Location Technology Can Help Safeguard Hospitality Employees

The hospitality industry has an overarching duty to provide quality service to its customers. However, this goal cannot be achieved without securing the safety and wellbeing of the employees first. With the revelation that more than 14 percent of workplace sexual harassment charges stem from the hospitality industry — and that eight out of 10 hotel workers have been harassed while on-duty – cities across the nation have implemented regulations mandating panic buttons within hotels to boost employee safety protocols. 

Government ordinances enacted within Chicago, Washington D.C., Seattle, and New York, to name a few, have necessitated that hotel owners implement portable devices that staff members can use to summon help when necessary. These “panic buttons” are often powered by various radio-frequency identification (RFID) technology solutions. This article from CenTrak discusses how RFID Technology can benefit the hospitality industry.

RFID is a technology used across many industries, such as healthcare, retail and manufacturing, that utilizes small tags or chips to transmit a signal to remote scanners and track the locations of specific assets. Active RFID technologies have become increasingly popular due to their efficacy in a wide range of applications. Active systems use battery-powered tags that continuously broadcast their own signal to track the real-time location (RTL) of assets. Within the hospitality sector – and specifically the panic button application – some active technologies have the ability to guarantee room-level certainty 100% of the time.

While effective, it’s important to note that not all RFID systems are created equal. Some deliver only estimates for location reporting as opposed to certainties. Because of this discrepancy, it’s critically important for hotels to implement RFID solutions that deliver real-time, certainty-based reports. If an employee is in duress and pushes a button, the technology used should be able to locate him/her with room-level accuracy. Some RFID solutions on the market now have difficulty differentiating between rooms and even floors – an oversight that could have severe consequences.

In the event of an emergency, the press of a button will provide hotel security teams with the ability to track the employee’s exact location, and prevent dangerous situations from escalating. In order to ensure the most reliable solutions are selected, it’s important for hotel owners considering implementing panic buttons to test out different systems before committing to ensure the solution can deliver 100% accurate, easy-to-read location insights.

In addition to promoting safety protocols, active RFID technologies offer effective asset tracking and management. This increased level of inventory visibility allows for much higher stock accuracy levels. Because the technology is responsible for inventory tracking, employees’ limited time is further optimized – less time is spent on back-end, operational tasks, such as locating critical assets, and instead put towards enhancing the guests’ stay.

The unique features of active RFID technologies also make it possible for hotel staff to receive continuous updates and data tracking that enable real-time room turnover analysis. This data provides managers with complete visibility into guest wait times for check-in, the amount of time it takes to clean rooms, and reports of room availability. Active RFID technologies not only improve a broad range of essential operational functions within hospitality settings, but also achieve the overarching goal of improving the guest experience by immediately identifying bottlenecks in the operations.

Successful implementations of RFID technologies have been concentrated within the healthcare industry for many years – and these cases prove its viability for use within the hospitality industry.

The governmental mandates of panic buttons for hotel employees in cities across the U.S. further highlight the necessity for certainty-based, active RFID in this space. And the added benefits of the technology to enhance operational efficiencies make its use in hotels critical to improving bottom lines.

By delivering consistent, 100% accurate reports, active RFID technology ensures that employees feel safe and secure, while also delivering precise asset tracking and management. Ultimately, this technology solution improves the guest experience and ensures maximized ROI. Easy deployment of panic buttons reaches the ideal solution of employee safety, workflow efficiency, and optimal guest satisfaction.