Technology Could Help Enhance Security At Hotels
The hospitality industry world-wide stood traumatized by the recent terror attacks at luxury properties such as The Taj Mahal & Oberoi-Trident in Mumbai, India. The first feeling that comes to heart in keeping these incidents is ‘what if?’. In a day and age of increasing insecurities, it is time that we take proactive measures to protect our guests, our own selves, our industry and our world. Technology comes to the rescue, yet again.
Technology has stood by us in every hour of need. Janet Reno, the first woman Attorney General of the USA, rightly said, “The technologies which have had the most profound effects on human life are usually simple”. There are simple ways in which each one of us can ensure that our surroundings are secure. Let us begin with the most crucial touch-point at a property, the entry point. Having an able Vehicle Management System can keep a tab on all vehicles entering the property. This can also be tagged with your Guest History data, enabling tagging of vehicles with in-house guests. The Vehicle Management systems also have room for adding Driver and Vehicle number details to the database.
Upon entry into the property, it is vital that a guest’s baggage is scanned and the baggage count is added to his data for cross verification during the check-out, in order to ensure that no undesired material is left behind. Guest history modules in a property management system would also prompt for extra information to be noted for a first-time guest. There is also a special report that can be generated for either ‘first-time guests’ or even ‘guests under watch’. This report can be used to alert the staff or external bodies to monitor any suspicious activity or individual. For international guests, scanning and saving the passport details must be made mandatory while a government issued ID card must be saved for the other in-house guests. Details such as ‘Arriving from’ and ‘Proceeding to’ along with the flight details must be maintained in the fields that are available in the Guest History module. An emergency contact number along with the cross verified mobile number must be entered at all times. On check-in, a photo registration card must be printed and handed over to the guest. The photo can be stored in the database and also compared with the central list of criminals / suspects identified by the authorities through an online module that should be made available to all the hotels by the central bodies. The House Keeping module assists in generating a report of Sleep-Out guests, i.e, guests who have been out of the hotel for over a specified period of time. Any courier or parcels arriving for guests at the Hotel can be tagged and verified before delivery. In addition, occupancy reports and nationality wise occupancy reports can be shared automatically with the local Police or other security agencies, ensuring that they have all the data needed, at any given point in time. Upon check-out, the baggage count must be cross-verified and the room thoroughly checked. CCTV surveillance helps the cause of security immensely. Also, incoming calls can be tracked by support from the exchange.
The next step would be to have a stringent recruitment procedure in place. While police verification of recruited employees is becoming a necessity, technology provides for historical information of a potential or hired employee to be stored in the database and reproduced at the time of need. In addition, all employees must be allowed access only into their areas of work. For example, a biometric access control can be interfaced with the property management system, restricting a front office executive from entering into the Kitchen area. Also, only authorized supplier staff and vehicles must be allowed into the property. A gate-pass / vehicle management system and a biometric access control system can help ensure this. Material entering from the back of house area as well, must be scanned, even if, from a regular supplier.
In addition to the above, an online central passport and ID card verification mechanism must be introduced, so that it could automatically verify the document against data available with the security agencies. Also, technology can support the concept of storing online occupancy and personnel data of all hotels at a centralized location for access by security agencies at the time of need. Needless to say, for countries that do not have a social security number system – it can do wonders to introduce one. A communication engine can be further used to send out pre-defined messages, such as, an alert on a suspicious guest, an alert on a fake passport or id produced, an alert for evacuation etc. These messages can be sent to pre-defined numbers that could include the staff, supervisors, in-house guests or authorized external security bodies.
Thus, simple technology put to effective use, can save us, most often, from the worse that can happen. Let us take these proactive measures to secure the world around us!
TO SUMMARIZE
Do’s
- Maintain copy of passport / govt. issued ID card of all guests
- Note an emergency contact number always
- Store data at an off-site location for easy access in case of mishap
- Install a biometric access control system for in-house and supplier staff
- Scan baggage and maintain baggage count of each guest and cross-verify on check-out
- Monitor sleep-out guest report closely
About the Author: Suresh John is the Co-founder & Managing Director of the 21 year old IDS Softwares Pvt. Ltd. The company specializes in hospitality technology. It designs, develops, markets and maintains a range of software solutions for the hospitality sector. The product range comprises of Property Management Systems, Restaurant Management Systems, Central Reservation systems (Web-based) and Business & Service Enhancement Products. Currently, over 1400 hotels & hotel chains and 4000 + restaurants & restaurant chains in more than 20 countries are benefiting from one or more IDS Solutions.
About IDS Next
Founded in 1987, IDS Next became India's largest hotel software company in its first decade of operations and Asia's largest in 2009.
Today, IDS Next is the leading provider of smart hotel software across Southeast Asia, the Indian Ocean, the Middle East, Africa, and Oceania, serving over 6,000 customers in 45 countries with $10 million in daily transactions and 300,000 daily check-ins.
With the goal to redefine the way hotels operate through smart software solutions, IDS Next has been a trusted technology partner and preferred supplier to the international hospitality industry.
From contactless check-in, front desk, guest request and housekeeping management to payroll, finance, inventory management and procurement, IDS Next's award-winning software automates and streamlines front and back-office hotel operations, making sure all departments are covered.
With an open API approach, IDS Next integrates with over 100 of the world's leading, best-in-breed technology partners to ensure hotel operations run smoothly and securely to complement a hotel's existing systems and solutions.
Available in single modules and as an all-in-one solution, IDS Next's smart hotel software is designed by hoteliers for hoteliers through the company's in-house development team comprising 135 hospitality technology professionals and supported 24/7 by 90 customer services agents in 30 languages.
With all software PA DSS certified, front-of-house solutions GDPR compliant, and the business ISO 27001 certified, IDS Next's smart software solutions are accredited, certified, and compliant with the industry's most stringent standards for data protection and security.
