SuMMeR 2015 California Hotel & L Lodging Associatition 7 • if you make your own replacement metal keys, what restrictions (if any) do you place on access to the equipment used to make replacements? • What restrictions do you make on duplicate keys? • how many metal keys leave the premises with guests over a six-month period? What percentage is returned and what is the replacement cost? • do you have a policy requiring employees to inquire about the key at checkout time? • While electronic locking systems provide a number of advantages over mechanical systems, they are subject to human error. Some of the key-related security lapses that have been documented include the following: – issuing guest room keys to unregistered guests. – failing to have electronic key cards become inoperable after guest checkout. This allows affected rooms to be entered long after the guest vacates the room and until a new key is issued. – housekeepers allowing individuals without guest room keys access to guest rooms without proper identification. • At hotels still using metal keys, managers should decide how many keys will be stored in the key rack and in reserve for any given guest room. an audit or inventory of those room keys may also be helpful. no new keys should be issued without a formal requisition signed by an authorized person. Some organizations require authorization by the rooms manager, while others assign this responsibility to the security director, a resident manager, or another management employee. Whichever employee is designated, his or her signature should be required before the engineering or maintenance staff produces a key or purchases one from a contract locksmith. The staff responsible for making new keys should retain all requisitions for keys and should prepare and file a record of all keys duplicated. • Front office staff members play a crucial role in key control. They should never simply give room keys or key cards to anyone who asks for them; some sort of identification should be checked to ensure that the person requesting the key or key card is the guest registered for that room. • Housekeeping: Management should consider issuing section master keys— whether metal keys or electronic key cards—to the housekeeping staff that limit the staff’s access to only those rooms for which they are responsible. some hotels establish a policy requiring that all master keys be issued and retrieved daily. security personnel may verify that all keys are secured in a locked cabinet in the housekeeping area. • Management should instruct room attendants to secure any key left in a guest room after checkout. Such keys should never be placed on top of a housekeeping cart or anywhere else that may leave them vulnerable to theft. Some hotels use housekeeping carts that have locked metal boxes to hold found keys. Other hotels instruct their room attendants to carry found keys on their person, and to turn them in in a timely manner. While the california hotel & lodging Association and the California Association of Boutique & Breakfast Inns, do not set security standards, they encourage all lodging properties to continually evaluate existing security policies and practices—including effective key control— in order to maximize security. Members of the California Hotel & Lodging Association or the California Association of Boutique & Breakfast Inns are welcome to contact, for free, our Member Legal Advisor, Jim Abrams (jim@calodging.com) if they have questions.
CHLA Lodging News Summer 2015
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