Often we think of vacations as a time to experience freedom, having all the possibilities unrestricted and easily accessed. We want to feel relaxed, see beautiful things, and people smiling all around. We feel almost invincible. Yet, when you reach the hotel doors you bump into a huge, big, and scary-looking security guard who uncomfortably stares at you with suspicion in his eyes; in his right hand a pistol and his left ear an earpiece. Suddenly, you feel insecure, restricted, and definitely not in your free and happy place you thought you would be.
Duvdevani, the security director manager of the Israeli Ministry of Tourism, argues the opposite. Living in Israel, one of the most security sensitive areas in the world, Duvdevani believes that in our millennium of terrorism threats where almost every country in the world has experienced terrorism first-hand, many people would appreciate the guard with a pistol that is sitting at the entrance door to the hotel. As Duvdevani remarked, “today it is understood, that the show of the guard is an important factor not only for security but also for marketing”.
There are two major factors to consider when dealing with hotel security: the first is criminal, the second terrorism.
Criminality is not necessarily the hardest aspect yet it is the one that occupies hotels the most. In hotel security criminality is divided to external actors such as hotel guests and hotel supplier companies, and internal actors such as hotel employees. Surprisingly enough, hotel employees, the internal actors are the worst problem of all and the one that needs to care for the most. Up to 67% of workers commit hotel criminal activity, therefore continuous security checks on hotel employees is very important.
In terrorism the most difficult problem is that often terrorist simply choose places that do not have a strong security, and therefore preventative measures to pre-empt the attack are very low. Even more controversial is the practice of suicide terrorism, because the second this walking bomb enters the hotel, security personnel are too late to act. Unlike someone who enters the hotel with a gun and begins shooting, this ticking bomb can ignite immediately; there is almost no way of stopping the attack once a suicide bomber entered the premises. That is why, company’s such as PSOS, can help pre-empt a terrorist attack by providing early profiles, teachings the hotel staff about body language, and training every hotel employee about security so they are able to join and contribute to security efforts; 10 eyes are better than 2 as they say. The most horrifying nightmare for a hotel is the simplest attack- a chef that was hired by a terrorist group to pour a deadly chemical into the soup that was served to over 800 hotel guests; imagine not only the physical damage of human casualties and injuries, but also the financial and psychological damage it can cause.
In a research conducted in Israel, we tried to figure out the influence of psychological damage that a terrorist attack can incur. In a suicide attack in a hotel in Natanya on Passover eve, a holy day for the Jews when most people sit at home, much like Christmas, terrorists who by chance passed the hotel in Natanya and happened to notice the grand hotel dinner with no security personnel at the door, because at that exact moment the security guard went to the bathroom, easily entered the hotel and blew themselves up. This attack was considered one of the most significant attacks ever conducted in Israel, not only because of the number of casualties but also because of the symbolism that it carried on Passover. In Natanya the life in the hotel did not return for another two years. The same year of the attack, there was also a large decrease in tourism in the country. You think this is a fluke? Well, in India last year after the attack on the 26th of November, there was a 38% decrease in tourism in the country.
Another hotel in Israel, Hotel Moria, which was burnt twice in the past 20 years although much destroyed like the hotel in Natanya, after it was repaired, life in the hotel returned to normal almost immediately.
Duvedevani remarked that these examples demonstrate that even if the physical damage caused by an act of terror is small, its influence is very large. Yet, with security measures, the damage can be large, but the influence would be much smaller.
Today in Israel, since 2005, a law known as the law for civil security controls and standardizes a certain level of security professionalism in each and every hotel. It is part of the prerequisite for any hotel before it is given a license to operate. For instance, part of the law forces each official officer in a security hotel to have a pager on him at all times, because that pager is connected to the police department which sends him immediate updates on suspicious developments.
Evidently, the key to effective security is in large part essential to the effectiveness of human factor; employees that are well trained and better aware of their surroundings can help in the fight against internal or external hotel security threats.
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