[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6B-MB_67j4]
Pool Safely Press Conference – Mitch Stoller, Safe Kids USA
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Hotel Industry Pool Safety: Mitch Stoller Of “Safe Kids USA” Speaks On Child Safety At Swimming Pools And Spas (Video)
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Hotel Industry Security Risk Management: Hotel Management Can Limit Guest Theft Liability By Maintaining Room Locks, Posting Legal Notices, And Keeping Back And Side Entrances Closed And Locked
Security expert Chris McGoey of  CrimeDoctor.com defended the hotel’s security practices with one 
exception, the back door not requiring a key card to open. He says that if the victims’ story is true, it’s quite possible the theft was committed by another hotel guest.
Gallagher says he’s considered suing the hotel, but under state law, the hotel would most likely not be liable for the lost belongings because it provided locks for the suite and likely posted the various required legal notices inside of it.
As was later reported in the Chicago Tribune, the Gallaghers claim that when they went out for coffee on the second morning of their stay (as the Bruners slept soundly in another of the suite’s rooms), the suite was burglarized, resulting in the loss of $2,000 in valuables, including purses, wallets, cameras, cell phones and luggage.
Both couples blame the hotel’s lax security for allowing the theft to happen. But Lawrence Duffy, the hotel’s general manager, says the victims told him the break-in happened after they left their door propped open, an allegation the victims deny. He says the hotel rarely has problems with crime.
For more:Â Â http://www.milwaukeenewsbuzz.com/?p=254429
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Hotel Industry Health Risk Management: Early Bed Bug Detection Is Critical For Successful Eradication Programs (Video)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OOZ8wBuF0k&feature=channel]
Bedbugs have made a comeback in the US due to increased international travel. Bedbugs can crawl out of a traveler’s suitcases and establish themselves in hotel rooms. A Bedbug problem can be quite expensive. In fact, an outbreak could lead to serious litigation and large settlements and loss of business. Can your property afford it? This program trains your employees to spot bed bugs so they can be caught in the early stages and remediated before a major infestation occurs.
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Hotel Industry Risk Management: “Optional Linen Service” And Other “Green Programs” Can Help Reduce “Repetitive-Use Injuries” And Chemicals Usage At Hotels
Categories include promoting environmental awareness through new employee training and workshops, ….waste reduction, energy and water efficiency and air quality as well as green 
cleaning and housekeeping practices which include optional linen service – who really needs their sheets changed every day? Similar programs in Virginia Beach, Va., and Ocean City, Md., have been embraced by merchants and tourists alike.
The local tourism and hospitality industries have a vested interest in conservation of natural resources. Aside from the money hotels, restaurants and attractions can save reducing, reusing and recycling, preserving the environmental quality of our area preserves tourism itself. The South Carolina Green Alliance, a partnership between the South Carolina Hospitality Association and the state DHEC, is devoted to helping state lodgings, attractions and eateries go green. The program made its debut last year, and although only a handful of local business are listed on the Web site (greenalliance.com), Tom Sponseller, president of the state hospitality association, says that more are coming. “We have another 30 or so restaurants and hotels that will be added. We’ve only been doing this a short time, and the whole process from implementing changes to filling out the application to it being approved through DHEC can be a bit lengthy.”
Part of the process is working with local businesses to implement changes to reduce the large scale impacts the hospitality industry has on the environment. Businesses in the hospitality industry, as well as their suppliers, can go to schospitality.org for an application listing nine categories in which points can be earned. Depending on how many points earned, a Palmetto tree is awarded, with one Palmetto indicating a business has adopted and is beginning to implement a green plan, to three Palmettos, which indicates a high level of eco-initiatives have been adopted and utilized.
While only a small number of local businesses have made it through Green Alliance certification, that doesn’t mean our local hospitality industry isn’t taking the steps necessary to become more eco-friendly. The Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association (MBAHA) is working with the state program, and encourages its members to take those important first steps in going green. “Our industry wants to get more involved, and it’s a question of figuring out how to do that,” says Stephen Greene, president of the MBHA. “As a group, we’ve been moving forward, but it takes a lot of time and training,” In cooperation with efforts of the state and local hospitality associations, the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce has encouraged its members to go green. As part of its Going Green program, the Chamber works to provide education, resources and support to its members in implementing energy conservation and waste reduction practices.
Read more: http://www.thesunnews.com/2010/09/09/1681777/oily-residue.html#ixzz0zbrCTJX5
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Hotel Industry Health Risk Management: Hotel Owners Should Negotiate “Loss Of Attraction” Or “Contingent Business Interruption” Insurance Coverage For Losses Arising From Bed Bug Infestation
“…many hotels have negotiated for “loss of attraction” coverage, which covers the actual loss a hotel might sustain if it had to cancel reservations or was unable to accept bookings due to an infestation.”
State inspectors have the authority to shut down an establishment that poses an "imminent health hazard" involving fire, flood, sewage backup, rodent infestation, bed bug infestation or "any other condition that could endanger the health and safety of guests, employees and the general public."
“I would say both business interruption and to some extent contingent business interruption are two of the most difficult values for a business to assess,” says Craig Lapsley, vice president at Travelers Global Technology.
In evaluating those risks, companies have to consider their earnings, operating expenses and payroll–which is often overlooked but should be included, he says. In addition, companies need to consider how long they could be out of business and how long it could take to get back up and running.
“It’s difficult for insurance professionals, who do it all the time, and it’s extremely confusing for insureds,” Lapsley says.
Whenever there are large losses or catastrophic events, a very large percentage of insureds invariably turn out to be underinsured when it comes to business income, he says.
What makes contingent business interruption particularly tricky to assess is that it involves operations that are outside the company’s direct control. A company’s own operations may be in fine working order, but it may nevertheless suffer a significant loss of business income because of a disruption in the neighborhood, or with one of its suppliers, or with one of its buyers.
 For more: http://www.riskandinsurance.com/story.jsp?storyId=13708831
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Hotel Industry Swimming Pool And Spa Risks: Las Vegas Hotel Suffers Chemical Malfunction In Pool Which Sickens Guests
Richard Brenner, hazardous materials coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department, said that sodium hypochlorite went into the hotel’s lazy river pool when a valve used to control the 
chemical malfunctioned and did not shut off properly. He also added that the chemical went into the water and fumes in the air had made guests sick but expected them all to be ok.
About 100 people had trouble breathing but did not need to go to hospitals, instead were treated by responding emergency personnel. It was also reported that the people taken to local hospitals were conscious and alert and none of the guests were in critical condition.
High concentrations of a chemical similar to bleach seeped into a pool at the world-famous MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip, leading the hotel officials to evacuate some 1,500 guests and sending at least 26 people to local hospitals with breathing difficulties on Friday.
“People started smelling chlorine. It doesn’t take much to set our nose offâ€, Brenner said.
The MGM Resorts International officials emphasized that once it was discovered what happened the valve was immediately shut off. While the leak only affected the lazy river pool, all of the resort’s five pools were closed to error on the side of caution.
For more:Â http://www.dailyrosetta.com/chlorine-leaks-at-mgm-grand-las-vegas-pool/1247.html
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Hotel Industry Swimming Pool Liability Risks: Arizona Hotels Vary In Enforcing Existing Codes Regarding Drinking In Pools, Music Stages, Public Parties And Oversized Crowds
Many resort pool parties are already limited to guests who’ve rented rooms and their friends, like the ones at the Hotel Valley Ho, or to guests who’ve purchased tickets, like the ones at the Clarion Hotel Scottsdale.
- No more drinking or eating in the pool.
- No music stages abutting the pool.
- No open-to-the-public parties, except ones already booked.
- No free entry and oversized crowds.
“In the last two years the scale and grandeur of the parties has picked up, and we are just trying to help the facilities understand the public-health impact before we start focusing on enforcement,” said John Kolman, director of the Maricopa County Environmental Services Department.
Kolman said inspectors have reminded managers to monitor pool capacity, to double-check that rescue equipment is always visible, to keep lounge chairs, stages and other structures 4 feet from pool edges, and most crucially, to stop inviting the public to their events.
Inspectors will continue to make unannounced checks through September, the traditional end of the pool-party season.
But at the W Scottsdale, general manager Leon Young said he’s seen real revenue losses since he started enforcement. He has, however, seen room sales go up slightly.
His hotel has made a name for itself hosting buzzy daytime bashes and nighttime swim parties, serving pool-friendly drinks such as frozen creamsicle cocktails or bottles of vodka with Gatorade on ice. Now, the second-floor pool will be pen only to those who rent cabanas, daybeds or rooms.
“Certainly, I can understand you don’t want to be floating next to a piece of lunch meat,” Young said. “But if we follow the rules about no glass near the pool, I don’t see why we couldn’t allow some drinks in the pool.”
Young is optimistic the county will be open to revisiting the regulations to create variances that would allow resorts and hotels to pursue party profits.
“We are rooms-focused in spring and peak season, but in summertime, it really is about the events and promotions you can organize to bring people in,” Young said.
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Hospitality Industry Information Security: The Key To Cyber-Security Is Adopting Encryption AND Tokenization, But Payment Processors Must Adopt Standards First
“Encryption is a process that jumbles personal data into unreadable letters and numbers every time a credit card is swiped….
…Any info about that credit card going forward … none of the credit card information is stored, it’s the token that is stored.â€
“Encryption fundamentally is a math algorithm, but it’s a very complicated math algorithm,†Roman said during a recent telephone interview. The information can only be deciphered with a key.
“When an encrypted signal is sent to the intended party, the intended party’s encryption has a key to decrypt and read the message and display it on the screen in readable alpha numerics,†Roman said. “It’s built into the receiving end of each encryption software.â€
Encryption jumbles information as it’s transmitted from one system to the other, but it doesn’t necessarily account for data that’s being stored. That’s where tokenization comes in, said Chainrai Waney, an IT consultant who’s worked in data center operations for more than 25 years.
When that card is swiped there’s some sort of a front-end application that generates a token (a line of random numbers) that has nothing to do with that credit card number,†he said. “Any info about that credit card going forward … none of the credit card information is stored, it’s the token that is stored.â€
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A token is a globally unique identifier, generated randomly, and it only has meaning to the sender who provides it and to the processing center that’s purchased it, Roman said.
Noble has yet to adopt tokenization, Garrido said. The company is waiting for payment processors to make the next move.
“They’ve talked about being able to take the data out of the property,†he said. In other words, the processing companies would store the data and send a token back to vendors. No definitive solution has yet been approved, however.  ‘
For more:Â http://www.hospitalitynet.org/external/4048209.html
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Hospitality Industry Health Risks: Hotel Managers Are Finding Innovative Ways To Detect Bedbugs Early But Eradication Is Costly
“Short of putting a bedbug-sniffing beagle at your door to check everyone before they come in, you’re going to get bedbugs,†he said. “Dealing with them is the cost of doing business these days.â€
State inspectors have the authority to shut down an establishment that poses an "imminent health hazard" involving fire, flood, sewage backup, rodent infestation, bed bug infestation or "any other condition that could endanger the health and safety of guests, employees and the general public."
The costs of coping with bedbugs are significant, and they are not covered by most insurance policies because they are seen as a maintenance issue. Hiring bedbug-sniffing dogs, which is considered the most effective detection technique, costs about $250 for a 1,200-square-foot retail store and as much as $10,000 for a million-square-foot department store.
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Eliminating infestations is also costly, ranging from $750 for a few rooms in an office building to $70,000 for a large apartment complex. And that is just for the application of the cocktail of pesticides that kills bedbugs. It costs an additional 40 percent for the gold standard regimen of placing all the contents of an office or retail space into a heat chamber — bedbugs die at 120 degrees — and then spraying pesticides in the temporarily empty rooms.
An employee first discovered a bedbug in the 137-room hotel in 2003, and Mr. Tyler has since instituted a comprehensive bedbug detection program to find the blood-sucking insects before a guest does.
- Mr. Tyler created a position called “bedbug technician†— an employee whose sole job is to go from room to room checking for bedbugs.
- There is also a bedbug bounty of $10 paid to any employee who finds one.
- If a bedbug is found, the room and all adjacent rooms are taken out of service for up to five days while they are steam-cleaned and chemically treated to eliminate the bugs and their eggs.
- The mattresses in the rooms are also discarded. The total cost for each room is $2,500, including lost bookings.
“It sounds like a lot of money, but the value of a good reputation is infinite,†Mr. Tyler said. “Your biggest fear is that someone will get bitten and post something about it on an online travel site, and that’d be a killer.â€
Bedbugs used to be solely a residential problem, but they are showing up in commercial settings, and not just in places with beds like hotels, nursing homes and apartment complexes. Increasingly, pest control companies report finding bedbugs in office buildings, movie theaters, clothing stores, food plants, factories and even airplanes.
“To stay ahead of bedbugs, I recommend having the dogs come through quarterly,†said Pepe Peruyero, chief executive of J&K Canine Academy in High Springs, Fla., which trains bedbug-sniffing dogs and offers inspections for large buildings like department stores and school dormitories. However, he added, many customers cannot afford it and instead choose to rely on the vigilance of employees after an initial dog check comes up clean.
“It takes about four to seven hours per room†for the combination heat and pesticide procedure and a couple of hours on three separate occasions if using pesticides alone, said Judy Black, technical director for the Steritech Group, based in Charlotte, N.C., which provides pest control and other quality control services to commercial customers. “Getting rid of bedbugs is not quick or easy.â€
For more:Â Â http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/08/business/08bedbug.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
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Hospitality Industry Employment Risks: Hotel Management Must Take Steps To Mitigate “Workplace Violence” By Having Relevant Policies In Place
Threats derive from a complex number of sources that may trigger violence. These may include policies that some employees find objectionable, such as a bad performance review or 
constructively intended criticism; rivalry or disagreement between employees; failed or drama-filled romance with a co-worker; and stressful or discourteous interactions with customers (who may themselves be sources of violence).
“…employees have benefited from stress-reduction classes or lessons in tactics to diplomatically handle difficult people…”
Most commonly, the violent act is undertaken by a terminated employee who becomes disgruntled and feels there is nothing to lose.
    Prior to making any new hires, an employer would be wise to assess the risks and set up relevant policies that at least address the most common threats. This evaluation might begin with an assessment of the premises. Sometimes the most serious threat is external. Depending on the type of business they conduct, employees may routinely expect to handle contentious or emotionally distraught customers. Other workers, perhaps those who handle large cash transactions or valuable merchandise, may be targets of robbery.
    Short of creating a high-security compound, employers can take some precautionary measures in these cases. Mitigating features can include alarm systems, security cameras or guards, an employee-controlled buzzer on the entrance door and even bulletproof glass.
    Another approach that may be less obvious, yet is effective, is for employers to train employees on how to avert bad situations. For instance, employees have benefited from stress-reduction classes or lessons in tactics to diplomatically handle difficult people.
For more:Â Â http://www.workforce.com/section/legal/feature/employers-prevention-workplace-violence/index.html
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