[vimeo https://vimeo.com/96622404 w=500&h=281]
Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Manager, Marco Johnson, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Front Desk Best Practices’.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 Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training
“Already, companies are having trouble getting terrorism insurance, and many companies that had terrorism insurance have now lost it because there
were clauses written into their policies that said if TRIA is not there, they do not have the insurance coverage,” said Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.).
The House voted to reauthorize the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) on Wednesday, sending the legislation to the Senate.
The measure passed overwhelmingly by a vote of 416-5, with one lawmaker voting present.
Lawmakers failed to reauthorize the program during the last Congress, and it expired on Dec. 31, leading to uncertainty in the business community.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/142RaaB
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Ed Higgins, vice president of Thousand Islands Insurance Agency in Clayton, N.Y., and vice chair at the Applied Client Network, says he believes that independent agents are missing out on the opportunity that mobile apps provide…
Thousand Islands Agency was an early adopter of the MobileProducer, the mobile-app version of Applied System’s agency management platform. For Higgins, the key benefit of the app is the ability to deliver what he calls the “Starbucks experience†for customers.
Four years ago, Apple trademarked the phrase, “There’s an app for that.†With more than 1.2 million offerings in the iTunes App Store—and about 1.4 million in Google Play—it would seem that the phrase is more true than not. However, only a few general-market agent productivity apps exist, and none have more than a few reviews from users.
“It’s a relatively small number of agents who are using insurance-specific apps today,†says Chad Hersh, senior vice president at The Nolan Co., an insurance management consulting firm. “Granted, a lot of agents use general apps on their mobile devices to the extent that many people do in their daily lives and jobs, but the penetration just isn’t there for insurance apps for agents.â€
For more:Â http://bit.ly/14oxiiB
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Filed under Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology
While emergencies may force some on-the-fly thinking, citywide festivals, high-profile conventions, and major sporting events offer the luxury of time to fully prepare. Hotels make good use of those months—years, in some cases—addressing the situation from multiple angles,
says Javier Rosenberg, COO, Americas, Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group. If the event involves public figures, security is enhanced to keep celebrities separate from fans. If traffic will be heavy, alternate travel routes are identified and schedules adapted to reach destinations on time.
Talk to anyone who has worked in the hotel industry for any length of time, and chances are you can uncover a story or two involving a surprise guest surge. For Robert Holmes, one of his most poignant experiences occurred less than two hours into his first morning manning the front desk at the Park Hyatt Washington D.C. in Georgetown on Sept. 11, 2001.
“I was standing at my desk, and I saw all of these people coming in,†Holmes remembers. “I turned to my staff and said, ‘We’re going to get through this.’†Prompted by a bomb threat, the hotel across the street evacuated its guests to the lobby of the Park Hyatt. With flights suspended and the local community on high alert because of the attack on the Pentagon two miles away, visitors were seeking both rooms and solace. Guests who had anticipated checking out suddenly had nowhere to go, while newcomers needed a place to stay.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1xBjigV
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Filed under Conferences, Guest Issues, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
Most obviously, hotels would have a monopoly over Internet access and could charge guests with exorbitant Wi-Fi fees; much like Marriott did with its $1,000 access rates at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel
…Worse yet, hotels and other enterprises could also easily censor access to content deemed undesirable to the business via the Wi-Fi access contract terms. For example, Hilton could block all access to travel booking websites that list hotels with lower rates.
As the battle for Net Neutrality rages on, Federal regulators may soon be ruling in another dispute between consumer access and business control of the Internet.
In a petition to the U.S. Federal Communications Commission made public last week, the American Hospitality & Lodging Association and Marriott International asked the FCC to declare that a hotel operate can deploy equipment that “may result in ‘interference with or cause interference’ to a Part 15 [Wi-Fi] device being used by a guest on the operator’s property.â€
“Wi-Fi network operators should be able to manage their networks in order to provide a secure and reliable Wi-Fi service to guests on their premises,†Marriott argued.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1vEjyXZ
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By now you should understand how critical it is to have policies and procedures in place. Remember that it’s not enough to just have the SOPs and SSOPs documented in writing. It is imperative that you monitor compliance on a routine basis.
It also requires timely updates; yearly should be sufficient. Once your policies and procedures have been established, it is important to keep your staff informed of any changes or updates as they occur
In order for a restaurant to run smoothly and deliver excellence on a consistent basis, Standard Operating Procedures (“SOPsâ€) and Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures (“SSOPsâ€) are an integral part of the business. No matter whether you’re a corporate chain or an independent owner/operator, it behooves you to take a moment to think about your SOPs and SSOPs. You have them, of course, don’t you? Or are they only in your head and it takes a visit to Total Recall in order to pluck them from your brain? Are they written policies or are they handed down verbally from person to person? Or will it take a lawsuit in order for you to address your policies and procedures?
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1vk9WRZ
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Filed under Employee Practices, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Maintenance, Management And Ownership, Training
[vimeo https://vimeo.com/113722566 w=500&h=281]
Petra Risk Solutions’ Loss Control Manager, Matt Karp, offers a P3 Hospitality Risk Report – ‘Preventing Credit Card Fraud at Hotels’.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.
Many hotels fail to perform adequate background checks on job applicants before hiring them. In September 2011, a woman staying at a Best Western hotel in Arizona woke up in the middle of the night
to find a man standing over her bed. She says the man raped her. He was a registered level-3 sex offender, according to news reports, but Best Western had hired him as a night clerk and given him a master key to guest rooms, allowing him unfettered access to turn any of its female guests into his next victims
The difference between a hotel room at $75 a night and $750 a night is the view, the extra shampoo, the cost of the pillows, the fluff of the towels. Price is a measure of comfort and service. What must always be the same — at every price — is your security, your safety and cleanliness. Unfortunately, it’s not. Across the country, hotels are skimping on key safety and security measures, and the consequences range from stolen laptops and Peeping Toms to sexual assaults and robbery at gunpoint. More than 125 property crimes are committed in hotels and motels every day, in addition to more than 21 violent crimes (excluding murders).
For more:Â http://wapo.st/1vnfYFb
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Filed under Crime, Guest Issues, Hotel Employees, Hotel Industry, Management And Ownership, Risk Management
“The hospitality industry plays a critical role in the fight against modern slavery, since many traffickers exploit their victims in hotels and motels,†said Bradley Myles, chief executive officer of Polaris.  
“If we are to truly eradicate human trafficking, it’s absolutely essential that companies like Wyndham take proactive steps to combat this crime at the root while also helping victims rebuild their lives. Polaris applauds Wyndham Hotel Group for integrating a responsible business culture company-wide and for actively taking such a strong stance against human trafficking.â€
Wyndham Hotel Group, the world’s largest hotel company with approximately 7,590 hotels and part of Wyndham Worldwide Corporation (NYSE: WYN), today announced its continued commitment to preventing human trafficking by partnering with Polaris, a leader in the global fight to eradicate modern slavery and restore freedom to survivors.
As part of the joint effort, Wyndham Hotel Group and Polaris are developing comprehensive training and educational tools for hotel owners and franchisees, property-level staff and employees at its corporate offices and call centers to educate them about all aspects of human trafficking.
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1r2xZbX
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Hoteliers need to know how the bandwidth is currently being used so they can prioritize different types of usage. Packet inspection equipment can help you figure out if guests are using the Internet
to download movie torrents or to make voice over IP calls, and then you can prioritize and make more bandwidth available for one activity over the other. “You don’t want to overpay for excess bandwidth when it isn’t necessary,â€
Two years ago, BioMarin, a pharmaceutical firm based in San Rafael, Calif., called Inn Marin to book an offsite training session. This wasn’t unusual since the 69-room independent hotel is located eight miles up the road from the company’s headquarters. And with only 35 people attending, the meeting requirements were far from onerous. But there was one last-minute request that nearly caused Inn Marin to lose this booking. BioMarin needed an Internet connection that was six megabits per second (Mbps) or faster to allow 20 desktop computers to log into the corporate server in San Rafael. And the DSL line coming into the hotel was only capable of 1 Mbps down and 1/2 Mbps up. “I just about had a heart attack,†says Inn Marin General Manager Robert Marshall. “That’s when I realized that we couldn’t keep doing business like this.â€
For more:Â http://bit.ly/1p3ciar
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