How Using Hotel Access Systems to Protect Your Building and Guests help keeping Covid Secure

Before the COVID 19 pandemic the UK Hotel industry has been one of the most important sectors of the British economy. The hotel and hospitality industry generates in the region of £100bn per year in the UK alone. During the pandemic there has been a lot of uncertainty but as Hotels have started to re-open under the guidelines there have been incredibly positive steps and some of our hospitality clients have seen weekends at 60% capacity already in August following re-opening. With this and following our conversations with our clients in hospitality there is optimism around the industry and great hope that a greater normality will resume sooner rather than later.

With the renewed optimism around the industry the focus will start to shift back towards the welfare and safety of those staying in your building. Along with ensuring that the new Covid secure measures are in place, Hotels are a hotspot for fraud and robberies as without the correct security, there is open access to hundreds of unattended hotel rooms along with bars and restaurants that are located in the hotel.

There are now different ways of approaching the safety of guests using an access control system. One approach is to ensure that the right measures have been put in place to achieve greater sanitation in light of the global pandemic and with this, many access control systems have BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) and NFC (Near Field Communication) capabilities where a credential can be sent to an app on your smart phone and it can be used as a hotel key card and therefore limiting areas of ‘touch’. Also, from a security of guest’s standpoint, restricting access to areas of your hotel will protect your guests and the hotel’s property. Having areas of your hotel, or the entire hotel limited to guests-only will lower the risk of criminals targeting the hotel or its guests.

It is important that if a guest is not utilising their smart phone as a guest key, the guest key given are of a read technology that is difficult to clone. Too many times we have been approached following an incident where a guest key has been cloned and the guest wants answers! It is very easy to clone certain card read technologies so this must always be considered when looking at the Hotels security vulnerabilities. Having smart key, BLE or NFC smartphone controls to rooms will add extra safety to the hotel and provide additional security and peace of mind to guests. Not only will guests be reassured that their possessions will be safe when they aren’t in the room, they will feel comfortable within their own private space.

In addition to limiting the general public’s access to the hotel, intelligent access systems can be used to section off areas of the hotel that should not be accessed by the guests either. Areas such as electrical rooms, storage cupboards, staff rooms and offices may hold dangerous equipment or information that needs to be kept away from visitors to the hotel.

When looking to implement a hotel access control system it is important that the proposed system has the capabilities to integrate with the Hotels hospitality system. This is the core of the whole operation. From taking bookings, managing staff shifts and storing guest and staff data. Having the access control integration means that you are only using the one system to cut the keys for the guests whilst maintaining a quick and efficient guest experience.

With all the above there is always the question of data protection and how it is stored. Data protection isn’t optional, it is the law. Ensuring that your guests’ data is protected when visiting your hotel is your legal obligation. On average 56% of consumers believe that their data is vulnerable to a security breach. The results of a data breach taking place can be fatal to a company and seriously damaging to the individual. With the hotel and hospitality industry relying on so many transactions and records of personal data having adequate security in place is essential. A Plus Security are both IASME and Cyber Essential Plus accredited meaning that all forms of data protection are given the highest priority when recommending and designing systems.