HOTEL SECURITY Time for a rethink
Posted on 04/21/2016 | About New York City, New York
Some years ago, when my new Lexus was stolen from right outside my Manhattan apartment building (after the prerequisite expletives) I recall thinking, “What the hell was I doing leaving an expensive possession like that sitting overnight in a New York City street?”
A similar thought ran through my mind when I recently attended a meeting in the Waldorf Astoria. The meeting was to be held in an associate’s eighth floor suite, so I duly walked into the grand old hotel’s ever-bustling lobby, made my way to the elevators and moments later was knocking on the door to his room.
Do I hear, “Okay so what’s your point here?”
Well, simply stated, there wasn’t the slightest hint of any kind of security between the street and the room. It is an accepted norm in the vast majority of hotels – whether one star or five – that anyone can walk in and without challenge, have free access to every guestroom in the building. While since 9-11 the majority of major office buildings have installed security checks in the lobby, the hotel industry has done little or nothing to update its guest protection procedures.
Based on my own experiences, I would guestimate that maybe a third of properties now require guests to use their key cards to operate the elevators. This however is like posting a ‘Beware of the Dog’ sign when you don’t have a dog. What makes a mockery of this, “being seen to be doing something” device, is that it requires only the first person into the elevator to swipe a key card - everyone else who piles in after them has a security-free ride.
Back to the Waldorf example – this hotel, like many others, has more than one entrance from the street, several elevator banks and two or three floors of ballroom, dining, meeting room and conference space. Literally thousands of people come through its doors every day - many these days being sightseers eager to take, “Here we are in the Waldorf” selfies in the lobby – so discrete, effective and affordable security is by no means easy to achieve. That said, the hotel industry owes to its guests to be more diligent than at present – in short, there has to be a better way.
Affordability is obviously key to any such an initiative. The simplest and one of the most visible ways of controlling entrance to the guest floors is to station security personnel at the entrance to the elevator banks who will politely request to see everyone’s key card. Not foolproof, but certainly a step in the right direction and one that would be noticed and appreciated by guests, particularly female travellers.
Let’s be honest, the biggest value of signs saying, ‘Beware of the dog’ or ‘Protected by XYZ Security’ is as a deterrent. “Go rob the house next door as they don’t have it” being the implication.
So while hoteliers can’t put the dogs in place, they certainly can put visible closed circuit TV cameras in every possible corner and – importantly - make it very clear to guests and potential bad guys alike that ‘big brother’ is watching them. A lot of properties already have CCTV coverage but it would be much more effective if they showed it off rather than keeping it a secret. Discretion has its place but, unless you’re up to no good, I doubt that more than a few people (there are always a few) will have concerns about such an intrusions into their privacy.
Hotel room invasions are on the rise but there are things that the traveller can do to reduce the risk of falling victim to such a crime. The best security tips for travelers are mostly pretty common sense items:
1. Request an upper level floor: Rooms above the fifth floor are safer from crime but less so in case of a fire.
2. If fire safety is a particular concern, then chose a modern hotel over a ‘grande dame’ - newer properties were designed with fire extinguishing built in. They also tend to easier to secure with fewer street entrances than older properties.
3. Request a room away from emergency stairwells as these are a favored form of access and egress for ‘wrong-doers’ and usually on lower floors.
4. Check that the door locks are robust and function properly. When you leave the room pull it closed, don’t rely on it self locking – they frequently don’t.
5. If you have a balcony door make sure it is properly locked.
6. Once your room has been made up by room service consider leaving the ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign on the door. This gives thieves the impression that the room is occupied even when you have gone out.
7. A room service breakfast hanger card on the doorknob specifies your name and the number of occupants. It has been known for thieves to arrive at your requested breakfast time claiming to be room service.
8. If you sense someone is following you to your floor and your room, turn around and head back to the elevator.
9. If you have any suspicion as to the legitimacy of someone knocking at your door claiming to be a hotel employee call the front desk for verification. You may look silly but ‘better safe…”
10. And when you become familiar with a hotel where you feel safe and secure stick with it. Oh yes, while you’re at it, before you leave home, remember to turn on the home security system and leave some lights on while you are away. If you leave a car in the driveway, which makes it look like someone’s home, be sure you don’t leave the keys in the ignition.
I still wonder about that from when my car was stolen!
