From the Print-Only February 2011 edition of Security Management magazine. Philip Farina, CPP of Farina and Associates, Ltd. is one of the featured security experts.

1. Hotel Security
Always
Room for
Improvement BY LAURA SPADANUTA
HOTELS ARE MEANT TO BE welcoming homes away
from home, luxury getaways, or ports in the storm. But
some of the people who come to hotel properties are there
to prey upon or victimize guests. Hotels have to find ways
to address these risks while still meeting their goals as
hospitable venues.
Risks
The risks are wide ranging. Apart from Another notable security incident in-
petty theft, a constant concern for hotels is volved a stalker who tampered with a hotel-
whether their sites are being used for illicit room peephole so that he could take nude
activity, such as prostitution, drug dealing, pictures of sports journalist Erin Andrews.
or worse. Particularly challenging are cases The perpetrator was able to get hotels to
like the Craigslist killer, Philip Markoff, reveal to him when Andrews would be a
who lured women to various New England guest and what room she would have. He
hotels in 2009. was also able to book an adjacent room
“The victims in the incidents had all rented without raising suspicions. That case raised
their hotel rooms legally,” says Michael a host of privacy and security issues.
Soper, director of security for Radisson Hotel Then there is the ever-present terrorist
Boston. “The victims knowingly placed ads threat. Hotels have been the target of many
online, solicited business, and provided their violent attacks worldwide, including most
attacker with their hotel location and room notably the Mumbai incident, where two
number, and then opened the door to him hotels were among the sites terrorists took
when he arrived. No rules had been broken.” over during their rampage.
52 FEBRUARY 2011 I L L U S T R AT I O N B Y S T E V E N PA R K E

3. Hotel Security
Hotels have made an effort to learn
from all of these incidents and to adjust
policies and procedures. Experts agree
that the most important measures include
constant awareness training, good use of
security personnel, properly maintained
cameras, appropriate intelligence collec-
tion, and consistent outreach to law en-
forcement.
Awareness Training
Awareness training for staff is possibly the
most cost-efficient way to ensure a safer
THE COSMOPOLITAN HOTEL IN LAS VEGAS conducts camera surveillance around the
hotel. Many of the issues highlighted in
clock and uses the cameras to assess situations in real time.
training today arise from lessons from
past incidents. Key points include the Following the Markoff incidents, hotels Key Resource Operators and Security
importance of not sharing guest informa- have increased “employee awareness of Staff” program.
tion and of being on the lookout for any- certain activity that was observed,” Soper “The comprehensive training explains
thing suspicious. says. For example, room attendants, who how these protective measures can be ap-
Data protection. Prior to the An- are the eyes and ears of every hotel, are plied to detect and deter potential threats
drews case, most hotels had policies now asked to be “hyper aware” of rooms to hotels and other targets, as well as the
against giving out guest information, but frequented by a number of lone male visi- fundamentals for detecting surveillance
that incident revealed that the policies tors. They are encouraged to actively re- activity,” Soper says. “We learned from
were not being followed or enforced. After- port those rooms to security for investiga- Mumbai and past terror attacks that pre-
ward, hotel management recognized that tion, he says. In that way, Soper and his operational surveillance and planning has
they needed to go back to basics in train- staff, working with Boston Police, have been extensive. If we can detect the threat
ing reception staff on guest privacy and been able to “identify and remove many in its planning stages, we’re ahead of the
security, says Soper. of these guests who had set up shop in game,” he adds.
“This includes never providing guest various hotels.” Among the areas where vigilance can
room numbers to third parties, not pro- Soper says the housekeeping staff at his pay off is in the parking lots and garages.
viding the names of guests in particular hotel is also now trained to inspect peep- Soper says that his hotel “trained our staff
rooms either directly, indirectly, or inad- holes. Some hotels are installing peephole on what suspicious items [in the parking
vertently—and absolutely not allowing covers, says Joseph McInerney, president areas] look like and how to report those
persons without room keys or proper of the American Hotel and Lodging Asso- as well.”
identification to enter guest rooms. It now ciation (AH&LA). Cunningham says that Clifton says that his security staff runs
also includes being wary of requests for his hotels reviewed their peepholes and through some sort of scenario, such as a
adjacent rooms, especially when guests resecured them so that they could not be mock robbery, almost daily to practice
are not part of an organized room block tampered with. what they would do in the situation. He
or corporate account,” says Soper. But many of the activities that occur stresses that workers must know that you
Any request for an adjacent room is an when tampering with peepholes are actu- appreciate their efforts. If a worker reports
automatic red flag, say the hotel consult- ally things that should be noticed by a a suspicious item, for example, security
ants and security managers interviewed vigilant staff, says Alan Zajic, CPP, chair- responds back to that employee to say,
for this article. Until it can be proved that man of the ASIS International Hospital- “Hey, we really appreciate your notifying
the guest is aware of the request and is ity, Entertainment, and Tourism Security us about that. It turned out to be nothing
authorizing it, no such requests should be Council. That is why training of hotel but ‘keep up the good work’ and that kind
granted. Darrell Clifton, CPP, director of personnel is so important. of thing,” says Clifton. That type of feed-
security for Circus Circus Reno in Nevada, Hotels do not have to reinvent the back “gives them some satisfaction….
says that his hotel clerks are now fre- wheel when it comes to training. There And we always tell them we’d rather have
quently tested on whether they’ll give are training programs provided through way too many false alarms than one that
out keys or room numbers to any random many private and public organizations. we miss,” he says.
individual who asks. For example, Soper says that his staff has Philip Farina, CPP, of consulting com-
Suspicious activity. Housekeepers, participated in the Department of Home- pany Farina and Associates, Ltd., advo-
engineers, and other staffers are being land Security (DHS) training programs cates rewarding workers with a gift card
taught to take note of anything unusual such as the “Surveillance Detection or certificate that can be hung up on the
in guest rooms and corridors. Training for Critical Infrastructure and office walls.
54 FEBRUARY 2011 P H OTO B Y T H O M A S H AW K

4. Hotel Security
Security Officers
» SYNOPSIS
cameras, but 61 of them were inoperable
Most hotels use unarmed security officers. Hotels are meant to be safe hav- on last check. Cameras are most often not
Farina says he’s seeing a slight uptick in ens for visitors, but sometimes preventive, but they can be useful after
the use of armed guards in the hotels he people come to hotel properties to the fact if properly maintained.
works with, but he notes that hotels are prey upon or victimize guests, per- For hotels that don’t watch the video
still reluctant to use this approach for fear haps with petty crimes but some- continuously, John Strauchs, CPP, princi-
of putting off patrons. times with far more malicious in- pal of Strauchs LLC, says that he often ad-
Another concern is that armed guards tent, as in the Erin Andrews nude vises them to install fewer cameras to
on the property could increase a hotel’s videotaping, the Craigslist murders, streamline the review process. However,
liability. Additionally, in some cases such and the Mumbai terrorist attacks. he says, most hotels fail to heed that ad-
guards can be a hindrance or cause confu- Hotels have tried to learn from vice because they like having the guests
sion, says Anthony DiSalvatore, CPP, PCI, such incidents. They are continu- see a plethora of cameras.
PSP, director of security for the recently ously revisiting and revising their se- Whether or not a hotel monitors cam-
opened The Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas. curity programs. Among the latest eras live is likely driven by the size of the
“If SWAT comes on the property, in event lessons being incorporated in staff hotel, says Zajic.
of an active shooter or something to that awareness training is the impor- Cunningham concurs. “If you have a
effect, if they see someone with a firearm, tance of never giving out informa- small hotel…they don’t have the man-
they really can’t take the chance to process tion about guests or which room power to be able to sit and watch the
that and see if that’s a good guy or a bad they are in. Hotels are also training monitor. It’s just not possible.” He adds,
guy. Their [aim] is to stop the event,” says housekeepers to be more vigilant “In some larger hotels, you do have the
DiSalvatore. and on the lookout for suspicious manpower to have a full-blown surveil-
Hotels also ask guards to focus on hos- activity as they make their rounds lance department where they will have
pitality issues, says James Cunningham, doing chores. people that will sit and watch monitors.”
past president of the AH&LA loss pre- Additionally, hotels are becoming DiSalvatore says that his large hotel
vention committee. The guard is “pri- more active in intelligence collec- does conduct 24/7 camera surveillance,
marily an ambassador of the hotel to the tion, with employees or contractors and it uses the cameras to assess situa-
guests,” says Cunningham. Soper agrees. scouring Web sites such as Craigs- tions in real time. In that sense, the sur-
“Officers posted in the lobby can assist list and news outlets to determine veillance system has been a workforce
and supplement the concierges by handl- whether the hotel is being men- multiplier for him. Instead of sending
ing basic guest questions, providing direc- tioned or if there is a hotel crime more guards out on patrol, the guards
tions, and other traveler information,” he wave that could hit their facilities. can use the thousands of cameras that are
says. Most hotels use security cameras, located throughout the buildings and
Hospitality does not detract from secu- but they differ in whether or when grounds to check out an area alarm to
rity. In fact, by interacting with guests as they monitor them live and where see whether they are needed there. Some
part of their everyday jobs, guards can they place them. The Andrews case hotels, like other businesses, use third-
become more familiar with who belongs raised the question of whether they party services for virtual patrols and gen-
in the hotel, which may help them spot belong in hallways, but security pro- eral surveillance and alarm monitoring.
suspicious persons. fessionals have doubts about how Camera locations. Cameras tradi-
In addition, security officers are asked effective a solution that would be. tionally have been at entrances and exits
to carry out some ancillary duties as they Some hotels are also cultivating and in the lobby and parking lots—basi-
do rounds or patrols, says Soper. “Security relationships with local and federal cally the public areas. While Strauchs
officers can monitor environmental sys- law enforcement agencies for crime recommends fewer cameras, others think
tems, shutting off lights, heat, and air con- prevention and investigation and that hotels could use more cameras, in-
ditioning in areas of the building not in for emergency response. cluding in hallways.
use,” he explains. The victimized sports journalist An-
“Security can also be important to a Cameras drews called for hotels to install hallway
guest’s overall opinion of a hotel after Many hotels also protect their property cameras after she realized what had oc-
they depart with regard to a common with surveillance cameras. The cameras curred, the theory being that the hallway
hotel issue: lost and found. Having an ef- generally are set to record around-the- cameras would have caught the stalker in
ficient means of handling these ‘after clock, but it is less likely that they are the act of altering the peephole or in the
stay’ problems really can affect a guest’s monitored live, and it is also unfortu- act of using it. But hallway cameras would
opinion of the hotel and their decision to nately the case that some camera systems be expensive and not necessarily effective,
ever return to [it] or their likelihood to are not well maintained once installed. say hotel security professionals.
recommend a property to friends or col- Farina cites a hotel in South Florida One issue is that “hallways are not
leagues,” says Soper. that he has worked with that has about 80 straight,” says one director of security at a
56 FEBRUARY 2011 W W W. S E C U R I T Y M A N A G E M E N T. C O M

5. Hotel Security
major hotel chain who wished to remain Through clipping services, “they can shooter drills in his hotel to prepare for an
anonymous. Another consideration is actually see the crime wave coming up or emergency. Of having such close ties with
that some guests might consider hall down the coast, and they prepare for it,” law enforcement and DHS, DiSalvatore
cameras intrusive. The primary objection, he explains. says, “It’s about being part of the commu-
however, is that they would still not pre- nity. And…if you don’t participate, there
vent incidents unless monitored or re- Public-Private Cooperation may be things going on in your own back-
viewed regularly, which would require In an active-shooter situation or other yard that you’re maybe not familiar with.”
considerable staff time. emergency, hotels will need to call on law Clifton also works with law enforce-
If the cameras are not being monitored enforcement for help. That’s why it’s so ment when it needs the hotel’s help in
24 hours a day, then having them in places important to lay the foundation of those stopping illegal activity. “Our local police
like hallways might provide a false sense relationships while times are good, says department uses Craigslist to do proactive
of security to the public, which could DiSalvatore. things like prostitution stings. They might
open the hotel up to additional liability. In Mumbai, SWAT team members had set up something on Craigslist to attract
“If something happens, and there happens to get into the hotel. It would have helped prostitutes and then make arrests…and we
to be a camera there, and it’s a real inci- if police had been more familiar with the cooperate fully with them,” he says. “Not
dent, then it’s very easy for a trial attorney hotel layout. That type of experience un- all hotels do, but I think it’s a good thing
to make an argument that the security derlines how important it is to cooperate to do that; it kind of gets the word out that
was negligent because [they saw the inci- with law enforcement. you don’t want to do that activity here.”
dent] yet failed to stop it,” says Strauchs. It is also useful for hotels to reach out Hotels have also taken up the “If You
Integration. Another issue is the inte- to government agencies and to get in- See Something, Say Something” initiative
gration of video and access control systems, volved as regulations related to security launched in New York City after 9-11. The
which allows a hotel to get a visual in addi- are drawn up. Cunningham says the campaign has been spreading and is now
tion to data to ensure that someone using a AH&LA has provided recommendations part of a collaborative effort between
keycard in a certain area, such as a parking regarding hotel security to DHS. AH&LA and DHS.
garage, is the person authorized to do so. The hotel industry is also working That’s just one of the initiatives that
At Cosmopolitan, DiSalvatore says that through city fusion centers, such as the hotels have as part of their overall secu-
the property uses cameras with guest assis- Las Vegas Counterterrorism Fusion Center, rity program. It’s a never-ending process,
tance boxes in elevators and in parking which connects hotel security managers says Cunningham. “Anytime that there’s
garages. The guests can press the button and law enforcement officials on a more a high profile incident…that provides a
for assistance and the guest’s voice and local basis. DiSalvatore says that he is in roadmap for us to review our practices to
video image are fed to the security sur- continual contact with the fusion center. make sure that the practices and policies
veillance center, where operators can an- He says the fusion center has distributed a and procedures we have in place are solid
swer questions and assess whether they list of the seven signs of terrorism for hotel and that there are no blind spots. How-
should dispatch an officer to the scene for employees to be aware of. It also provides ever, when there is a blind spot that we
assistance. training materials to Las Vegas hotels. identify, then we go back and we try to
DiSalvatore works with the Las Vegas close that loop.” I
Intelligence Collection Metropolitan Police Department to re-
Hotels have stepped up news monitoring main aware of any threats. He says that Laura Spadanuta is an associate editor at
as well as monitoring of the Internet to the SWAT team even practiced active- Security Management.
detect cases where their hotel is being re-
ferred to in connection with illicit situa-
tions. Investigators also monitor local
news for mentions of the company’s
hotel chain, and they follow news of
hotel crime in general.
Sometimes hotels employ clipping
services that also monitor crime waves in
other locations so that they can be on the The little ads that CLICK with
lookout for criminals who could target
them. “There are itinerants, for example,
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W W W. S E C U R I T Y M A N A G E M E N T. C O M S E C U R I T Y M A N AG E M E N T 57