[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZtO2Zq-I5Q]
This live panel discussion from the Bed Bug Business Plan event identifies the most critical bed bug issues in the hospitality, commercial real estate and multifamily property management industries.
Expert representatives include Kevin Maher of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), Patricia M. Areno of Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA), and Scot Haislip of the National Apartment Association (NAA).
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Filed under Conferences, Guest Issues, Health, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
 “…the fire started in the attic and that it was electrical, possibly caused by a welding equipment shortage…”
“…The quick work of firefighters and hotel staff made sure all were evacuated without a single injury…”
People on the street in Fort Stockton told NewsWest 9 the Best Western Hotel fire forced them to evacuate just after 4:00 p.m. Tuesday afternoon, but when we arrived after 6 p.m. Tuesday night, orange and blue flames were still engulfing parts of the hotel and those parts were crumbling.
“I’m just saddened by all of it, for the guests, for myself, for the employees, because that’s their livelihood, that’s our life that’s gone,” Best Western General Manager, Patricia Fitzpatrick, said. These fiery, crumbling Best Western walls are a devastating sight for Fitzpatrick.
Her possessions and her work were going up in flames. “Our main concern was: ‘Yes, it’s fire. Call the fire department,'” she said. “But to get our guests out and make sure that they’re safe.”
Then, chaos ensued. She and her employees, including worker Curtis Hoard, sprang into action. “Then we ran around and just started pounding windows and doors, yelling and screaming as loud as we can to get people out of there,” Hoard said. “Before we knew it, it was smoked and that was it.”
Hoard had been helping renovate the hotel for the last three months.
For more:Â http://www.newswest9.com/story/16050676/flames-engulf-fort-stockton-hotel
Filed under Fire, Guest Issues, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
After the string of burglaries, the Palms Springs Police Department started conducting surveillances outside 
the hotel, and it was during one of those surveillances that they found the suspect.
The general manager of the Desert Riviera says to look for a hotel where staff seems involved and aware.
Police saw Christopher Thompson climbing into the outside patio area of a hotel room. He got into the room through a sliding glass door. Tourists we talked with were surprised to hear about the crime, but always take steps to keep their belongings safe when they travel.
Block says there are also some simple steps you can take to make sure you don’t become a victim of a crime when you travel.
For more:Â http://www.kesq.com/news/29769831/detail.html
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Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Privacy, Risk Management, Theft, Training
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhfMEdzXgTo]
A fire at the historic Mayfair Hotel in downtown Los Angeles causes severe damage to several floors. Unique Restoration helped the hotel recover from the disaster with emergency water and fire restoration services.
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Filed under Fire, Guest Issues, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
 “…A truck driver who slipped and fell on ice and grease while making a delivery to a Wal-Mart store in northern Colorado can collect a nearly $10 million award after the state Supreme Court upheld a jury verdict in the case on 
Monday…”
The driver, 41-year-old Holly Averyt of Cheyenne, Wyo., had to undergo three spine surgeries, was unable to return to work and lost her truck. Her lawyers presented city documents during the original trial that showed some grease from the store’s deli didn’t get trapped in a device designed to keep it from getting into the sewer.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., told jurors there had been no grease spill at the store in Greeley.
A jury awarded $15 million to Averyt in November 2010. Wal-Mart appealed and a lower court granted the company a new trial, saying the award was “excessive, not supported by the evidence and could only be the result of prejudice and bias and the jury’s desire to punish Wal-Mart.”
For more:Â http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57320005/wal-mart-to-pay-trucker-$10m-for-greasy-ice-fall/
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Filed under Guest Issues, Injuries, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
 “There was an elevator malfunction… Our security team responded to the incident immediately… All guests were safely evacuated… We are ensuring the elevator car in question undergoes a thorough inspection…”
 They got into an elevator and headed down from the rooftop terrace, but when another couple got in on the 16th floor, the compartment dropped and plummeted eight floors before stopping.
The group, which also included British actor Guy Burnet, actress Rosie Fellner and comedian Seth Herzog, was leaving the afterparty for new movie Janie Jones at the Gramercy Park Hotel in Manhattan on Thursday night (27Oct11).
Janie Jones director Rosenthal tells Nymag.com, “We’ve all had a couple of drinks… and we’re just piling into the elevator… Everyone is yelling and hooting… (The couple) decide to jump in, and as soon as they jump in, the thing starts plummeting down. His girlfriend is lucky she didn’t get killed because her foot was barely inside the door when the elevator dropped. I think we fell eight stories before the emergency brake went off. We initially thought we’d gone all the way to the basement and bounced on the springs.”
Emergency services were called to the scene, but the frustrated group decided not to wait, and took action themselves, climbing out of a gap in the doors onto a floor.
For more:Â http://www.hollywood.com/news/Actors_trapped_in_elevator_fall/8028652
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Filed under Guest Issues, Injuries, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology
“…Some hotel Internet service providers are proposing a solution that offers tiered Wi-Fi service. The lowest level, suitable for basic Internet requirements like checking e-mail, would be free, but other levels would be priced depending on bandwidth requirements…”
 “… iPads consume four times more Wi-Fi data per month than the average smartphone…”
Largely because of the broad use of iPads and other mobile tablets, which are heavy users of video streaming, the guest room Wi-Fi networks that most hotels thought they had brought up to standard just a few years ago are now often groaning under user demands.
“The iPad is the fastest-selling device in consumer electronics history, and because of it the demand placed on any public place Wi-Fi system has gone up exponentially in the last year and a half,†said David W. Garrison, the chief executive of iBAHN, a provider of systems for the hotel and meetings industries.
This means more hotel customers are unhappy with their Internet connections. Hotel owners, meanwhile, who are digging out from a two-year slump caused by the recession, will probably have to invest more money to provide more bandwidth.
For travelers, it may mean still another fee, since hotels will be paying their own Internet bills.
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Filed under Guest Issues, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Technology
OSHA recently renewed a Local Emphasis Enforcement Program (“LEPâ€) that targets hotel operators in OSHA’s Region 2, which includes New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The directive outlining OSHA’s Hotel LEP is available on OSHA’s website.Â
The Hotel LEP was launched in October 2010, and during the first year of the initiative, OSHA limited enforcement inspections to hotels in the Virgin Islands. According to an OSHA Region 2 official, the agency started in the Virgin Islands because of a high number of reports of workplace injuries at hotels in that area. Since the start of the LEP, OSHA has essentially inspected a different hotel property each month to month and a half. The hotel properties subject to LEP inspections have ranged from locally-owned motels to multinational hotel chains.
Most Frequently Cited Standards in the Hotel Industry in 2010
Â
|
CITED STANDARDS |
# OF CITATIONS |
|
Electrical Safety |
67 |
|
Hazard Communication |
37 |
|
Personal Protective Equipment |
30 |
|
Bloodborne Pathogens |
25 |
|
Respiratory Protection |
21 |
|
Asbestos |
18 |
|
Lockout/Tagout |
14 |
|
Recordkeeping – Annual Summary |
13 |
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Filed under Injuries, Insurance, Labor Issues, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
“…The amount of water that comes out of a fire sprinkler head can fill a bathtub in 2 minutes. Sometimes guests panic and don’t report the problem immediately which results in serious water damage. Or worse, the sprinkler water shut off system is in a room with a locked door…”
Shutgun is a one-handed tool that shuts off fire sprinkler heads fast and it fits comfortably in his pocket.
More than once a wedding gown has been ruined just prior to the wedding by an unsuspecting bride-to-be hanging her dress from the sprinkler head. It is not hard to imagine. Wedding dresses with their long trains often don’t fit properly in closets. The sprinkler head looks high enough that once hung there the dress will not wrinkle. Unfortunately, when a sprinkler head is activated the dress is ruined beyond repair.
Other common activations can be caused by something as simple as a maid flicking a bed sheet that gets caught in the sprinkler head or a painter getting a dab of paint on the sprinkler head then trying to rub it off or kids having a pillow fight.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/10/21/prweb8894292.DTL#ixzz1bQLJSpp7
Filed under Guest Issues, Insurance, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology, Training
“…when a master key is lost or stolen, each and every lock must be manually re-programmed to ensure that anyone finding the master key cannot open every door in the hotel…”
 
Hotel managers have long experienced the logistical and costly hurdles of having to manage the loss of staff master key cards. With the uptake of Mobile Key by OpenWays – the industry’s first and only ubiquitous mobile phone guest front desk bypass method allowing the unlocking of guestroom doors – hoteliers have been quick to realize the additional opportunity to help mobilize their workforce. As a result, OpenWays announces the launch of Mobile Master Key.
Appropriate administration of master keys is critically important for the safe and secure management of any hotel.
With OpenWays Mobile Master Key, neutralizing a lost or stolen master key happens simply with the push of a button. There are no locks to walk to and reprogram. It’s a highly secure and easy process. Since reporting the loss now has limited consequences, staff members are more inclined to immediately report a loss vs. trying to find their plastic card for hours before eventually reporting the loss to hotel security.”
For more: http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/154000320/4053444.html
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Filed under Guest Issues, Labor Issues, Liability, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Privacy, Risk Management, Technology
