Tag Archive for: Hotel Duress

Happy Anniversary to the Hotel Industry’s 5-Star Promise

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Happy Anniversary to the 5-Star Promise from RCare

One year ago, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) made a groundbreaking pledge to improve the safety and security of hotel workers in the United States. Member hotels were invited to commit to the 5-Star Promise, a voluntary pledge to improve the safety of their workers by improving their sexual harassment policies, training and resources. The most significant point of the 5-Star Promise was the promise to provide electronic safety devices (ESDs) to their staff, to keep them safe on the job.

When the 5-Star Promise began, there were 17 participating hotels and hotel chains nationwide. Now, just one year later, participation has grown to 56, a dramatic 230% increase. This represents an estimated 20,000 hotel properties, with an estimated 1.2 million employees who will be safer on the job.

“As an industry of people taking care of people, we have always been deeply committed to safety and security for our employees and guests. We have a responsibility to ensure they feel safe and secure,” said Chip Rogers, president and CEO of AHLA. “I’m proud of the progress we have made as an industry over the past year, and we will continue our efforts to ensure America’s hotels are safe places for all those who work in and visit them.”

“Just the possibility of danger has been enough of a morale depletant over the decades to give certain organizational roles a toxic aura.” – Larry Mogelonsky, Hotel Security Consultant

Housekeepers typically work alone. When confronted with risky situations, they have little protection. Stories abound of guests exposing themselves to workers, or worse. With an electronic safety device, the endangered worker presses a button to summon assistance from hotel security. The alert is sent automatically, and includes the location of the employee, so security can respond immediately to where help is needed.

The impact of the 5-Star Promise is even greater than just the safety and security of current employees. It also changes the perception of the job and its risks, which is critical to staffing, an important challenge for the industry.

“Just the possibility of danger has been enough of a morale depletant over the decades to give certain organizational roles a toxic aura. For instance, I don’t doubt for a second that the horror stories of housekeepers past have deterred many potential hires, thereby contributing to the current staffing problems we presently face,” according to hotel security consultant Larry Mogelonsky. “Given this likelihood for not only widely augmented safety but also improved morale and employee retention, I’m all over ESD adoption at any hotel worldwide.”

Why RCare?

Choosing the right ESD system is important. In case of an emergency, you want to ensure that your system works as needed in your facility. RCare’s wireless ALP Hospitality Suite can help. RCare has been an innovator and leader in the crisis alert and nurse call industry for over a decade. RCare’s systems have a proven track record for reliability and accuracy, even in the toughest conditions. RCare’s hotel crisis system uses military-grade RF, a signal protocol proven to be far more reliable than WiFi or Bluetooth, to ensure every alert is received. It has a wide listening range, even in the oldest buildings with challenging infrastructure. It uses Advanced Locating Protocol (ALP) to send location information with every call, so valuable time isn’t wasted determining where help is needed. Regardless of your hotel’s size or budget, RCare can help.

Want to know more about hotel duress systems? Contact RCare to find out how they can enhance safety and security for your hospitality staff.

Hotel Safety Devices: To Beep or Not to Beep

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hotel safety devices

The hotel industry is making great strides in protecting the safety of its workers. Cities and states have begun requiring hotels to provide their staff, especially those who work alone, such as housekeepers, with Employee Safety Devices (ESDs) for summoning help. 

Many more employees will be protected thanks to the hotel groups that have committed to the “5-Star Promise,” new safety standards for staff that includes a stipulation to “provide hotel employees with employee safety devices to help them feel safe on the job.”

The results are promising, according to Security Magazine. In just one year, the number of hotel brands that have agreed to participate in the 5-Star Promise has increased from 17 to 56. That encompasses approximately 20,000 hotels employing over a million staff who will be protected.

Given the large percentage of hotel workers who have been threatened or harassed on the job (more than half, according to a survey of hotel workers in Chicago), this is a welcome development. 

So, what’s the problem? Hotels need to choose a safety system that will actually work to keep employees safe.

The city of Miami Beach is a case in point. Last year it passed an ordinance requiring safety devices for hotel employees. But, according to the Miami Herald, some hotels in the city have  simply provided workers with hand-held noisemakers, hoping to satisfy the law, which states that safety devices must “effectively summon prompt assistance to the employee’s location by a hotel or hostel security officer.”

Why Noisemakers Don’t Make the Safety Cut:

Will a simple noisemaker actually protect a housekeeper working alone on a floor? Probably  not. Even if other staff are working in the vicinity, the sound-deadening in the walls between rooms will likely prevent them from hearing the alarm. If security personnel don’t happen to be within hearing range, they are unlikely to know that help is needed. What’s more, the devices are easy to muffle or disarm, and even if heard, they may not be recognized as a call for help. Worse yet, a noisy alarm could “result in more physical harm to the employee” when the perpetrator tries to silence it or take it from the housekeeper, according to hospitality industry consultant Larry Mogelonsky.

What’s more, with noisemakers, it would be nearly impossible to know where to send help, who needs it, and whether it is still needed.

To truly protect hotel workers, alerts from hotel safety devices must reach hotel security, and must include location information, so that help can be sent quickly, and to the right place. The alerts must use a transmission protocol that works in buildings of any and all size and density. And they must convey location information 3-dimensionally, with both the floor of the hotel, and the location on the floor, where the help is needed. 

The city of Miami Beach followed up with a letter to the hotels within its city’s limits, clarifying the law. “Devices such as ‘noisemakers’ do not meet the requirements set forth in the ordinance, as they simply emit loud noise and do not disclose the location of the employee in need of prompt assistance,” the letter said. 

In case of an emergency, you want to ensure that everyone in your building feels protected and safe. RCare’s wireless ALP Hospitality Suite can help. This reliable and durable hotel crisis system uses military-grade RF, a signal protocol proven to be far more reliable than WiFi or Bluetooth, to ensure every alert is received. It has a wide listening range, even in the oldest buildings with challenging infrastructure. It uses Advanced Locating Protocol (ALP) to send location information with every call, so valuable time isn’t wasted determining where help is needed.

Want to know more about hotel duress systems? Contact RCare to find out how they can enhance safety and security for your hospitality staff.

Don’t Panic Hotel Worker Safety

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RCare's Hotel Duress System for hotel worker safety

New Jersey has become the very first state to require panic buttons for hotel worker safety, a major win for the state’s hospitality industry.

For many hotel employees, the threat of violence or harassment is a serious risk, especially when working alone. “Sometimes it’s a long floor of rooms, and you may be the only one working there,” according to a Tropicana housekeeper.

Support for the law soared after a 2018 sexual assault of a staff housekeeper by a Bally’s Casino guest, according to NBC News. The guest, a 51-year-old male, pushed the female employee into a room and assaulted her.

Hotel employees have reported numerous instances of assault, attempted assault, and harassment. The threat is not always from guests. A housekeeper at Caesars reported that she once attempted to service a guest room, only to open the door to two charging dogs.

Governor Phil Murphy explained in a statement reported in USA Today, “We must protect the safety of workers in the hospitality industry. This new law will ensure that hotel employees performing their duties will have the means to summon immediate assistance if they are in danger.”

The new law requires that any employee who works alone in a hotel with more than 25 guest rooms must be provided with a panic button to carry or wear at work.

How do hotel duress systems work?

Employees are provided with a push button pendant to wear on their wrist or a lanyard, or carry in a pocket. When the button is pressed, it transmits the signal wirelessly to a central station, typically in the hotel’s security headquarters. The most effective systems include the location of the call, and information about who requested help.

RCare, Inc. is the maker of the wireless Hospitality Suite. This reliable and durable hotel crisis system uses military-grade RF, a signal protocol proven to be far more reliable than WiFi or Bluetooth, to ensure every alert is received. It has a wide listening range, even in the oldest buildings with challenging infrastructure. It uses Advanced Locating Protocol (ALP) to send location information with every call, so valuable time isn’t wasted determining where help is needed.

While New Jersey is the first state to mandate hotel duress systems, several cities, including Sacramento, Long Beach, and Chicago, have passed similar laws, and a few major hotel firms have taken the lead in proactively providing these devices for their employees’ safety.

In case of an emergency, you want to ensure that everyone in your building feels protected and safe. RCare’s wireless ALP Hospitality Suite can help. Want to know more about hotel duress systems? Contact RCare to find out how they can enhance the safety and security for your hospitality staff.

Keep Hotel Employees Safe in the Workplace

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RCare's Hospitality Suite hotel duress system helps keep hotel employees safe

This summer, the city of Sacramento passed legislation requiring hotels to provide panic buttons to help keep hotel employees safe. The city follows on the heels of the surrounding county, which earlier passed such legislation for hotels in the unincorporated areas of the county.

Numerous housekeepers from Sacramento hotels appeared before the legislature to tell their stories. In one case, a man had started stalking a housekeeper as she cleaned. Each time she would leave a room, he was there, waiting for her. To escape him, she locked herself into a guest room and called security, before she could carry on working. In another story, a male guest requested that a housekeeper bring him a bottle of mouthwash. When she arrived at the room, he didn’t answer her knock, although she knocked three times, as required by hotel policy. When she entered the room, she found him waiting to expose himself to her. She dropped the bottle of mouthwash and fled, according to an account in The Sacramento Bee.

How common is the problem? A survey of nearly 500 women working at hotels and casinos in the Chicago area found that 58% of hotel workers had experienced some type of sexual harassment by guests, sometimes multiple times, according to a report in the Chicago Tribune.

Sacramento joins a growing list of cities, states, and unions that are requiring these safety devices for vulnerable hotel employees. And, California is currently considering legislation to expand protection to workers in hotels throughout the state.

“No one should ever be fearful doing their job, least of all associates on-property who are so vital to the success of our company and our industry,” said Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International.

When confronted with a threatening situation, panic buttons allow the worker to simply press a button. The button sends an alert to on-site security, who can intervene.

In order for the panic buttons to be effective, they need to provide help quickly. The alerts need to be sent immediately, and the response to the alert must be quick. Knowing the location of the employee who made the call, so that assistance can be sent to the right place, is critical to rapid response, according to hotel security expert Einar Rosenberg. It is also a difficult feature to find in hotel duress systems.

One system that has locating capability, along with proven reliability, is the Hospitality Suite by RCare, Inc. In addition to its alerting features, the system also provides response time data, to help hotels monitor and improve response times to employee emergencies.

RCare ensures reliability for sent and received alerts with their military-grade RF, a signal protocol proven to be far more reliable than WiFi or Bluetooth. And it has a wide listening range, even in the oldest buildings with challenging infrastructure.

“This is about expressing how we at the local level value the protection of women in the workplace,” said Sacramento county supervisor Phil Serna

When it comes to keeping hotel employees safe in the workplace, you can count on RCare’s wireless ALP Hospitality Suite.

Contact RCare to find out how they can enhance the safety and security for your hospitality staff.

Keep Hotel Housekeepers Safe Without Breaking the Bank

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Keep hotel workers safe with RCare's hotel duress system

Housekeepers provide a critical and demanding service for hotels. Their tasks are varied and can be physically challenging. They typically work alone, cleaning vacant rooms, bringing fresh towels, or making up the beds while guests are away. Hotel housekeepers put in a hard day’s work, every day. If you ask them about the biggest job negatives, though, they’ll tell you it’s not the cleaning. It’s being harassed or even assaulted by a guest.

“No one should ever be fearful doing their job, least of all associates on-property who are so vital to the success of our company and our industry,” said Arne Sorenson, CEO of Marriott International.  

Yet, according to the Chicago Tribune, a survey of nearly 500 women working at hotels and casinos in the Chicago area found that 58% of hotel workers had experienced some type of sexual harassment by guests.

The good news is that the situation is changing for the better. Cities like Seattle and Chicago have passed staff safety laws requiring hotels to supply panic and duress buttons for their employees. Other cities and even states aren’t far behind. New Jersey was the first state to pass a state-wide law. The heads of the major hotel chains Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, IHG and Wyndham announced plans to give alert devices to any employees who work alone or in isolated situations throughout their hotels.

How do you create a good hotel duress system? You ask an expert. For 15 years, RCare has been creating the most advanced nurse call and emergency alert systems in the industry. They combined their reliable and tested technology with their advances in improved response times to create the RCare Hospitality Alert Suite.

Simply put, hotel employees need to be able to summon help immediately and easily, no matter where they are. With RCare, they can wear a crisis button on their wrist or on a lanyard and know that when pressed, help will be on the way. Of course in an emergency time is of the essence.

How do you know where exactly to send the help? RCare’s pendants can tell you exactly where the person is located with the Advanced Locating Protocol (ALP). Each alert sends information identifying who pressed the button, and exactly where the call came from (floor and location).

RCare ensures reliability for sent and received alerts with their military-grade RF, a signal protocol proven to be far more reliable than WiFi or Bluetooth. And it has a wide listening range, even in the oldest buildings with challenging infrastructure.

Although these devices are intended for personal protection, they can come in handy in other crises as well. In Seattle, a group of employees used a button to get help when they were trapped in an elevator. They’ve also been used to call for help quickly when a staff member had an injury.

In case of an emergency, you want to ensure that everyone in your building feels protected and safe. RCare’s wireless ALP Hospitality Suite can help.

Want to know more? Contact RCare today.