Assistant general manager of an Atlanta hotel Elizabeth Jarrard still remembers the day a SWAT team busted in the front doors while she was on duty. One of the machine-gun-armed policemen grabbed her by the arm to quickly explain. The situation? A murderer, presumed armed and ready to retaliate, was in her hotel. The SWAT officers were about to swarm the entire facility on a manhunt.
If you’re a hotelier, hopefully your property won’t ever face this or any other emergency, but it might. Every day the challenge is to create safe, secure and comfortable guest experiences that translate into repeat stays. Traveling on business or for pleasure, your guests need to experience your property/brand in a way that makes them feel at home.
How can hospitality providers improve both risk management and the guest experience? Situational awareness technology is at the forefront of helping hotels blend the best in safety with the best of service.
We spent most of this week at the HITEC show in Minneapolis, talking about mobile duress for hotel staff and other life safety issues. CATIE also made its debut to the hospitality industry. While a lot of companies are trying to ride the wave of tablet technology, only CATIE is backed by real computer-telephony integration expertise to make in-room portals true guest experience command centers.
If you’ve got beds for heads, then you’re in the hospitality business and can benefit from portal technology for multimedia access and self-service. Not only do you make life better for occupants, you make it better for yourself with improved processes and greater profitability.
If you are a hotelier, we’d like to know what’s top of mind when it comes to safety and service.
