SDS

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With so many on-going attacks on vulnerable ‘soft’ targets like five-star hotels, security is now perceived as an integral aspect for the hospitality industry, aver Dorman Followwill and Dr John Wyatt

The hospitality industry, serving both the business community and tourism, is an important component of a country’s infrastructure, playing an integral role in every modern society’s economy. Luxury hotels and resorts are popular destinations for the rich and famous, and preferred venues for many major events frequented by both national as well as international dignitaries.

The recent assaults on hotels in Indonesia (July 2009), Pakistan (June 2009) and India (November 2008), therefore came as a shocking reminder of how vulnerable people are away from home. However, it should not have been a surprise, since hotels have been the focus of attack by criminal and terrorist organisations for more than 100 years. This is because they are perceived to be ‘soft’ targets, relative to other more fortified options, and because the potential rewards to a terrorist of a successful attack on a high profile hotel is significant in terms of the desired result and related media attention. Such an incident is also capable of causing great harm to a country’s morale and economy, on top of the direct damage to the targeted hotel.

Terror attacks are characterised by the elements of surprise, speed, and lethal consequences. Experience has shown that police forces alone cannot protect all potential targets, and therefore the protection of the hospitality sector must be a shared responsibility with the private sector.Today’s traveller expects to be well protected when staying in a luxury hotel. In fact, the level of protection that a hotel provides may now rate of more importance to many travellers than its level of comfort. However, as security becomes an increasingly important factor in choosing a hotel, the problem arises that it is not currently easily measurable due to a lack of general consensus among so-called security experts on its definition. This means that an assessment by one expert may differ significantly from that of another, based on the range of factors taken into account. In response to the urgent need for objective, reliable information in this area, Frost & Sullivan has launched a ‘Hotel Security Excellence Programme’, to assess the standard of security measures in place in luxury hotels around the world.

To accomplish this challenging task, the firm is working in association with international counter-terrorism consultants the SDS Group, a UK-based company which is part of AIM-listed Pentagon Protection, and which has more than 20 years experience in ‘search, detect, and secure’ procedures in hot spots throughout the world. SDS’s protective measures and procedures in the hospitality sector were initially developed as a consequence of the bomb attack in the UK on Brighton’s Grand Hotel; the team has carried out many security surveys and critical risk assessments of leading hotels around the world.

The objective of this programme is to provide a comprehensive and standardised system for assessing the security levels of luxury hotels. To be truly comprehensive, this must address all types and degrees of known risk, e.g., high and low, external and internal, common and unusual. This requires not only in-depth experience and knowledge of the threats existing today, but also an understanding of how these are evolving into the risks of tomorrow. To achieve accurate standardisation, Frost & Sullivan is collaborating with key industry associations and global hotel chains and applying a rating approach, which is based on similar systems provided to other key industry sectors.

The main task for any rating system is to produce objective, quantifiable and independent data on the security level at any particular hotel, factoring in a wide range of key variables:

Outer Perimeter

•   Stand-off from public access: pedestrian, car, van, truck

•   Perimeter resilience: bollards, road-blockers, blast walls, blast protection ‘plus’: new materials, glass, walls, etc.

•   Entrances: public, goods, service, taxi, shuttle

•   Environment: adjacent buildings, vegetation, other nearby structures, angles of incidence

Access Control

•   Inner Perimeter Control: vehicles, luggage, deliveries, zone control, lockdown procedures

•   Building Access: pedestrians, visitors, staff, contractors, luggage

•   Search procedures

•   Integration: security with reception

•   Protection of key assets

Building Analysis:

Structure, frame, floors and roof enclosure: cladding, styles, window frames, glazing, anti-shatter film, anchoring, internal fit-out, partitions, services, safe areas, internal shelters, Illumination

Operations Alarms: fire doors, Segregation Capability

•   CCTV: integration, real time technology, coverage

•   Manpower: deployment, management, vetting, screening

•   Control Room: organisation, manning, reaction time

•   Security of information

•   Emergency planning exercises

•   Integration of BMT with security

•   Emergency equipment kits

•   Mailroom security

Contingency Planning

•   Critical Incident Response Team (CIRT)

•   Evacuation/Invacuation procedures: signage, assembly

•   Methods of communication: upwards/downwards, security/hotel staff, public, emergency services

•   Crisis communications

•   Welfare arrangements, critical incident stress management

•   Bomb/major incident management

•   Kidnap and ransom procedures

•   Chemical and biological response: hazardous materials

•   Action on a ‘find’

•   Loss of essential services

•   Loss of staff members

•   Graduated Levels of Security: ability to upgrade quickly

Training

•   Management Team: including role of Duty Managers

•   Security staff and reserve

•   Practice exercises

Each client requesting a ‘Security Excellence Survey’ of their hotel or hotel chain receives an in-depth confidential report outlining the findings of the survey. This includes detailed ratings by individual security category, building analysis in terms of type of structure, glazing format, camera locations and effectiveness, evaluation of the capabilities of hotel security personnel, and so on.

The numerical scores awarded for each security category are explained, and specific recommendations given, on how they could be improved within the constraints of cost and environment (e.g. some hotels in the middle of a city may be unable to improve their stand-off distance from the public). These recommendations are included to illustrate how a rating level may be improved, but it is of course, up to the client to decide on what use to make of the information, and whether it would be cost-effective to carry out any improvements suggested.

Such a report provides an accurate benchmark of how an individual hotel’s security protection rates against its peers, and against objective industry standards. This enables an effective plan to be drawn up to address any areas of weakness, and ensures that a hospitality facility is well prepared to deal with any challenge that may arise. However, plans are only as reliable as the people executing them. In high-pressure situations such as terrorist attacks, properly trained employees become the deciding factor between success and failure.

The hotel’s security manager is responsible for the planning and implementation of his installation’s security plan for both routine and emergency situations. He is usually responsible for the recruitment, training and management of the security personnel protecting the hotel. He will also lead the security team in efforts to thwart, mitigate, and recover, from threats of terrorism. Unfortunately, in many cases, hospitality sector security officers have had little or no relevant training in some of the above areas, and no instruction in anti-terrorism or protective security procedures to enable them to counter challenges they may face.

Frost & Sullivan is addressing this need by offering 3-day Hotel Staff Security Training Courses providing a complete solution to the security needs of the global hospitality sector. These courses are specifically designed to provide essential skill-sets listed above through a mix of classroom and on-site training. The course instructors are experienced security professionals with the best backgrounds in the industry, who utilise the most current training techniques and resources to train hotel security managers and other security personnel to handle specific, dynamic threats to hotels and hospitality facilities. All participants are awarded an official Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.

The changing nature of terrorism today is dramatic. What was once a localised occurrence is now a global phenomenon, motivated by uncompromising ideologies and international agendas. This volatile threat is creating a more complicated and unpredictable environment for the hospitality business. The ‘Security Excellence Programme’ helps the industry meet this crucial challenge by championing ‘best-of-breed’ security practices that provide the highest levels of guest and staff protection possible in an uncertain world.

Dorman Followwill is a partner and director of Frost & Sullivan.

Dr John Wyatt, MBE, is Technical Director of the SDS Group. His experience includes 25 years as an officer in the British Army; in his 20 years of working in the private sector, he has been responsible for a wide range of high-profile national projects such as designing and implementing the security of Her Majesty’s Crown Jewels, and is also the UN’s blast consultant for Europe and North Africa.

In response to the recent Pashawar terrorist attack and the seige in Mumbai at the Oberoi and Taj Hotles, as a first step in a joint venture between SDS the international counter-terrorism consultancy and Frost and Sullivanthe Growth Partnership Company, Frost & Sullivan have published a White Paper by Dr John Wyatt entitled “Improving Hotel Security in Today’s Unpredictable Global Environment.”

Frost & Sullivan and SDS have commenced a comprehensive strategy to assess and rate security provisions on a global basis, for the benefit of hoteliers, travel agents, insurers and, most importantly, their clientele.

Following the terrorist tragedies in Pakistan and Mumbai, leading global research and consultancy group Frost & Sullivan announced today it is conducting a worldwide survey of hotel security in association with international security and counter-terrorism consultants SDS:

Commenting on this, Frost & Sullivan European Manager Dorman Followwill said: “Travellers today expect to be well-protected when staying in a luxury hotel. They have the right to be aware of the security measures being taken to ensure their safety & wellbeing. This is now more important to some guests than the level of comfort a hotel is able to offer. Frost & Sullivan’s in-depth understanding of the security industry, and its global research capabilities, enable it to provide an objective assessment of the standard of hotel security in key cities around the world.”  

SDS Technical Director Dr John Wyatt MBE added: “Hoteliers urgently require access to unbiased and reliable consultancy, our 30 year experience in critical ‘search, detect and secure’ procedures in hot spots throughout the world ensures we have the key capabilities necessary for the luxury hotel sector as it increasingly becomes a prime target for organised international terrorism…”