Focus on Guest Safety Issues Says This Hotel Management Consultant

The recent news reports and media frenzy about housekeepers and guest safety from a hotel management consultant perspective suggests a review of related policies and procedures is a must now. Just this past week, the President of the American Hotel & Lodging Association was interviewed on the subject. The focus from his viewpoint and as a hotel advisor, should be on all areas that a hotel guest could be vulnerable to including outside intruders, employees and other in-house guests. Female business travelers are especially at risk and for obvious reasons. Here are two excerpts which we believe are important along with a link to the full article: “Paxton Quigley, a women’s safety consultant in New York and author of “Not an Easy Target” (Fireside, 1995), said most women business travelers were “just beginning to learn how unsafe they can be, especially in airports and planes, hotels, walking on streets in cities that they don’t know and in convention settings.” Conventions, she said, leave women particularly vulnerable because “they’re wearing name badges and are telling people where they are staying.”” Read more what this hotel management consultant and others are saying… “Travelers can take several steps to protect themselves, said Marybeth Bond, a women’s travel expert in San Francisco who runs www.gutsytraveler.com and has written several National Geographic women’s travel books. Women need to “trust their instincts,” she said, if a situation seems awry. When hotel employees make deliveries, she said, travelers should either leave the door fully open or say, “I’ll take it from here — you don’t need to come into the room.” Ms. Bond carries a rubber doorstopper to jam under her hotel door and says she makes sure any adjoining hotel room doors are locked. Hotel bars can be relaxed settings for meeting other business travelers. But Ms. Bond said women should be aware that date rape drugs could be placed into a drink; she recommended coasters from Drink Safe Technologies, which detect some of these drugs.”” This is a great idea and low cost solution that food and beverage management can provide to all hotel guests. Since the notoriety of the alleged housekeeper assault case between the former head of the International Monetary Fund and a hotel maid in New York, have your guest safety policies and procedures been changed or updated? What would you tell our readers, as a hotel management consultant, is the most important issue to address when housekeepers are cleaning a room and the hotel guest may be present or just shows up unannounced? You can also consult our blogs on other hotel safety articles.