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Agrees Javed Ali, VP and GM, Radisson Hotel Delhi: “Security awareness and training on terrorism predictive profile indicators is compulsory for each hotel team member. A crisis management team has been developed to handle any kind of emergency within the property.”
The multifold increase in terror threats is demanding an immediate response from security providers to counter them. Says Shreenath Shastry, national director, hospitality and leisure, Knight Frank India: “There have been long-term design implications in new hotel projects, which have increased security standards from the conception stage itself. Some of the hotels which have already been operational for quite some time have tried to adopt usage of modern security equipment like scanners and detectors along with close circuit cameras located at strategic vantage points in hotels.”
TOPS SecureGATE, an Indo-Israeli JV company, claims to have developed the answer to such vulnerabilities and threats through ‘StarGateTM’, a new complete security solutions programme specially designed for the Indian hospitality sector. StarGateTM will deploy TOPS-SecureGATE’s TVRA (Threat identification, Vulnerability evaluation and Risk Assessment) technology.
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The company is in talks with various hotel chains across the country to implement their solutions. Says Offer Einav – CEO, TOPS SecureGATE: “We feel that such threats will increase in the future as anti-social elements would want to make their biggest impact by targetting global events and vulnerable venues like international hotels; the upcoming CWG could be a possible terrorist target and therefore it becomes absolutely critical to have precautionary as well counter measures ready to completely defeat malicious intent.”
Another vital aspect post the David Headley fiasco is to verify guest credentials. Being an administrative procedure, 3M has a solution in its travel document readers that are specialised readers which capture the complete image of the passport data page and automatically populates all required details into the hotel property management software
without any manual intervention. “A further application can compile all the guest check-ins during the day and transmit this to the local police authorities for foreign guests, which are bound to be on the upside during the CWG,” says Ravi Chandwani, general manager, security systems division, 3M.
Axis recently unveiled its new product line of flexible and scalable network video solutions, including the industry’s first range of full-featured thermal network surveillance cameras AXIS Q1910 and AXIS Q1910-E. Oh Tee Lee, regional director, South Asia Pacific Region, Axis Communications, is upbeat about hospitality being a big user. “With hotels in Delhi being offered the tax breaks, we are also riding the wave and are closing out several deals across new hotels,” he explains.
Adds Prakash Prabhu, country manager, Axis Communications, India, “Axis will push for HDTV technology and H.264 compression standard compliant products.” These solutions have been implemented at 12-properties at the ITC WelcomGroup Hotels, the Taj Mahal Hotel and Crowne Plaza Today Gurgaon, among several others across the country.
At Shangri-La’s-Eros Hotel New Delhi, security measures are classified into ‘Three-Tier Security’ which is peripheral, external and internal security measures. “We are the only hotel in Delhi which has tyre busters at the guest entry gate as well the staff and contractors’ entry gate.
All the vehicles are checked with vapour explosive detector (Sabre 4000); we are also installing an under-vehicle scanning system at the entry gate which will keep a record of all the vehicles entering. To keep track of activities around the hotel we deploy plain clothed security personnel around the hotel premises. We are also in process of having a card reader system in the elevators to restrict unauthorised movement on the floors,” says Balwinder Bhardwaj, director of security, Shangri-La’s - Eros Hotel.
The ibis Gurgaon has taken the help of Audit Company, an international hotel security firm, to make their premises secure, and are expecting the delivery of the specially ordered equipment in May, says the general manager, Prashanth Kumar. He further said that all the hotel staff has been trained in fire fighting by a reputed fire institute.
Security being an aspect that cannot be looked at in isolation, hoteliers are working in partnership with civic and law agencies. The Imperial has joined hands with Delhi Police officials who are deployed in and around the hotel 24x7 and brief the team members periodically.
Patrolling by security staff with a police van on a 24-hous basis as also two police commandos stationed at the premises, rolling shutters/flood lights/sirens, are installed at Shangri-La’s- Eros Hotel. Radisson liaisons with other competitors and local authorities to conduct mock drills, has close networking with the private security agencies and local authorities and shares information on security issues with other hospitality groups.
Adds Rajeev Menon, area vice president, India, Pakistan, Maldives & Malaysia, Marriott International: “We have always had basic security in place in all our hotels like the X-ray baggage scanning and screening of vehicles. As an addition, we have interactive monitoring technology systems and boom barriers in place to alleviate any potential security issues. As far as we are concerned we believe security is here to stay and we are making sure we implement the right infrastructure to manage business in the long term. The idea is to make security a seamless part of the hospitality experience to guests.”
Security for several hotel chains remains standard across the country, as several hotels believe the uniform policy will augur well for their chain. Anil Madhok, managing director, Sarovar Hotels, says that they employ the same practices across and have trained housekeeping staff to keep a watch-out and be alert.
Says Madhok: “We believe 26/11 took everyone by surprise and the element of unexpectedness contributed to the extent of the tragedy. Hence, we have trained our staff to clearly fix the responsibility of who does what and what are the systems and people who will be in place to mitigate time lost in reacting to any untoward situation.
However, we do hope that the local police is better equipped to reach out to hotels in case of any eventuality and are able to do that within a quick time span.”
(with inputs by Punam Mohandas)
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