Lobbying for security

When entering major UK hotel chain Travelodge’s Head Office in Thame, Oxfordshire, the first thing that strikes you is its inherent informality. Meeting rooms and canteens are labelled with quaint signs that read ‘Chit Chat’ and ‘Speak Easy’. For the staff, every day is ‘dress down’ day. It’s a far cry from the institutionalised ‘suits and boots’ of the City, that’s for sure.

Under the steady guidance of the company’s Board of Directors – including managing director Grant Hearn, chief operating officer Guy Parsons, development director Ben Roberts and commercial director Peter Halsey – Travelodge is indeed a business at obvious ease with many aspects of the transition it has made since being purchased back in 2003 by investment fund managers Permira.

Not content with a national re-branding programme and a growth plan which currently sees a new hotel opening (on average) every ten days, the company has also embarked on a rolling project to upgrade security systems and policy at each of its 270-plus UK sites.

Upon his arrival, Wayne Hunter – Travelodge’s newly-appointed director of Health and Safety and loss prevention – was asked to perform a complete risk assessment of the business, quite specifically from a ‘people’ point of view. Armed with over eight years’ experience in similar roles, during which time he was employed at other well-known hotel operators’ Head Offices, Hunter instinctively knew that the security at each Travelodge site could be up-rated to give enhanced performance and better financial paybacks. With this in mind, he wasted little time in putting his ideas into practice.

Both the sheer size of the Travelodge chain and the individual characteristics of each of its hotels have added definition to the planned improvement programme. Many of the sites already had security systems in place that were originally specified using a formulaic ‘one-size-fits-all’ design premise. This had resulted in a set number of security products being installed in a similar configuration at every location, irrespective of specific individual requirements. That being the case, much of the equipment installed proved ineffective.

On examination, it was abundantly clear that this security methodology had resulted in cameras being sited too far away from the sort of rogue activity they were intended to capture. Wayne Hunter’s all-new approach necessarily meant that a rolling programme of site audits and installations would need to be carried out over a number of years.

Needs-based security model

The very nature of the archetypal Travelodge customer as a business person with a quality car, mobile telephone and laptop computer, resident on an overnight stopover, was drawing the wrong kind of visitor to the chain’s hotel car parks. Theft of – and from – vehicles was an issue, but set as they are within a combination of urban and rural locations, the types of crime experienced at Travelodge hotels also varied by locality. Incidents within specific premises also occasionally prompted the need for good quality surveillance evidence to be on hand.

These factors together formed the bedrock of a needs-based security model designed to help maximise the hotel chain’s effectiveness in responding to incidents.

In order to prioritise any particular hotel’s requirements versus those with the most urgent needs, in-depth discussions focusing on site security and management were held with the individual hotel managers. From those meetings, outline plans were agreed and drawn up. These then became working projects.

Long-lasting business relations

Spend any amount of time with Wayne Hunter and you’ll find he’ll regularly mount the proverbial Soapbox to make his opinions known to one and all. Here, for example, is an apt quote: “Choose to work with people who make less work for you.” Quite.

In this instance, Wayne is referring to OCS, the Bristol-based Panasonic Premier Integrator whose working relationship with Travelodge’s security supremo now spans more than eight years. Taking into consideration the ever-changing nature of the security industry and the relentless progression of associated technologies, this is an admirable – not to mention clearly beneficial – affiliation.

Central to what is evidently an effective three-way partnership between Travelodge, OCS and Panasonic (UK), there is also a deep level of ownership and trust that, sadly, is seldom witnessed in the security industry. Wayne himself describes the relationship as “symbiotic” – probably just as well, as he’s honest enough to confess to “a limited knowledge” of electronic security products.

Within this trusting partnership a very strong line of communication is also evident. Each person in the equation deals with another whenever and wherever necessary. Their respective support teams and engineers turn their ideas into reality and, in doing so, ensure that the programme of installation works rolls forward as smoothly as possible.

Within the installer/client relationship, OCS has taken on board Travelodge’s particular corporate values, acknowledging the company’s informal philosophy while also demonstrating a highly developed understanding for the operational and financial aspects of their partner’s business. This level of awareness allows OCS to create practical proposals for meeting realistic goals, satisfy the available budget and – paramount to the client’s roll-out plans – provide a reliable, long-term and bespoke security solution.

Problem ownership is the domain of OCS. The means for solving any security problems effectively comes through the installer’s shrewd use of integrated product solutions in place of a myriad of less capable systems.

Problem ownership is very much the domain of OCS. The means for solving any security problems comes through the installer’s shrewd use of integrated product solutions in place of a myriad of less capable systems

Implementing the audit trail

Travelodge’s defining objective for its national security upgrade programme is ultimately to ‘make the customer feel secure’. Fundamental to the success of the needs-based system design at each facility is what Roger Noakes – OCS’ corporate development director – describes as an ‘audit trail’.

Noakes explains: “From an operational perspective, our first step is to cover the ways into and out of each hotel property. Road barrier-guarded entry points complete with associated CCTV camera observation provide the first line of defence, ensuring that all vehicles entering and leaving the car parks are monitored. In many cases, a number plate recognition system will be integrated with the entry point systems, meaning that a clear image of the driver might be associated with each vehicle on site.”

Noakes added that entry and exit doorways to each hotel building are also comprehensively covered, as are some of the more obvious vital zones including the main reception desks, bars and front and rear doors.

Beyond the primary areas of concern, individual site-specific solutions are applied wherever deemed necessary. This equates to an average of ten-to-twelve high resolution cameras at each Travelodge site, the real-time images from which are digitally recorded. From the moment that a customer, visitor, supplier or employee enters a Travelodge site, to the point at which they reach their destination on any particular landing floor, their movement throughout the premises may now be traced.

The second of Travelodge’s needs-based objectives is that the recorded quality of its security surveillance systems’ images be of a consistently high standard. On the understanding that a high performance camera and lens positioned in an optimum location will achieve the best results, the systems’ external cameras are sited on the hotel buildings themselves wherever possible. Why? These points are generally the closest location to customer activity.

In the past – and to the company’s cost – Travelodge has found that if evidential recordings turned out to be of poor quality they would not assist the local police in connection with any given incident. Over time, that had led to a noticeable tailing-off in the speed of police response to call-outs. Addressing this issue, and with optimised systems now in place, better ‘strike rates’ with police services across the country have been fostered.

Maximising systems’ integration and performance, OCS ensures that this goes well beyond the confines of the security products themselves. Training on equipment is carried out during the commissioning process, at which point both security practices and people are taken into account. Once a particular system has been commissioned, most members of a given hotel’s team can operate it with competency, saving and copying a potentially important segment of recorded evidence if requested for police use.

No news is good news

At present, Travelodge is approximately halfway through its security programme roll-out. A positive testimony to the continued efficiency of the three-way project relationship instigated is that there have been no notable crimes to report thus far at any of the upgraded (or newly-installed) hotel sites. While cynics might say that this could be attributable to a run of good fortune, other factors would appear to suggest that there is far more than mere luck at play.

A somewhat unusual phenomenon is the genuine enthusiasm and shared pride among Travelodge branch staff on receiving their new security systems, mainly because they know how effective and reliable the installations are proving to be (and also because they will no longer be in danger of considering themselves problematic or burdensome as an operation). It seems as though their specific needs are being fully addressed.

As a consequence, OCS’ engineers are being positively welcomed on to site when conducting system upgrades, which in itself is a mark of the due consideration and planning involved by the company to minimise any inconvenience to guests and staff alike.

The most underused product

Hoteliers will tell you that they sell the most perishable product in the world. Room space has a shelf life of just one day in which it can be sold. If not occupied, a room is a wasted asset.

Having recently optimised its security facilities, it could be argued that Travelodge now also has one of the most underused products in the world – well-designed, properly installed and integrated security systems.

Appropriately, let’s leave the last word on this upgrade project to Wayne Hunter.

“Being able to rely on such an outstanding project partnership has delivered specified products that are not only right for the job but also provide a vital audit trail of useful evidential information,” he comments. “We’re confident we now have security systems in place that act as an effective deterrent. This affords our members of staff peace of mind, and ensures that our guests enjoy a comfortable and relaxing stay with us.”