Electrical Engineering Solutions

The back-to-basics trend that has the hotel industry putting guest comfort and security at the core of their operations cannot deliver the required efficient, competitive and quality service unless an intelligent converged network is in place.

Bradley Hemphill, managing director of Electrical Engineering Solutions (EES), told delegates at Hostech, the hotel technology conference and exhibition held at Midrand, that smart use of technology in hospitality management can enhance the guest experience.

The logical and physical security systems need to be integrated if they are to be efficiently managed.

Logical security governs access to the information networks, data storage and business applications, which is a key component of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) systems. Physical security governs   access to the hotel and its facilities, which is a key component of Building Automation Systems (BAS).

“Physical security is often thought of only during construction, so there is a disconnect between the physical and logical operations. This is usually aggravated by the physical security service being outsourced to a guarding company who needs to operate the technology to enable it to supplement the effectiveness.

“Effective access control of hotel staff, outsourced contractors and suppliers – managing who can be in which areas of the hotel at what times, and being able to manage that in real-time – is a major step to ensure guest safety and their assets.

”It is only hotel management, with real-time knowledge of the hotel’s operations and management decisions, that can effectively manage the physical security of the hotel. But they must have the intelligent infrastructure in place to implement access decisions within minutes of them being taken.”

The division employing the contractors or service providers must manage their access to pre-determined areas. Access cards will ensure they can only enter prescribed areas and provides management with records of their movements and the times they entered and left these areas, and what facilities they used. 

Smart technology can be shared by the behind-the-scenes operations as well as front-of house. For example, says Hemphill, CCTV technology monitoring movement around the hotel can be used to transmit video images of visitors to TV screens in the guests’ rooms so their identity can be verified before being allowed up to the rooms.

“I am amazed that hotels being built in South Africa today were not planned with intelligent networking in mind.”

“It would be far more cost-effective from an initial investment perspective if developers designed the infrastructure to include a converged network so services could share an Internet Protocol (IP) based platform. In the long term it would be more economical to run and easier to operate.”

Hotels could make better use of integrated technology by better exploiting the information on guests ‘smart’ keys – a card that records guests’ movements, enabling management to be proactive to their needs.

An example Hemphill discussed was the ability of the smart key to transmit the information that a guest had just entered the hotel to the air conditioning system that would then turn on the air conditioner in the guest’s room in an attempt to get it to the required temperature before he entered it.

Another was having the key transmit information to the housekeeper that the guest was at the swimming pool and would need a fresh pool towel, activating the necessary instruction to the laundry and the service staff on that guest’s floor.

Hemphill says that the starting point for the integration is the Internet Protocol (IP) communications platform networking all electronic devices throughout the hotel.

The multiple networks supporting these applications can easily share a single intelligent infrastructure if sufficient forethought is given to the economies of scale and potential efficiencies at the planning stages of a new hotel.

“There is a misconception that there must be separate cables for the physical applications, such as access security, and the operational IT systems. A Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) is just as secure as physical separate networks, the difference being that a VLAN is logically partitioned for the required applications and is easier to monitor and manage than 2 separate networks,” he adds.

Building an integrated physical and logical enterprise security system is challenging because of the different technologies and suppliers involved. It requires the skills and experience of an experienced professional services company to design and manage and the execution of a systems integrator familiar with the needs of all the service providers.

The goal of a hotel security system is to protect guests and assets, says Hemphill. Integrating the different components of the system helps lower the cost of security efficiency without aggravating guests through too much physical and logical ‘red tape’.