Fear of attack makes hotel security an issue

Nearly half the terrorist attacks on tourists in the past decade have taken place in hotels, the International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin was told last week.

Guests are becoming more concerned about safety and security in hotels in the wake of 11 September, but hotel operators are failing to fully understand the issues at stake, the conference was told.

"The consumer is driving concern about this in ways the industry is maybe a little bit slow about taking up," said Michael Olsen, professor of hospitality strategy at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA.

"As an industry, we still don't understand the issue in its broadest, most complete sense," he said.

Israeli-British intelligence specialist Michael Belkine pointed out that security was already an issue for hotels before 11 September.

Over the previous 10 years there had been 75 terrorist incidents involving tourists in more than 20 countries. Thirty-three of them had occurred inside hotels.

Of more than 700 casualties, 400 were hurt in hotels. Of 200 deaths, 90 occurred in hotels.

Belkine warned that hotels were a soft target for terrorists because they were easy to get into. Olsen pointed out they were also symbolic targets, as they represented a certain standard of living and way of life.

Terrorism had to be confronted by the hotel industry, Belkine said. "That doesn't mean it calls for heroic actions on the part of hotel staff."

The main solutions were to upgrade hotel security systems and to train staff properly. At the moment, employees were "generally untrained and uninformed", he said.

Staff should learn to look out for unusual patterns of behaviour in guests, such as bringing in irregular-looking luggage, demanding specific rooms or leaving "Do not disturb" notices up for unusually long periods.

Belkine pointed out that several of the 11 September attackers had stayed in hotels while plotting their attacks. "The hotel industry served even those clients."

Failure to act against security threats could lead to lost business, difficulty in raising investment capital, and higher insurance costs.

Hotel company chiefs could also find themselves personally liable. Hotel groups needed to share intelligence with each other, and the industry needed to work together and draw up its own guide to good practice, Belkine said.

by David Shrimpton

Competitive security

Michael Olsen, professor of hospitality strategy at the USA's Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, told the Berlin conference that the industry had not yet understood that security was a competitive issue rather than just a necessary evil. Many tour companies, for example, are now refusing to use hotels that do not meet their criteria on guest safety.

Paul Moxness, corporate safety and security adviser at Radisson SAS Hotels, said it was no use most hotels employing airport-style security measures such as metal detectors and x-ray machines.

"That may be the result of people looking for a quick-fix solution," he said. "This isn't an issue where you can just go out and buy something and the issue will go away."

Moxness also reminded hotels not to forget about more usual safety and security concerns, such as fire and theft. "A new threat doesn't make the old threat go away," he said.