Geopolitics Magazine September - October 2016 | Page 56

Longer or Νo-security audit cycles
The hotel industry is growing very fast and every day a new hotel opens somewhere in the world.
Nearly 1.26 million hotels worldwide are dealing with all sorts of safety & security issues. Hotels that
belong to a chain or group require more physical audits in security than privately owned hotels in order
to be compliant with group standards. Along with the huge number of hotels built, the number of
auditors has not increased proportionally in every key market. The gap between the low number of
qualified security auditors worldwide and new hotels built is getting bigger and bigger. This will result
in complications in the future and a higher risk for hotels. The gap also leads to an increase in audit
costs. The industry can expect that audits will be more expensive or be of a lower quality. The industry
deals with the issue in different ways already. Some hotels are stretching the frequency between
security audits, while others skip audit cycles completely to save money. Both trends lead to a higher
risk to investors and hotel guests.
Some hotel companies have started to implement a self-audit approach using qualified key people in
the hotel to maintain security standards. Innovative “Do-it yourself” audit packages are already
available on the market. We believe this is the best solution to build on.
Physical crime will remain an issue for hotels
Of course, crime differs from country to country. However, on a global scale a general increase has
been recognized by the authorities and security experts. Physical crime ranges from professional
burglaries using social engineering techniques to temporary drug laps in hotel rooms. It can be
expected that guests will be victims of organized crime and we highly recommend reviewing security
awareness programs. Holdups at night involving firearms have increased since hotels are easily
accessible and less protected compared to other industries operating at night. With the increase of
drugs and the economic downturn, an increase in this type of crime can be expected. Terrorism,
including the firing of weapons and disregard of human life, presents a major threat to global security.
We need to accept that incidents can happen at anytime, anywhere in the world and no one is able to
predict where the next attack will take place. Unfortunately, hotels along with restaurants, theme
parks, cruise ships, tourist attractions and public transportation are classified as high risk and soft
targets.
Terrorist activities are at a historical peak and continue to increase. The Middle East and South Asia are
identified as the two regions where the risk of terrorism is greatest.

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