Mumbai Terror attack altered security measures in Indian hotels

The dastardly terror attack on star hotels like the Oberoi Trident Taj Mahal Palace in Mumbai in which several guests and staffs lost their lives has changed the security scenario in the hospitality industry hoteliers saidAfter the 2611 attacks hotels have resorted to visible and invisible security measures for guests as well as for the staff own and outsourced they saidThe hotel industry did a paradigm shift post the 2611 when for the first time the principles of hospitality did not apply including the first impression Guests and staff had to go through strict security hurdles like car checks body scans and luggage scans to enter the hotels Vikram Cotah CEO GRT Hotels and Resorts told IANSThe GRT group owns and operates a chain of hotels and resortsThough they hotel guests were used to it to fly airlines it was something new for the customer in hotels This changed the way people looked at hotels But this decade the focus has shifted to cleanliness and sanitation including physical distancing and contactless services which is another shift for a close contact industry he addedSoon after the 2611 attacks star hotels had installed Xray machines to scan the baggage and security personnel also did physical scans with handheld devicesBigger hotels were investing in Xray machines under chassis scanning machines and pole detectors Cotah addedIn Chennai Courtyard by Marriott also had sniffer dogsAccess controls have been installed at critical places For instance in the lifts only staying guests can go to the floors where staying rooms are located Similarly access controls are there for drinking water sources and other critical areas a General Manager of a five star hotel told IANS preferring anonymityThe level of security measures depends on the hotels star status and its profile High profile hotels will have higher security measures as terrorists normally would attack such properties another hotelier told IANSWhile there are government norms whereby details of guests from certain countries have to be notified to the law enforcement agencies some hotel properties do not accept walkin guests from some countriesGuests from countries that are known to support terrorists or where drug cartels flourish are generally not allowed to stay in our property unless they come under a corporate account Walkin guests from those countries are not allowed in the property a head of a star hotel told IANS preferring anonymityFurther hotels also resorted to securing a government identification card while allowing a guest to stay in their propertyNo government id no room to stay is the policy Securing a copy of the government identification card is made even at restaurants from some guests the hotelier addedPost 2611 hiring of hotel staff outsourced personnel and also vendors have become stringentBackground checks of recruits have become more stringent Further anyone with an employment record in PakistanBangladesh or a travel record to PakistanBangladesh are checked more thoroughly a hotelier told IANSWhile hiring we carry out third party checks on the potential candidate Crisis management has taken more importance Mock drills for safety measures for terror attacks are now added to fire safety mock drillsa Rahul Nama General Manager Mercure Chennai Sriperumbudur told IANSNama who was heading the HomeTel property in Mumbai when the 2611 terror happened recalled On hearing the attack we closed the hotel gates and adviced the guests not to go out Those who wanted to come to the property were advised against it The hotel security personnel were asked to be extra vigilantWhile background checks on recruits are done such strict scrutiny is not done in the case of vendorsThe hotels go by reference given and no great background checks on the vendors are currently being done While hotels have uniformed personnel at the gate to bow and welcome a guest professional security personnel in coloured clothes are not employed as it adds up to the cost a hotelier saidThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever