What is a Hotel Security Checklist?
A hotel security checklist contains the most basic items to check to ensure safety and security in a hotel. It prompts the security team to inspect the hotel’s security system and fire safety precautions. It is a powerful tool during a hotel security assessment.
People from all walks of life can be seen on hotel premises. Most of these people are transient and need a temporary, but safe and secure place to stay. Apart from ensuring you employ strict safety protocols and power security tools, your security team must often provide hotel safety tips for employees.
In this article, the following points are explained:
1. Major hotel security concerns
2. Maintaining hotel safety and security
3. A digital solution for hotel safety officers
What are the Major Security Concerns in a Hotel?
Like many establishments, hotels face a wide array of security threats. Hospitality businesses are vulnerable to security risks because customers and employees have the freedom to move around the premises. And of course, guests are entitled to their privacy.
Here are some of the most common security risks surrounding hotels that your hotel security checklist must address:
Trespassing and Loitering
Criminals can gain unlawful access to hotels. It has been proven by many ethical hackers how vulnerable keycard-protected hotel rooms are. Hotels must therefore make sure that they have robust cybersecurity measures when it comes to key card access systems.
Hotel managers must let their guests know of the security safeguards they offer. They must also remind guests to look after their safety by using deadbolts and lock bars.
Theft
It is not just data theft that is becoming a major concern in the hotel security department. Hotel owners must also ensure the physical safety of their guests and their properties.
Modern technology can be used to keep hotels secure. There are surveillance products that can help hotel management to make sure the guests and the business are safe from theft and other crimes.
Disorderly Conduct
It’s not just intruders that can cause damage to hotel property. Sometimes, guests can do that too. They might get into altercations with other guests or vandalize hotel property.
This is especially true in hotels with bars. Intoxication increases the risks of disorderly conduct. It is, therefore, necessary to have proper security measures in place to handle such incidents. A hotel security checklist must include security measures that can prevent any injury or damage to property during conflicts.
Emergencies
Any business always has the risk of emergencies like fire and natural disturbances. In hotels, it is especially important to have safety measures when it comes to fire and severe weather. Hotels house a large number of guests who do not know what to do during emergencies.
For this reason, the hotel staff must know how to act during an emergency. They must also know how to assist guests and keep everyone calm and safe.
Hotel Security Checklist: Safety and Security Measures in a Hotel
There are many ways to ensure the safety and security of hotel staff, guests, and physical property. It is common for hotels to use both computer-based security systems and capable security guards to ensure the establishment’s safety. They are effective at protecting people without sacrificing positive guest experiences.
Here are some examples of security systems and procedures you can use in your hotel:
Improve Lighting
Make sure all areas are well lit, especially isolated spaces. Poor lighting attracts criminals and improved lighting can reduce crime by 20%. Your hotel safety and security checklist must ensure regular checks of light bulbs and other lighting systems.
Limit the Number of Entrances
The fewer entrances there are in your hotel, the fewer security personnel you will need for monitoring. But it is not only the number of entrances that’s important. You also need to choose the best placement.
It is necessary to include your access plan in your hotel security checklist. Make sure that exits are chosen and designed to allow people to exit the building easily during the incidence of fire.
Control Access
Controlling access to your hotel premises is connected to keeping the number of entrances limited. All traffic must be monitored using a surveillance system. Your hotel must be designed so that you can monitor and control traffic through the building in an efficient way.
Conventional room keys can easily be lost. They give easy access for criminals to open hotel doors. Key cards are a better option. They can be activated or deactivated when needed. But as mentioned earlier, they can also be hacked. Ensure that your hotel safety and security checklist provide additional ways to ensure the security of your key cards.
Exterior Maintenance
Keeping your hotel exterior looking good isn’t only about aesthetics, it’s also about security. Basic maintenance jobs such as gardening, painting, and cleaning up clutter from your hotel property can improve safety and security. Research suggests that visible signs of crime may encourage criminal behaviour.
Room Maintenance
Cleanliness in hotel rooms is imperative now more than ever. Dirty, unkempt rooms are one of the most common guest complaints. And like exterior maintenance, room cleanliness and maintenance also discourage bad behaviour. Additionally, regular and proper maintenance shows customers you value them.
Wearable Panic Buttons
Enhanced security is possible if you leverage technology. Panic buttons in key areas are useful, but it is necessary to find more modern tools. For example, wearable panic buttons deliver a fast response whenever there are threats to the safety of your staff or guests. They are a discreet way of guarding everyone’s safety.
Reliable Registration Process
Confirm that all information guests provide in registration forms are factual. Your staff must also ask smart and relevant questions during the registration process. Requiring guests to present more than one I.D. is also a way to verify their identity. Work with cybersecurity professionals to keep your payment systems secure and your digital records safe.
CCTV Security Cameras
Deter crimes by installing surveillance cameras in key areas in your hotel. There are state-of-the-art security cameras that are discreet and highly effective. They can catch crimes and illegal activities that your security guards might miss. They can also be used as a record of incidents that your hotel staff and law enforcement officers can use when necessary. Your hotel security guard checklist must also include ways to ensure the cameras are working.
How can a Hotel Security Checklist Help Keep my Hotel Safer?
With crime rates at an all time high, it’s more important than ever to have state of the art security and surveillance technology. However, it doesn’t help anyone if you have all the equipment, but don’t maintain it. Or you have the equipment and are up to date on maintenance, but you don’t have any other security protocols in place to protect your staff and guests. Implementing a hotel security checklist can help you be confident that your hotel remains out of the breaking news segment.
How can a security checklist help staff maintain the safety of the hotel? Here are a few things Lumiform can do for you:
- Faster Communication—with the super intuitive mobile app, you can immediately notify team members of any security breaches on the premises and assign corrective actions to a responsible colleague.
- Saves Time – with Lumiform, you can complete a hotel inspection report 50% faster than with an old fashioned pen and paper.
- Improves Quality and Safety – with Lumiform’s EHS software, you can identify security threats faster and implement corrective actions at a click of a button.
- Easier Analysis – Lumiform’s visual inspection software will collect the data entered by your teammates and automatically bundle them into a professional report, saving you time. This will make post analysis easier when it comes time to review.
