Htt 200 – Hotel Security
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Hotel Security
Matthew Acevedo
July 10, 2011
HTT/200
Hotel Security
Security came forcefully to the attention of hotel operators in 1976 when a well-known singer, Connie Francis, was raped at knifepoint in a Long Island motel.(online reading, pg.309) Good security is what makes are breaks a good hotel. To insure that you have great security you have to address where its needed the most, where it might be an issue and what are the biggest threats to your guest.
According to many different websites identity theft is becoming a major with hackers breaching computers in major hotel chains and gaining access to thousands upon thousands of guests personal information including; home addresses, credit card numbers and personal phone numbers. (Bates, 2008) To help reduce the risk of hackers it would be smart to make sure your database is secured through a well-known and respected company that deals with internet hackers. Though its impossible to fully stop hacking you can make sure you minimize the risk significantly with the right resources.
A big issue with security would be fraud and theft. According to the U.S. Department of Justice Statistics, identity theft is now passing up drug trafficking as the number one crime in the nation. (Itrc, 2006) To solve some of these solution the easy steps would be to makes sure to check every guests ID and credit card against each other and have a fake ID decoder behind every desk to insure that no one gets away with using someone elses credit card. Theft is also a big concern with guests that stay in hotels. Many hotels have an open-door policy that lets maids prop open doors for hours on end while they clean that floor. That leaves room wide open for anyone to just walk into a room and take whatever they want or rack up huge bills on movie rental or minibar items.
According to a study done in 2003 many hotels have not changes there policies after the attacks of 9/11. Many hotels that were rated higher with security had already established good security and didnt need to make changes. (Myers, 2003) There is no base-line for hotel security so its hard to say if the standard went up after the September 11 attacks of 2001.
Conclusion
Most of the security issue seems to be that of theft, either of personal items or identity. To help solve the ongoing issue there are dozens of companies working to shut down the cyber-attacks of hotel databases around the world. Until then it is the job of the hotel to take every precaution necessary to insure that guest feel as safe and comfortable as possible while staying in their establishment.
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