ROOM IN THE COMEBACK CITY
PANIC BUTTON
TRENDING
The Apparatus Room
ROOM IN THE COMEBACK CITY
Contributed BY BEVERLY STEPHEN
The new Foundation Hotel in downtown Detroit signals that revitalization is underway in this once famously bankrupt city . Chicago-based Aparium Hotel Group ’ s 100-room boutique in former fire department headquarters collaborates with local businesses , artisans and innovators . Its goal is to be equally appealing to business travelers , tourists and residents , and it ’ s assisted in that effort with 2-Michelin-star chef – and Michigan native – Thomas Lents , helming The Apparatus Room . Aparium ’ s Michel Kitchen , vice president of acquisitions and development , admits that financing was a challenge but that city and state government recognized the value the hotel would bring . The Foundation “ is just part of the renaissance ,” he says . “ However , a hotel provides perhaps the best means to showcase this to someone coming from afar .”
PANIC BUTTON
Contributed BY JUDITH CROWN
The conviction in January of a businessman accused of sexual abuse of a housekeeper at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington , D . C ., highlighted the presence – or lack thereof – of panic buttons . Such monitoring devices can help prevent assaults but can be costly and have not been widely adopted . Mac Segal , head of hotel and fixed site security consulting at Denmarkbased AS Solution , says they only go so far . Segal conducts assessments , designs security master plans and trains hotel staffs . What do you think of the idea of panic buttons ? How does this piece of technology mitigate the risk , contain and control this unpleasant event from spiraling out of control or ending badly for the employee ? If it ’ s pushed , the button triggers an alarm in the security office . Not all hotels have full-time security offices . If they do , maybe someone is sitting there or not . By the time an officer gets up to the 13th floor , the incident is over . The guest says , ‘ I don ’ t know what you ’ re talking about .’ Now you ’ re going to have a confrontation between the guest and the housekeeper . Are there other solutions ? If hotels want to help housekeepers with technology , equip their carts with dashcams . If she parks the cart in front of the open door , the security office can see the whole room … Unions probably will say it ’ s an invasion of privacy . But unions and hotel operators agree that a housekeeper shouldn ’ t be alone in the room with a guest — a compromising situation for both parties . Is technology the whole solution ? Prevention is always better than the cure . Housekeepers are trained on how to fold the towels , where to put the soap . Spend a half-hour or an hour giving them some tools to deal with these situations . Knowing what to say and how to say it when you ’ re in a difficult situation can make all the difference . Small operators and franchisees might not back a housekeeper in a dispute . Big chains have the legal backing and money to have the guest arrested . Mom-and-pop hotels fear the guest will file a countersuit for defamation of character . They may decide to fire the immigrant housekeeper rather than pay US $ 100,000 for lawyers . Besides the training , chains need to make sure housekeepers understand they are supported … They ’ re entitled to training , they ’ re entitled to your protection and entitled to a safe working environment .
12 hotelsmag . com July-August 2017