Placing guests at the heart of safety- (Part 3)Are hotels well prepared?
When we talk of hotel safety and security, fire safety plays a major role. It is essential that there is; a fire warning system; a fire fighting system; a fire prevention programme; and a fire evacuation plan. I dread to declare however, that I have come across hotels that are ill - prepared to cope with any outbreak of fire because they simply did not have all the components of a fully functional fire safety programme in place. There is this beachfront budget hotel which opened in mid-June 2013. A fortnight later, I travelled to this seaside property to spend a night in this hotel. The access to the hotel is via a narrow by-lane and despite driving at around ten kilometers per hour whilst searching for the hotel, I drove past it, as I missed spotting the budget sized hotel sign board. My room which was typical of a budget hotel had two leaflets. One listed out the available TV channels and the other was a price list for consumerables such as shampoo, toothbrush, shaving and sun cream, slippers (spelt sleppers), swim suits, goggles, etc. What I couldn’t find in the room was neither a ‘Fire escape plan’ nor any information on what a guest should do, (such as where the designated ‘assembly point’ was) - if in the unlikelihood, one had to evacuate the building in case of a fire. Fire can occur anywhere, anytime…and operating a budget or a ‘no frills’ hotel is no licence to disregard fire safety. I guess the ‘regulators’ no longer see it that way? Last year, a manager of a hotel located on an island in the Bolgoda Lake was reprimanded by the city coroner for negligence, after a guest of the hotel died, due to the non availability of a boat at night to transfer the seriously ill guest to hospital. It transpired that the life of the 34 year old guest could have been saved had the hotel promptly taken him to the hospital. Indeed a tragic example of hotels placing their own interests ahead of their guests. In this instance, the hotel bartered the costs of not having an emergency night-time boat service at the expense of a human life.
The case for managing risks
Risk, along with return, is perhaps the most important part of any business calculation. Risk has to be managed correctly and one way of doing this is to have a risk strategy. A risk strategy helps everyone understand the importance of risk awareness. It is useful because it sets down in black and white the kind of things you will and won’t do. It’s always difficult to look away when there is an opportunity to make more money and in the heat of the moment one can throw caution to the wind. Remember the New Year’s Eve party that was held at a 5- star Colombo hotel, when several revelers were injured after a raised section of the stage that held 500-600 guests collapsed? In the aftermath, the hotel issued this statement; “the event organiser was responsible for the set up of the party in the hotel premises”. The same statement went on to add, “The wellbeing, safety and security of our guests and team members are of paramount importance and we continue to make every effort to ensure that all practices and standards are in line with strict safety and security regulations”. Did the hotel really ‘walk the talk’? If so, then, where did this negative baggage come from? Did not the hotel have a risk strategy? Did it carry out any proper due diligence? The event organiser maintained accountability for all actions under their control and went on to state that “we contacted a reputed company, which possessed the necessary expertise and experience…and we opted to procure their services since we placed so much importance on quality and safety” and ends by saying “it is clearly evident that the supplier had not constructed the said stage to the standards originally agreed with”. Whilst denying allegations that the event was ‘oversold’, the event organiser claimed that they were “verbally promised by the supplier that the platform could hold 1000 people”. In essence, the event organiser acting solely upon a verbal assurance put to risk the lives of people. This is a classic case where both the hotel and event organiser failed to recognise that ‘you may deal with people and suppliers you trust, but can you risk trusting the people who are supplying them? Imagine the catastrophic consequences had there actually been the intended maximum 1000 people on stage – a stage that collapsed when only at 50% capacity? Was this to happen in certain countries and in the event of a fatality, those responsible would have been charged for corporate manslaughter.
Safety is a never ending journey
Let me return to the comparison of cars and holidays. If holidays could be delivered by robots and were taken by robots, it would be possible to eliminate accidents, in the same way that faults in new cars, have virtually been abolished. However, humans deliver holidays and holidays are taken by humans, so accidents do occur and we (‘We’ includes hoteliers, tour operators and, most importantly government regulators), must do our best to ensure these are minimised. Boeing - the makers of the 787 Dreamliner jet is not satisfied with its current reliability rate of 98%. (Meaning: that two out of every 100 flights is delayed). Boeing’s 777 jets currently fly at a 99.4% reliability factor and this is the benchmark it wants to attain with the Dreamliner Jet. Throughout the aviation industry, safety is paramount (in deeds - not words!) and this has produced rewards, yet, a few people still remain afraid of flying.
Alan Flook – ex secretary general of IFTO, made this interesting observation, “For many people, an important – even essential part of their holidays is to do things they do not do during the rest of the year. This may range from swimming to more adventurous activities, all of which may present minimal dangers to the experts but can be very dangerous for those without experience. Safety therefore is a journey that never ends and the hotel industry has a long way to go when caring for guests”.
So, unless those in the hospitality industry make a determined effort, Russell Peter’s admonition “Somebody’s gonna get a hurt real bad” will not be a laughing matter!
Ilzaf Keefahs
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