Hotel Engineering Notes- SECURITY IN HOTELS

                                                SECURITY IN HOTELS

Security is the degree of protection against danger, damage, loss, and crime. Security as a form of protection are structures and processes that provide or improve security as a condition. A definition of security as "a form of protection where a separation is created between the assets and the threat". Security has to be compared to related concepts: safety, continuity, reliability. The key difference between security and reliability is that security must take into account the actions of people attempting to cause destruction.

Security concepts

Certain concepts recur throughout different fields of security:

Assurance - assurance is the level of guarantee that a security system will behave as expected.

Countermeasure - a countermeasure is a way to stop a threat from triggering a risk event.

Defense in depth - never rely on one single security measure alone.

Exploit - a vulnerability that has been triggered by a threat - a risk of 1.0 (100%)

Risk - a risk is a possible event which could cause a loss.

Threat - a threat is a method of triggering a risk event that is dangerous.

Vulnerability - a weakness in a target that can potentially be exploited by a threat security.

Security measures are formulated to safeguard the normal business operations of the hotel industry to ensure the safety of the lives and belongings of guests and to maintain public security.

All restaurants, hotels, guest houses, hostels. passenger and cargo stop-over stations, inns, public bath houses, etc. (hereinafter referred to as hotels), which provide accommodation to guests shall comply with these measures, regardless of whether they are State operated, collectively operated, partnership operated, individually operated.

When setting up a hotel, the construction of its rooms, fire-fighting equipment, entrances, exits and thoroughfares, etc., shall all comply with the relevant provisions of the country’s regulations.

All hotels shall make appropriate arrangements to look after property left behind by a guest. If unable to be returned to the original owner or not claimed within three months of announcing the finding of lost property, a list of the goods shall be compiled and registered and sent to the local public security organ for handling as lost property. Contraband and questionable goods shall be reported promptly to the public security organ for handling.

If hotel personnel discover someone violating the law, behaving suspiciously or an offender wanted by the public security organs, the matter shall be reported immediately to the local public security organ. Concealing knowledge of a case or harbouring an offender shall not be permitted.

Equipment for security:

Security equipment can be roughly divided into two types: equipments that prevents (or attempts to prevent) unauthorized access to an area and equipment that detects the presence of unauthorized people. The first classification refers to locks or locking systems. Rather than depend on permanent, unchangeable, metal keys, many hospitality facilities now use either computer-coded plastic cards or push button devices encoded with different combinations whenever a new guest checks in. The combination may be set at random or by the guest himself. The second classification refers to sensors of various types that identify an event and transmit a signal for appropriate action to be taken. These can be photo-beam sensors, proximity sensors, heat sensors, RFID chips etc.

A wireless sensor network (WSN) consists of spatially distributed autonomous sensors to monitor physical or environmental conditions, such as temperature, sound, vibration, pressure, motion or pollutants and to cooperatively pass their data through the network to a main location. The more modern networks are bi-directional, enabling also to control the activity of the sensors. The development of wireless sensor networks was motivated by military applications such as battlefield surveillance; today such networks are used in many industrial and consumer applications, such as industrial process monitoring and control, machine health monitoring, and so on.

Surveillance is the monitoring of the behavior, activities, or other changing information, usually of people. It is sometimes done in a surreptitious manner. With respect to hotel industry, it most usually refers to observation of individuals or groups movement. The word surveillance may be applied to observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment (such as CCTV cameras), or interception of electronically transmitted information (such as Internet traffic or phone calls). It may also refer to simple, relatively no- or low-technology methods such as human intelligence agents and postal interception.

Hotel Association of India Guidelines (2008)

The guidelines framed by the Hotel Association of India for proper security measures in hotels and hospitality sector, have the following broad parameters.

1. External Access Control: Limiting Access / Entry Points to the hotel premises (provision of CCTV cameras),

2. Perimeter Security:  Road barriers, Checking cars  and boot space with mirrors, CCTV installation, Patrolling

3. Material Access Control: Guest baggage check, Material Supply checks

4. People Access Control: Walk in guests check, Guest profiling, Employee Verification, Visitor Management.

5. Internal Access Control: Restriction on movement in prohibited parts of hotel, Use of proximity cards and magnetic interlocks, Entrance to boiler room, Computer room, Control room, Switch board room, Lift usage to be monitored.

6. Other Measures: Room key scanners, Trash management

7. Crisis Management Plan: Emergency action plan to be ready, Trained and motivated staff, Information system in emergent conditions to prevent rumours.

8. Liasion with Local administration: Nodal officer to coordinate with local administration for support, Intelligence sharing.