The Key to Hotel Security | Creating the Culture | By Lizz Chambers, CHA, CHE

The sobering fact is that in our hotels…it is not IF someone will be attacked…it is WHEN. It is not IF someone will accuse an associate of theft…it is WHEN. It is not IF there will be a fire…it is WHEN. However, when we have created a culture where safety and security are stressed beginning with the associate selection process at recruiting, interviewing, candidate selection, orientation, training and coaching and through to follow up, then the likelihood of these events occurring will decrease, as will our liability.

Being the “Superior Hotel Operators’ I know you must be if you are reading industry related articles, I write this article with full awareness that I am taking a monumental risk of over-stating the obvious. However, as I am involved in hotel takeovers and too many times find that although policies and procedures may be in place to ensure safety and security, they are not practiced. Therefore, I feel this is a risk worth taking. I take this risk hoping that you will take away an idea, no matter how small, that may help prevent a negative incident from occurring or you will implement a practice that may keep you and your company from having to endure lengthy and costly litigation. I take this risk mainly because I have seen lives ruined and companies fail because what was memorialized in writing (Policies and Procedures) simply was not practiced by the hotel staff or infused in the hotel culture.

Premises security liability cases based on inadequate security may result in awards from $1 million up to $9 million dollars. If you choose to avoid court, you should be aware that settlements may average around $1.5 million. Then there are the cases centering on crimes committed by associates—based on ‘negligent hiring, retention, and/or inadequate supervision’ and these may yield awards from around $800,000 up to $3 million. Once again the settlements average around $1.5 million. These numbers are based on the resulting awards of several cases and vary greatly according to the severity of the crime, the extenuating circumstances and/or the injuries suffered. With figures like these, it is imperative that security be an integral part of our hotel culture.

When creating a culture it must start with the people we hire. It is our responsibility to hire people we trust with the monumental task of protecting the safety, security and privacy of our guests. Do we have steps in place to ensure that our supervisors are interviewing, checking references, screening all new hires, conducting proper orientation, training, and continuously coaching? Or are we allowing our supervisors to simply hire a warm body and turn them loose on fellow associates and guests?

I have witnessed hiring procedures that allow anyone with a pulse and the ability to fog a mirror to report to work the next day. Then, when this person we know absolutely nothing about reports to work, we give them open access to the hotel’s assets and our guests’ private haven…the guest room.

According to the position, the new hire may be issued Section Keys or even Master Keys that open every room in the hotel. Think about it. Would any of us walk up to a perfect stranger on the street and give them a key to our home? Then why would we issue a key to a stranger and give them access not only to our “home” but to the “home” of possibly two-hundred (200) or more of our friends (guests) who have not only trusted us but have paid us to protect them?

Although it is impossible to be absolutely certain you are hiring the right person for the right position, there are steps to avoid placing you and your company in a position to be accused of ‘negligent hiring’ and/or ‘inadequate supervision’. The following are just a few steps to assist you:

Train your supervisors in proper recruiting, interviewing, and selection techniques. Conduct an on-site workshop. It will be worth its weight in court cost.

• After training, until confident in your supervisor’s skills, the General Manager should:
• Sign-off on all recruiting techniques used, including the wording and proper placement of job ads, in-house recruiting, associate referral programs, etc.
• Pre-approve behavioral/situational based interview questions for each position. This not only assists supervisors in asking open-ended, hard- hitting questions, it keeps it legal. Asking a separate set of questions to candidates for the same position may not only have you comparing apples to oranges, it may result in charges of discriminatory hiring practices.
• Sit-in on interviews or hold group interviews. If possible, in smaller properties, you should conduct the final interview.

Any candidate being considered for employment should sign the following forms, separate and apart from the application:

• A Reference Release form to be faxed to former employers. Remember the best indicator of future performance is past performance. These forms are helpful in obtaining references from companies in states where there is an ‘Employer Immunity Law’.
  
  
  • With the difficulty in obtaining biased-free references or getting references at all, many supervisors have told me that the effort in attempting to get references is not worth the hassle. Wrong!
  • Tip: Audit the personnel files to make sure the reference release forms were signed that references were at least attempted and documented. Another alternative is to outsource this procedure as you do your background checks.
    
  
  
  
• A Background Check Release form. DO BACKGROUND CHECKS. This should be mandatory for any hotel operation due to our associates’ level of guest contact and the ‘duration of contact’ with our guests. I am surprised that hotel companies have not insisted that this be standard practice for their franchised operations.
  
  
  • We employ people who will have varying degrees of guest contact and access to our guest’s rooms and therefore we must show ‘reasonable care’ in our selection process. This also applies when transferring an associate from a low-guest-contact position to a high-contact position. The appropriate extent of a pre-hiring investigation depends on the position
  • Maintain a file that documents the results and the sources of your reference checks. (keep this file secure)
  • Insist that no one be placed on payroll until the results of their background check are completed and approved.
  • If you deny employment due to the outcome of a background check, you must inform the candidate as to why they have been denied by mail (a registered letter), include a copy of the Fair Credit Reporting Act and a copy of their completed background check or you may have them contact the third party company for that information. We use www.castlebranch.com, although there are many wonderful companies that can be accessed online.
  • Keep in mind that if you, as an employer, are found liable under the theory of ‘negligent hiring’, punitive as well as compensatory damages may be awarded.
  • Tip: If you are worried about the cost…pass it on. I believe that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure, especially when the cure can cost upwards of $3 million per pound. However, due to the high turnover percentages that some hotels report, you may wish to place the following statement at the bottom of your applications (where the law allows):
  • If selected for employment, I understand that a $_______ background fee will be deducted from my first check and that this fee will be returned to me once I have completed 90 days of employment.
  • Applicant Signature:___________________ Date:____________

Conduct a thorough Safety and Security Audit

• Our Hotels are required to form a Safety and Security Committee (or in smaller hotels Safety and Security is a separate agenda item during staff meetings.) This committee meets once a month. During this meeting a safety and security inspection is conducted and documented. The inspection and meeting minutes are sent to the corporate office. Our bi-annual audits are completed by our corporate auditor and are part of an overall Operations Audit. The Operations Audit includes; Accounting, Personnel, Operations, Maintenance, Sales and Marketing, Safety and Security, Purchasing, Energy etc.

Conduct a daily five minute Safety and Security ‘Coaching Cue’.

• At our Hilton Garden Inn in Warwick, RI our Maintenance Engineer, Bob LaCanfora, conducts a five-minute ‘Coaching Cue’ daily (yes, daily) in the dining area between shifts. At approximately 3:00 pm, associates converge on the area as General Manager, Kevin Buchanan, works the desk. Topics concern both safety and security issues. Below are a few sample safety topics that are covered in addition to security topics:
  
  
  • First four things to do in case of a fire
  • Blood borne Pathogens
  • Personal protective equipment
  • How to read an MSDS
  • Lock out-Tag-out procedures
  • Responding to guest or associate accidents
  • Recognizing and reporting safety hazards
  • Review of the last fire drill…actual and table top (knowing that it is impossible that every associate will be present during the fire drill, a follow-up table top drill is scheduled for all who did not actively participate in the fire drill.)

There are more topics covered but I think you get the picture.

Knowing that our associates are well-selected and well-trained is only half the battle. The devil is in the delivery. When we are convinced that we have the right associate in the right position and that our associates are practicing what we are preaching, then and only then can we …Relax? Absolutely not… we continue to work at perfecting the process. We have chosen the noble profession of service to others and as professionals we must continue to provide the traveling public a safe and secure environment in which to lay down their cares and their weary bodies. When we work diligently in creating and maintaining this culture, not only will our guests sleep well, so will we.

This article will be continued in ‘The Devil Is In the Delivery’ which will contain simple tips to assist your associates in living the culture.