Chapter 12
Safety and Property
Security
Personal Safety:
Legal Liability and Guest/Employee Safety
Safety
Protection of an individual’s physical well-being and health.
Security Protection of an individual or business’s property or assets.
Hotels are not required to ensure guest safety.
However, they must exercise reasonable care for guest and
employee safety.
Hotel may be held wholly or partially liable for resulting
loss or injury if it is found that a hotel has exhibited an
absence of reasonable care for guest safety.
Hotels are not required to ensure guest safety.
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Staffing for Security
Operation of safety and security committee
Reinforces
that:
Guest safety and hotel security is the responsibility of every
hotel manager, supervisor, and employee.
Employee safety training:
Training employees to 1) ensure guest safety, 2) work
safely, and 3) assist hotel’s security efforts
Employee safety training is an ongoing process
Local law enforcement:
Local law enforcement officials can provide no-cost safety
Facility Engineering & Maintenance
and security training for employees
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Safety Resources
Recodable Locks
Reduce chance for guests to be victimized in their rooms
by someone who had rented the same room on a prior night
Help reduce the incident of employee theft from rooms
Surveillance Systems
Use of VCR
– Recording activity at front desk, in parking areas, and near cashiers
Use of CCTV (closed-circuit television)
– In a multiple-entry property where management desires to monitor
activity outside each entrance
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Safety Resources (cont.)
Alarm Systems
Internal
Alarms
Serve to deter criminal or mischief activity
Notify an area within the hotel if alarm is activated
Protect storage areas, hotel facilities (pools, spa,
and exercise areas), and hotel and perimeter
Contact
Alarms
Notify (contact) an external entity such as fire
or police department if alarm is activated
Both federal law and local building codes mandate hotel fire alarms.
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Safety Resources (cont.)
Emergency Plan: The identification of a threat to the safety and
security of the hotel and hotel’s planned response to the threat.
Response to events in most hotels’ emergency plans:
Fire / power outages / severely inclement weather / robbery
/ death or injury to a guest or employee / bomb threat /
intense negative publicity by the media
An emergency plan must be a written document, including:
Type of crisis
Who should be told when the crisis occurs
What should be done and who should do it in the crisis
Who should be informed of the results or impact of the crisis
when it is over
Where practical, hotels should practice implementation of their plan!
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Special Safety Issues
Swimming Pools
“Swimming Pool Safety” figure in text lists 10 key practices.
Spas
“Spa Safety” figure in text lists 10 key practices.
Parking Lots
“Parking Lot Safety” figure in text lists 10 key practices.
Always remember how to improve guest safety and minimize the
legal liability of the hotel!
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Documenting Safety Efforts
All hotels should document their safety- and securityrelated efforts!
Prepare and complete MOD checklists for each critical area
of hotel.
– Appropriate frequency, content, and number of checklists
should be determined.
Incident reports listing the “who, what, where, and how”
should be filed and maintained.
Document minutes from safety and security committee
meetings, general staff meeting notes relevant to safety
issues, records of employee training related to safety and
security, and safety seminars attended by employees.
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety:
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
OSHA regulations ensure businesses:
Provide a safe workplace for employees by complying with
OSHA safety and health standards
Provide workers only with tools and equipment that meet
OSHA specifications for health and safety
Establish training programs for employees who operate
dangerous equipment
Report to OSHA within 48 hours any work-site accident that
results in fatality or requires hospitalization of five or more
employees
Maintain the “OSHA Log 200” (an on-site record of workrelated injuries or illnesses) and submit it to OSHA once per year
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Personal Safety: Occupational Safety & Health
Administration (cont.)
OSHA regulations ensure businesses (cont.):
Display OSHA notices regarding employee rights and safety in
prominent places within the hotel
Provide all employees access to the Material Safety Data Sheets
that provide information about the dangerous chemicals they may
be handling during work
Offer no-cost hepatitis B vaccinations for employees who may
have come into contact with blood or body fluids
Compliance with OSHA Standards
Results in
Fewer Accidents
Lower Insurance Costs Healthier Workforce
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Property Security: Threats to Asset Security
Internal Threats
Hotels bond employees who are in a position to embezzle funds.
Methods of fraud related to cashiering:
Charging guests for items not purchased, then keeping the
overcharge
Changing totals on credit card charges after the guest has left or
imprinting additional credit card charges and pocketing the cash
difference
Misadding legitimate charges to create a higher-than-appropriate
total with the intent of keeping the overcharge
Voiding legitimate sales as “mistakes” and keeping the cash
amount of the legitimate sale
Charging higher-than-appropriate prices for hotel goods or
services, recording the
proper
price,
then keeping the overcharge 9
Facility
Engineering &
Maintenance
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Property Security: Threats to Asset Security
Internal Threats (cont.)
Three noncash assets most subject to employee theft:
Time
Should have strong controls in place regarding time
cards
Company
Property
Carefully screen employees prior to hiring
Reduce theft opportunities by using effective security
Treat all proven cases of similar theft in a similar
manner
Services
Monitor long-distance telephone bills generated by
each administrative telephone extension number
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Property Security: Threats to Asset Security
External Threats
Cash
Robbery is not the occasion to attempt the protection of
cash assets.
Robbery is the time to protect staff!
During a robbery, complying with robber’s demands and
observing the robber should be the employee’s sole
concern.
If no contact alarm is installed in the cashier’s cash drawer,
an employee who is robbed should, at the earliest safe
opportunity, contact local law enforcement officials as well
as others indicated in the robbery section of the hotel’s
emergency plan.
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Property Security: Threats to Asset Security
External Threats (cont.)
Other assets: A security-conscious manager should:
Hang all artwork in lobbies and guest rooms with lock-down
style hangers
Avoid placing valuable decorations and décor pieces in areas
where they can be easily taken by guests
Train room attendants to alert management if excessive
amounts of in-room items go missing from stay-over rooms
Bolt televisions securely to guest room furniture
Train all employees to be alert regarding loss of hotel
property and to report any suspicious activity
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Property Security: Threats to Asset Security
Department-Specific Threats to Asset Security
Front Office
Largest area of security concern is fraudulent selling of
rooms
Use housekeeping discrepancy report to detect room revenue
fraud
Housekeeping
Guest theft of housekeeping supplies
Theft from guest rooms by room attendants or other
employees
– Best policy is to report the incident to local law enforcement
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458
Property Security: Threats to Asset Security
Department-Specific Threats to Asset Security (cont.)
Food and Beverage
Hotel supplies such as silverware and glassware taken by guests
Employees accepting kickbacks from vendors or by purchasing,
then stealing, food and beverage items intended for the hotel
Sales and Marketing
Misstating mileage traveled, clients entertained, or sales trips
taken
Maintenance and Engineering
Employee theft of hand tools and supplies
Implementing a sign-in/sign-out program for tools
Hotel Operations Management, 2nd ed.
Hayes/Ninemeier
©2007 Pearson Education
Pearson Prentice Hall
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458