If you travel often for work or pleasure, you may feel comfortable in a hotel environment. In fact, you may have favorite hotels that you visit frequently because of the staff, the amenities or the overall atmosphere. However, your comfort level in a hotel may be just the thing a predator is looking for to take advantage of you.
One thing you may rely on for your safety and security is the training and awareness of the hotel staff. You may even take for granted that policies are in place for dealing with unwelcome strangers, securing doors after dark, and protecting you in the hotel’s parking lots or elevators. While such policies may be in place, procedures for your safety are not always enforced. In some cases, the hotel staff may not even know the policies.
Basic safety precautions
Advisors to the hospitality industry understand how important it is to keep you safe and secure while you stay in a hotel. Without that level of trust, the industry would suffer. Therefore, you should be able to expect certain minimum standards in the training of the staff responsible for your comfortable stay at a hotel. Among the many elements necessary when training hotel staff, advisors recommend that new hires receive instruction on the following:
- Using and maintaining complex locking systems
- Restricting access to the building after dark
- Checking entrances and responding quickly when doors are open for too long
- Protecting your identity and personal information, including your room number
- Knowing the best practices and procedures for dealing with emergencies such as extreme weather
While every hotel is different and may have differing policies, the basic standards of safety are the same, and your well-being may be at stake when management fails to adequately train its staff to protect you.
Of course, there are difficulties when it comes to training hotel personnel. Training is expensive and takes time. Often, a hotel must make new hires quickly to fill vacant positions, and there simply isn’t time to thoroughly train. This may be especially true during the height of vacation season or in resort areas. However, a business cannot minimize safety precautions, and if your stay in a hotel means leaving you vulnerable to assault or attack, the negligent management and poorly trained staff of that Georgia hotel may be legally accountable for your injuries.