duty manager who carried out the floor walks would otherwise be doing. We found that the general manager would get more value from his duty manager using his hotel-specific expertise and years of experience to enhance the guests’ experience rather than spending time on floor walks."