Hotels have guests, employees and assets to protect. You need to consider what security measures are best for your hotel; CCTV, Access Control, Intruder Alarms, Fire Alarms and Security Barriers and how they integrate with each other for ease of use.
A hotel’s security system should:
Allow quick access to security footage – Restrict room access to authorised persons - Notify you of an unauthorised entry – Notify you of a fire
Discover what security measures you should consider for your hotel.
Access Control in Hotels
Access control reduces the risk of opportunists by controlling people's access to certain areas. From a customer point of view – keys are very much an out-dated conception in a hotel; unless you own a quirky little boutique hotel. From an internal employee’s view, they can be costly as they can easily be lost.
Access Control recommendations for Hotels
Access Pass - Most hotels take advantage of access pass technology for internal use and for hotel rooms for guests. It is a good security measure for your hotel because you can tell what time the room was accessed if something was to happens and by who (the guest or a member of staff.)
Your access pass system needs to be of high quality to avoid complaints of guests returning to reception when their swipe cards don’t work. Most people are pretty forgiving after that one technology error but repetitive technology errors will likely hinder good views.
Pin Code Access Control devices are usually used for back rooms that might hold important documents or supply closets.
It’s more cost-effective than the pass or fob but it does rely on people’s memory, however someone can easily share the PIN code with another meaning if something happens, you may not know the exact person responsible.
Intercom – the voice intercom has been around for many years but the video intercom has been building in popularity.
When someone buzzes intercom to the building, they can identify who they are verbally and you can double check with a visual.
This is ideal for hotels that may take deliveries early/late or perhaps have guests turning up later than planned and you lock the front entrance at a certain time and you want to verify entry.
CCTV Systems for Hotels
We all want to be trusting individuals but you are a hotel with not only hotel assets to consider but your guests, too. Imagine you have a guest whose valuables have been stolen. It doesn’t mean you are liable but if you have CCTV, they will be so pleased if it highlighted the culprit that they could notify the police. Likewise, if you had assets stolen, you’d want to be able to prove who it was.
Let’s not forget, people can be dishonest and you may have a guest claim something happened like a health and safety incident and you’ll want to ensure you have the evidence to provide whether that is to prove or disprove it.
IP CCTV is the best choice for Hotel’s but what features should it have?
IP CCTV System Features
The IP CCTV systems we install all have the following basic features;
- Mobile app – General Managers might not be on-site all the time but may want to be able to access and playback footage. All of the systems we install have a mobile app in which you are able to view, live what is occurring on your site(s).
- Analytics / Notifications – You will be able to analyse how many visitors you have to your site.
- Smart Search – You are able to “draw a line” around a certain area and watch the activity for that specific area. It enables quick searching for any incidents. For instance, if you have a break-in and you identify the entry point, you can then select the area on the camera where the door/window is, select a time-frame and it will highlight ‘events’ which will show you when that entry point was accessed. You will then have the evidence needed to send on to the police and it takes roughly 15 minutes.
CCTV Cameras for Hotels
There are three main types of cameras; Fisheye, Dome and Bullet.
We recommend that you have dome cameras internally, throughout the hotel as they are more discreet but can rotate 360-degrees. They are also very durable as they known to be “Vandal-proof,” because of their durable casing.
Should you have a car park, particularly if you have a security barrier you want to deploy, we recommend bullet cameras.
Camera Features
Some key features that you should have when you choose a CCTV system for your Hotel:
- Panoramic view (no blind spots)
- Tamper detection
- Weather protection
- Night-vision
- Intrusion detection
- Auto-tracking
- Infra-red
- Line crossing (if someone intrudes on a boundary such as a fence)
- Unattended baggage detection
- Object removal detection
- Facial detection
- Self-learning video analytics
Fire Alarms and Detection Systems in Hotels
Fire alarm regulations state that businesses must have 'an appropriate fire detection system.’ There are three types of fire alarms that are used in hotels; conventional, addressable, wireless.
- Conventional Fire Alarms works on zones, so it divides your business area into different areas. When a fire happens, the fire alarm panel will show you the zone but not the exact location.
- The Addressable Fire Alarm tells you exactly where the fire is, whether there is smoke, heat or even if there is a fault. Each device has its own unique electronic address which then displays on the fire alarm panel. These Fire Alarms can be integrated to activate a selection of fire safety features such as shutting down equipment or deactivating elevators.
- Wireless Fire Alarms operates like the addressable fire alarm system, just without the wires. It uses a wireless link between the fire alarm control panel and its sensors.
Conventional fire alarms are ideal for smaller hotels. Addressable fire alarms are ideal for larger hotels with elevators and wireless fire alarms tend to be used when you want a quick install or if the building is older and you want to avoid cabling work.
Factors to consider when choosing a Fire Alarm System
- Layout of your Hotel - you will likely need to have a fire detector per room and on every floor.
- Multi-site Hotel – should your hotel have multiple buildings on your hotel site, connect the fire alarms so that people are notified in other buildings when there is a fire on site.
- High-risk areas – do you have products which will produce a lot of smoke when they burn? Ensure there is appropriate detection in those areas.
- Noise – it is important to ensure that the fire alarm is heard in every area of the hotel.
- Notifications - if you have a large hotel, across a large site, you may want a public address system, built-in to notify all areas of the business to give specific instructions.
The deciding factor should be how effectively the alarm alerts guests and employees on your premises to danger and protects their safety.
Intruder Alarms in Hotels
Although hotels tend to be 24/7 operations, you can still install intruder alarms into parts of your building that may need that extra level of security, such as back-offices or supply rooms that hold alcohol or equipment. There are three main types of intruder alarms: Bells only, Dialler and Smart Intruder Alarm.
A Bells only alarm should be sufficient for your hotel where you have areas that you want to add a level of protection to, such as storage or the back-office as it will draw your attention with noise but not notify you directly (since you are likely to have staff in the building ready to respond.
For hotels that shut down for certain time periods with no staff on-site, we recommend a Dialler alarm which, when triggered will call a phone number that you have pre-specified.
Our intruder alarms come with:
Motion detectors – Shock sensors – Panic buttons – Mobile App
Security Barriers in Hotels
Security barriers are the first line of defence for hotels. There are many different types of Security Barriers, some of which can be automated so at a push of a button you can grant access. Some barriers can tie in with access control, making them automated security gates which, in turn, automates entrance to your hotel - but also verifies their identity.
Types of Security Gates and Barriers for Hotels
Drop Arm Barriers are typically found at entrances to hotel car parks. The barrier arm is down until access is granted and then it is automatically raised. You can integrate it with access control so that only people with the correct pass or code can get in. You can also integrate it with a ticket machine paired up with ANPR cameras which means if you have a car registration registered to a guest, it automatically lets them in or your machine gives them a ticket with their car reg on it so that they can pay for the car park usage and the hotel has a record of all cars.
Palisade Fencing protects the boundaries of your hotel site which you can integrate with an intruder alarm to ensure that you are notified of any attempts at breaching the permitter so you can keep your guest safe.
Bollards are useful for large hotels, even the ones that are more rural based so that traffic management and pedestrian safety can be assured. The best bollards are constructed from stainless steel for long lasting protection against harsh impacts, even from multiple crashes.
Pedestrian Gates are an extra layer of security so that you can have an entrance for permitted staff so that not everyone needs to come through main reception but it still secures an entrance point and everyone is accounted for.