How Franchisors Can Ensure Security In Their Hotel Franchise

The hospitality industry largely depends on its customer relationships. A hotel franchise should always strive to maintain a healthy and positive guest relation to generate maximum revenue.

Recently, an incident of sexual harassment came into light. An American vlogger documented her harrowing experience of sexual harassment in one of the fancy hotels in India. The story has reached the hotel company through Reddit and they replied via a tweet regarding this issue.

Therefore, the safety and the security measures adopted by the hotels should be efficient enough and updated. Below are some security measures that hotel franchisees should adopt.

Verify Staff Credentials

Enforce a smart hiring process at your hotel franchise, for many of its incidents involve either the staff member or their support. Adopt measures like effective recruitment, checking previous records of the staff with previous employers and so on.

You should also check for a history of substance abuse or any previous criminal record and get a police verification done before making a final hiring call.

Regularly evaluate & make changes

Regular evaluation is necessary to maintain security. Your hotel's security director should review hotel conditions on a regular basis. Consider using checklists to ensure that areas like stairwells and hallways are well-lit, clean and safe. If an unfortunate incident has already happened, take immediate action to protect from its repetition.

Control After Hours Access

A 24-hour security presence is essential at every hotel. Your guests should feel both welcome and safe even after hours. Train your security personnel to monitor your hotel's main access points during off-hours.

Behavioural Study Training Program

Implementing a behavioural study training program can benefit your hotel's security in many ways. Your staff will be well-equipped with tools and techniques to collect data and will be able to spot suspicious behaviour.

Build a safety manual for your employees; you can also use videos to enhance the training process. You should also organize regular meetings and seminars on security methods.

CCTV Surveillance

There should be adequate provisions of security cameras / CCTV cameras with digital technology and intelligent access central system in the hotel to check the external and internal premises of the hotel. These cameras should be linked to the Property management system of the hotel.

Even a link is required between cameras and motion detectors, biometric readers like hand key reader or face recognition system etc. In addition, installing cameras in strategic locations and robust monitoring makes video surveillance worth it.

Update Locking System

There should be an efficient key card locking system (Electronic Locking System) which should be directly interfaced with the Property Management System of the hotel so that room accesses can be supervised.

Invest in the intelligent access control system. Some technology firms have introduced intelligent RFID-enabled access control system that can track the movement of people and assets, dissuading criminals from gaining unlawful entry.

Visit Your Franchisees regularly

A good franchisor should visit its franchisees as regularly as he can. It is necessary to ensure that standards are being maintained uniformly. This is because the bad reputation of a single unit can spoil your brand's entire image.

Visiting a franchise personally, allows the franchisor to experience the unit and get a complete picture. Monitor the security measures yourself to make sure that the standards are being maintained.

This article was originally published on Franchise India by Sneha Santra.