Protecting our Nation's Hotels from Terrorism

I have been thinking about this for a long time. I decided one day that I should talk about the topic on my blog, as it is a timely issue and one which our nation's business leaders should address if we are truly to be vigilant against further attacks like that of Sept 11, 2001.

Here is my concern: What are we doing to protection our hotels and resorts from terrorism?
In recent years, and especially since the events of 9/11/01, we have seen our country’s government and industry leaders take great steps to protect lives and property from terrorism. New technologies to detect and deter perpetrators of terror are in place at airports, city streets, entertainment venues, and cargo terminals. Unfortunately, our approach is always reactionary rather than precautionary. In other words, industry and government don’t typically make the investments in terms of money, talent, and technology until after a significant event has occurred that suddenly raises awareness of our vulnerability in a given area. There are many examples, a few of which I will illustrate here. Under-car scanning and parking entrance pop-up barriers did not exist until after the first World Trade Center bombing in the 1990’s. The monitoring of nitrogen fertilizer traffic was intensified after the Oklahoma Federal Building bombings a few years after. And later, anyone can see how we reacted with tremendous airport security after three of our nation’s planes were used to attack us on 9/11. And even then we did not scrutinize passenger shoes until after the shoe bomb incident (potential terrorist tried to use his shoes as a bomb on a plane) a few years ago. So we see how investments in protective measures do not typically manifest until after a terrorist event.

When terroristic events occur, suddenly it seems we have budgets and means available where none existed prior to the attack or event.

My idea is to prepare for such an event by offering a protection technology set which is absolutely necessary but whose importance has not yet been underscored by a terrorist event. My intention is to begin to help the right folks find this solution by pointing out the vulnerability before an event occurs, with the hopes that the targeted community will respond by taking the protective steps immediately, rather than waiting for the terrorists to point out the vulnerability. If industry does instead wait for an event before attempting to secure these solutions, then the channels will be ready and prepared to deliver protective solutions in the fastest manner thanks to our preparation as members of the security and safety industry.


So I think that we need to begin thinking of real technological solutions in order to begin to explore means for protecting hotels, resorts, and the entire hospitality industry from terrorism. Do you know when this will be addressed? I am wondering too.

Key management is critical at today's hotels and resorts

When I talk with folks about key management, one of the first things they sometimes ask is "Why would anyone need to manage keys in today’s world of electronic access control?" Or, other times they might ask me "Why don't you go see the major hotel chains and prestigious hotel properties about managing their room keys?" These are both good questions, each needs a seperate answer.

Key management is a critical part of today's modern access control systems, as a complement to the familiar door card readers and electronic strikes. The typical enterprise access control system (e.e. by Lenel or Softwarehouse to name just two) typically covers "most but not all" of the doors and access points within a building or campus. So we need to supplement that system with an electronic key management system. Why aren't all the doors covered by access control? Typically cost is a big reason. It costs several thousand dollars to equip an average commercial property door with electronic access control. Today's key management systems (i.e.; proxSafe by Deister Electronics USA) can be an integrated part of the system, yet will protect many lesser used or special area keys/doors for about $100 per door or set of keys. I will cover more of this subject in a future section. For now, you might check out a recent article in Security Products magazine: Who Has The Keys?/

Now to address the issue of may management at hotels and resorts. Yes, they need to manage lots of keys. But not the way you might think. The pass cards (mag stripe cards most often) that hotels give to guests for room access do not need to be managed. The access to rooms is added or removed from any given pass card within seconds by the hotel's hospitality management system. So if a key is lost, or ends up in the wrong hands, or if a guest forgets to return it, there is no concern.

However, hotels and resorts do have large numbers of keys to special rooms, closets, supply areas, conference centers, etc., which do need to be managed. The old system was a manual one (sign out the key, sign it in when you return). This system is prone to many errors, misuse, and is very costly in case of lost keys. Sophisticated modern hotel facility security systems today always include an electronic key management system. Maintenance folks who are only allowed to hold certain keys (master keys in some cases) during certain hours can be monitored and managed in this way using a good computerized key control system. Reports and alarms are generated for exceptions (keys out late, not returned, etc.) and all of the information and access settings are managed via the web. I have personally talked with a number of hospitality industry professionals who manage keys in this manner, or who intend to implement such a system very soon.

Please stay tuned to this blog for future posts on hotel safety and security as well as electronic management of keys and small assets.