Beef Up Hotel Security Optics Where Crime is a Concern

According to a 1998 paper by researchers from Boston University and Georgia State University, larger hotels tend to be targets of crime more often than their small counterparts.

A 2017 study of more than 400 Houston hotels found that crime in parking lots had an especially apparent and negative impact on hotel operations and even overall revenue.

Not only do crimes in general have a negative impact, but researchers found that travelers were especially prone to victimization during the 12-hour period between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. During that period, they posited, fewer people were around who could see a crime and thus deter those who might consider robbing a guest or whatever else.

Others will choose your hotel because of price or because it may have been a relatively short commute to some other attraction. They may know that it isn’t the best-perceived part of the city, but they are willing to take what they believe is a risk for those reasons or whatever else. In whatever case, both crime and the appearance of crime have been long-term concerns for the hospitality industry in the United States.

Research is scarce, but staff are very familiar with customers’ concerns about the threat of violence. Researchers say the responses that have worked in past years are improved camera surveillance and improved hotel image.

Be forthright

Address safety concerns – they are on the minds of your travelers.

Cities across the United States deal with issues like homelessness and crime, and the perception of those neighborhoods is important given the amount of access potential guests have in our times. If guests use a public forum to complain about being robbed or accosted, or worse, people will avoid your place of business for one they perceive as safer.

A Dallas-based attorney group noted that kidnappings can be more likely to happen if and when guests let their guard down. Guests want the safety and security that comes with paying for a room in your facility, and you owe them the effort that could bring them back the next time they visit your city.

Decrease the number of ways in and out of your hotel

Consider that people outside of a given locale may come to your place not knowing how residents view your part of the city. That’s a good scenario in your case, but it means that some of what you do where security is concerned has to take place because of the information you know that those guests will not.

That might mean some extra security, but you have to consider how those optics might be off-putting to guests. Logistics, in other words, will be key so you can fold the extra security personnel into your operations without being too overbearing to your guests. In a 1992 survey, nearly 40 percent of business travelers said they had been victims of crime. Even something as simple as key issues ended up being the culprit in a significant portion of the cases that came up in the study.

Researchers found that having a centralized entrance and exit point can help with crime because staff can see all the people who enter and exit the place. Would-be criminals may well be put off by the specter of having to walk past staff who might recognize their face or clothing, among other details.

Improve the image of your hotel

One of the ways to keep crime down in and around your business is by improving the public’s image of your facility. That research has made it clear that as the hotel’s image improves, fewer crimes occur. If people viewed the hotel as a place where panhandlers, then panhandlers no doubt gathered.

That same 1998 study said hotels that were deliberate in improving brand management found themselves dealing with less crime because their clientele moved a certain way, and the neighborhood perceived the hotel(s) a different way as well.

If you have to have staff walk guests to their cars, do it. If you have to hire security personnel to do simple tasks like discourage the homeless from panhandling or loitering or routinely check the parking lot to make sure folks are not trying to break into vehicles, do it. You will want to remind your staff that perception is often a reality. If guests have some trepidation about choosing your hotel because of the region in its city of a given city, you have an immediate obligation to quell their fears as best you can once they arrive.