Category Archives: Guest Issues
Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Legionnaires’ Disease: Awareness and Prevention” (Video)
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Filed under Food Illnesses, Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Health Update: “CDC Confirms First Case of Ebola in US”
U.S. health officials have been preparing since summer in case an individual traveler arrived here unknowingly infected, telling hospitals what infection-control steps to take to prevent the virus from
spreading in health facilities. People boarding planes in the outbreak zone are checked for fever, but symptoms can begin up to 21 days after exposure. Ebola isn’t contagious until symptoms begin, and it takes close contact with bodily fluids to spread.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) confirmed on Tuesday that a patient being treated at a Dallas hospital has tested positive for Ebola, the first case diagnosed in the United States.
The patient left Liberia on September 19 and arrived in the United States on September 20, CDC director, Dr. Tom Frieden told reporters at a press conference Tuesday. It’s the first patient to be diagnosed with this particular strain of Ebola outside of Africa.
For more:Â http://fxn.ws/1nLAMVj
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Filed under Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Guest Room Privacy and the Fourth Amendment”
In order to create and follow an eviction policy that promotes compliance with the Fourth Amendment, a hotel should identify behaviors that justify eviction. Â This requires consultation of the law, including any statutes that govern hotel policies.
 The hotel should then train its staff to recognize and respond to behavior that triggers eviction.  A hotel should also provide guests with its eviction policy or communicate in some way the types of behavior that could trigger an eviction.  Finally, in the event of an eviction, the hotel must take steps to communicate to the guest that he or she is being evicted.
Hotels are faced with a delicate balancing act when it comes to maintaining guest privacy.  Hotel staff must comply with police investigations when noncompliance would constitute obstruction of justice.  At the same time, hotel employees must recognize their guests’ Fourth Amendment right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures.  If hotel employees comply with an unreasonable search or seizure that results in harm to the guest, the hotel could find itself exposed to civil liability.
Courts have recognized that the Fourth Amendment protection from unreasonable searches and seizures applies to searches and seizures in hotel and motel rooms.  Certain exceptions allow for warrantless searches and seizures, including consent.  In broad terms, the consent exception means that a party’s agreement, actual or implied to a search and/or seizure renders a warrant unnecessary.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1pompRR
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Filed under Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Privacy, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Technology Update: “Starwood’s Digital Initiatives Connect with Guests”
“Mobile increasingly will be at the heart of consumer-branded interaction and offers a plethora of opportunities for customization, communication, promotion, and loyalty. 
The new reality is that tablets, iPads, smartphones, and wearable tech empower guests to travel and do business the way they want to do business. And if hotels aren’t on these devices, there’s a good chance guests won’t be doing business with them.
If you’re looking to get your guests’ attention, smartphones can be a good place to start. More than ever, guests are turning to mobile devices like these to research travel, book rooms, and interact with brands. From receiving instant directions to the hotel when the plane lands to requesting a bike to tool around town, tech-savvy guests can now cover their needs and desires with a finger tap or even a voice command. To catch the attention of the modern guests, however, hotels need to develop the right backlit content to run on these mobile devices.
No hotel company understands better than Starwood Hotels and Resorts. “People check their mobile devices every six minutes,†says Starwood President and CEO Frits van Paasschen. “We can say ‘welcome’ when a guest gets off the plane in New York, Dubai, or Shanghai. ‘It will take you 45 minutes to get to the hotel. Can we have your favorite drink ready?’ That ongoing dialogue didn’t exist before mobile technology. Ultimately, being able to have direct conversations with their favorite brands is what people are expecting.â€
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1rlLgKw
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Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Technology
Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Legionnaires’ Disease: Awareness and Prevention” (Video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/105983681Â w=500&h=281]
Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Manager, Marco Johnson, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Legionnaires’ Disease: Awareness and Prevention’.Â
P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.
For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.
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Filed under Claims, Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Pool And Spa, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Maintenance Update: “Focusing on Acoustics Can Improve Guests’ Comfort”
Even with thicker walls, pathways through which sound escapes can defeat construction. Unsealed recessed electrical outlets are a common example.
“I know a hotel with walls constructed to STC-60, but they performed at only STC-42 because the outlets weren’t sealed,†Battaglia says. “Yet, the ‘fix’ was simple. Preformed acoustic seals were installed by the maintenance crew between guests. The results were nothing short of remarkable.â€
Your guests’ ears never rest, not even when they’re sleeping. Throughout the night, guests are likely to hear off-and-on HVAC systems, TVs in adjacent rooms, and luggage carts in hallways.
“When humans were still sleeping in caves, we needed to hear twigs snap when predators approached,†explains Jeff Loether, founder of Electro-Media Design, which provides acoustical and audio visual guidance for various hotel flags in the United States and overseas. “When man moved from caves to hotel rooms, he brought his hearing acuity with him.†And while hungry predators are no longer a problem, sounds that go bump in the night are.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/ZpV7UT
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Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Maintenance, Management And Ownership
Hospitality Industry Risk Update: “Liberty Mutual: Retail and Hospitality Institute II”
“Best practices for mitigating risk and reducing losses for guest and employee injuries and incidents in the retail, hospitality, restaurant, gaming and entertainment industries.”
At the conclusion of this institute, you will be able to:
• Explain what drives best-in-class performance in safety and risk
management
• Implement best practices for achieving safety and
operational excellence
• Apply resources and take advantage of networking opportunities that
can lead to stronger risk mitigation practices and related expense control
For more information contact Liberty Mutual at LPED@libertymutual.com with questions.
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Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Risk Management, Training
Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Legionnaires’ Disease: Awareness and Prevention” (Video)
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/105983681Â w=500&h=281]
Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Manager, Marco Johnson, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Legionnaires’ Disease: Awareness and Prevention’.Â
P3 (Petra Plus Process) is the Risk Management Division of Petra Risk Solutions – America ’s largest independent insurance brokerage devoted exclusively to the hospitality marketplace.
For more information on Petra and P3 visit petrarisksolutions.com or call 800.466.8951.
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Filed under Claims, Guest Issues, Health, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Pool And Spa, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Legal Update: “Arizona Lawmakers Want Background Checks for Hotel Workers”
“…The attorneys say less than nine months later, in June 2012, the same night clerk raped another woman who was a guest at the hotel, again using the master key to gain access.
They say there is an additional police report from Illinois that claims the man, again working as a night clerk, used the master key to enter her room and attempt to sexually assault her. Neither attorney knew of the man’s current location…”
Hobbs said the existing sex-offender laws — those that dictate where an offender can live and work — are in place to keep the public safe and aware.
“It is unthinkable that this registered offender has exploited loopholes in the law to gain access to sleeping hotel guests and to reoffend,” she said.
Friday’s press conference was the first time the prospect of legislative efforts on the issue had been brought to the attention of the Arizona Lodging & Tourism Association, and officials were unaware of what a proposal would entail, said Kristen Jarnagin, senior vice president of the trade group.
For more: http://bit.ly/1nLAvMG
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Filed under Crime, Employee Practices, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Hospitality Industry Management Update: “Hotel Loyalty Programs: No Longer Just About Building up Points, Status”
“Turning casual visitors into active loyalists may be easier said than done, as travelers expect services traditionally considered perks to now be a standard part of the hotel experience.
For example, the study revealed that for frequent traveling millennials, free WiFi ranked with cleanliness and comfort as a top three hotel attribute—not a perk, but as an expected basic.”
Two-thirds (66 percent) of millennial high-frequency travelers rate “unique rewards†as an important factor when choosing a hotel loyalty program, compared with just 43 percent of their older counterparts, according to a new Deloitte study, Winning the Race for Guest Loyalty.
“Our study indicates that customers will wait and see which program will provide them with the greatest rewards before they start to behave loyally, but they will not wait for too long,†said Guy Langford, vice chairman, Deloitte LLP and U.S. Travel, Hospitality and Leisure practice leader. “The race is on for brands to provide swift gratification, particularly for the savvy millennial travelers, who are quick to share their positive experiences or broadcast their discontent over their social networks, and who are acutely aware of the rewards that come to loyal customers. As such, the brand that locks in the customer’s loyalty first and wins that race is the brand that wins that customer, and potentially their loyalty, for life.â€
For more: http://bit.ly/1qwWBY5
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Filed under Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Social Media, Technology
