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ExpEnsivE wakE-up call By BarBara Bohn , managing editor
Hoteliers have 55 million reasons to take another look at their security procedures after a US $ 55 million judgment in March stemming from American sportscaster Erin Andrews being secretly videotaped in a Nashville , Tennessee , Marriott hotel room .
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Policies must reflect a commitment to guest privacy , says Claudia Callaway , partner and member of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP ’ s hospitality practice . That includes empowering employees to notify management when a situation raises a red flag , not after an incident . Also :
Use computer-based training . Employees can log in to a module , view policies and be tested . It ’ s a trackable approach that allows for updates .
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Associated Press
Put it in writing . Share security standards with employees regularly and make it part of daily procedures .
Train in security , not just service . “ In the same way that you greet a guest in a friendly manner , you
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don ’ t give out their room number ,” Callaway says . “ If someone is repeatedly asking for another guest ’ s room number , perhaps , you consider what sort of alarm that might raise .”
Limit access to information in public spaces . In
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Sportscaster and tV host erin andrews wipes tears as the verdict awarding her US $ 55 million in a peeping-tom case .
the Andrews case , it was claimed that her room number was gleaned from the hotel restaurant ’ s LCD phone readout . Useful for a maître d ’, perhaps , but problematic from a privacy standpoint . It ’ s about being “ aggressively defensive .”
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