HOTEL SECURITY / JAKARTA ATTACKS

HOTEL SECURITY: THE COSTLY ERRORS

When do Hotel owners learn their lessons? 

The blood barely dried-up on the lobby floors in Jakarta, when already security firms and “experts” offer complete post-mortems and peddle “exclusive insight” and data based on corrupted and second-hand info and speculations. Some security consultants have already cooked-up “new programs” that supposedly incorporate lessons from the recent bombings. Now we know that terrorists can also check in as guests – duh!! Well, that should move a few more new access-control and surveillance systems, and sell a few more seminars.

I just read about a consultancy firm which is actually offering a “Security Excellence Survey” and “…extents its exclusive Best Practices Award system…by formally reckognizing…best-of-breed (sic) Security Protection”. How can a security consultancy take the life-and-death issue of their clients to the level of a beauty contest? Oscars, if you have been searched, scanned, printed, questioned and profiled from the check-in counter to the lift. Raspberries (or a mounted grenade-replica?), when you managed to reached your room without being stopped by a guy with a wire in his ear ? I am sure Al Qaeda will order a couple of those new Michelin Guides of Security.

Security solutions do not come from expensive “risk analyses” and fancy reports, prepared by retired police men or ex-militay officers who are now working out of posh offices. Those reports are mostly compiled from material easily available on the internet anyway. After hefty fees are paid, most recommendations come down to more roadside barriers, more scanning, screening , more guards and more proceedures to annoy and inconvenience legitimate guests, but do not deter determined criminals in serious ways. More visual and  “martial” security measures just reduces the appeal of your property. Bluntly, a couple of million Dollars will hardly increase your security by any perceivable degree .

Most security organizations are hopelessly “behind the curve”. By the time their measures are upgraded, they will be proven redundant by the next attacks.

Most security consultants and firms orient their standards to the recommendations and SOPs of government agencies. The problem is, that the work of the government agencies is contaminated by political correctness, ass-covering and obfuscation. Any resulting causalties will be given medals and property damage will be borne by the tax-payers. Hotel operators and corporations do not have the same luxuries. You need a better plan, more practical long-term options. Security is not a science, but it is also not a black art. It takes common sense and an analytical mind. It involves an abundance of practical personal experience as an operator as well as strategist; intimate knowledge of major historical and present-day resistance movements; their culture and language (one cannot fully understand a peoples’ gripes without communicating with them); an excellent grasp of human nature and psyche; a talent for flexible thinking and with vision; the backbone to take personal responsibility; wide subject knowledge and the authoritative competence to earn the respect of the local law-enforcement authorities and commando-units. It certainly helps to maintain special connections with the security forces and poltical officials.

Security Tips for Hotel Operators

•  Get involved. Don’t leave all matters to your security-in-charge. If security measures do not convince you or make little sense, have them revised. Security debates quickly become “face-issues” (I am an ex… this or that, or expert in this and that, or I was in Iraq, etc.). You must enforce cross pollination of ideas and give any opinion your time. Do not allow testosterone become a factor in your security planning.
• Do not be easily impressed by consultants sporting the usual law-enforcement or military background. It is one thing to investigate terrorists as a part of an FBI team (for example), or conducting an operation in Kabul and to plan complex long-term measures to deter or mitigate a suicide attack on a 5-Star property in Indonesia, Thailand, Greece, Turkey, Paris or London for example.
• Do not commission only “reports” or “analyses”. Request consultants to provide a comprehensive security budget which includes all measure to achieve your goals. The security firms need to prepare a detailed schedule including audits and strategies anyway in order to proceed. (This is not a building project where you may pay architect, surveyor and builder separately). 
• Discard the idea that you can buy security outright. Your hotel is essential a “defensive position” and comes with the disadvantages of being a defender; this can only be mitigated. In some locations or circumstances, you may need a certain degree of “fortification” (s.a. road-blocks, stand-off distance, ballistic reinforced glazing, scanners, etc. However, most of the security in a hotel will come from your staff , how you organize and train security personnel and how everyone understands his/hers responsibility and interact. Another important factor is how you control the traffic of your guests and visitors. A smart layout avoids congregation of larger crowds and affords unobstusive access control.
• Information- Task senior staff with “community service”. Obtain local information, get involved in the scene and liaise with all social levels. Why were the Marriott and Ritz-Carlton bombed and not others?? Because the security guards in the Marriott appeared a bit more sluggish, because the terrorists counted less cameras ? or because they did not scan their luggage? Hardly. The truth behind this question could solve half of your problems.

Stay safe and make wise decisions,

Col. Thomas Bovet

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