De Facto Security Standards: Operators at Risk

Abstract

Hotel security standards required by law tell only half the story: Actual court decisions are equally valid when it comes time to enforce the rule of "reasonable care ." Our survey of hotel owners and operators collected data about court-mandated security standards and we discuss which of those standards hoteliers consider important and which are controversial SUCCESSFUL MANAGEMENT involves being able to predict and control situations, people, or things. If something can be anticipated, managers must have in place policies or procedures with which to deal with the event. From time to time, however, despite all attempts to provide a safe and secure environment, something that was not anticipated may cause a guest to experience injury or loss.Increasingly, courts are holding that those acts and events that harm a guest on a hotel's premises can be foreseen and are therefore preventable. As a result, the hotel industry is now operating at greater risk than in the past.A tradition. The duty of innkeepers and restaurateurs to provide safety and security to their guests has been recognized for centuries. English innkeepers, for instance, as early as the fifteenth century, had to accommodate any well-comported person who applied to the inn. The rationale for such a rule was that the English countryside was infested with robbers and

A systematic review of the servant leadership literature in management and hospitality

“…Although the hospitality industry shares some similar features with other industries (e.g. the service industry), several studies have pointed out that the hospitality industry has some unique characteristics (Brotherton, 1999;Grönroos, 1984;Hansen et al, 2004;Hemmington, 2007;Jayawardena, 2000;King, 1995;O'Connor, 2005;Rutherford and McConnell, 1991). A distinctive characteristic of the hospitality industry is the affiliation with guests, whereas in the service industry, the relationship between the service providers and customers is economical (King, 1995).…”

Crime research in hospitality and tourism

“…Hotels can be the site of many types of crime such as theft, fraud, public order issues and prostitution (Gill et al, 2002) and terrorism (Paraskevas, 2013). Based on a survey of the top 50 American hotels, Rutherford and McConnell (1991) ranked the top 10 security concerns of hotel management from the greatest to the least as follows: training employees to report and deal with criminal activities, having adequate lighting, having lock systems, monitoring criminal behavior to secure the property, controlling access to guest areas, patrolling guestroom floors by well-trained security personnel, suggesting potentially dangerous areas around the hotel to guests, remotely monitoring by security guards, using armed safety personnel in high-crime-rate areas and providing training for armed safety personnel. Consequently, the crime rate has become one of the most critical factors in international hotels' selection of locations in host countries (Assaf et al, 2015).…”

Violent crime in the US hospitality workplace: facing up to the problem

“…Increasingly courts are holding that those acts which harm someone on the premises can be foreseen. Rutherford and McConnell[14] observed that as a result of these legal changes in the USA, “the hotel industry is now operating at greater risk than in the past”.…”