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18.12.2009: 3T Monitor helps Rezidor hotels

How the 3T Monitor helps our hotels assess and focus resources in safety and security planning and procedures.

At the Rezidor Hotel Group we recognized a few years ago that maintaining high levels of safety and security at over 300 hotels in almost 50 countries was not something that would be fully achievable through a centralized security program based on command and control. We have hotels that range in size from 40 to 1200 rooms. Some are located in cities with an excellent infra-structure while others are remote resorts that need to be more self-suffi cient. Some are simple stand alone hotels others are located in airport terminals, shopping centers or other multi-use complexes. The only way we could maintain high levels of safety and security at all of these hotels in all of these locations would be through the everyday actions of every employee at every level in every hotel.

Therefor, our motto for safety and security is "Always Care". Like the Yes-I-Can! service our major brands are renowned for, "Always Care" emphasized the personal responsibility every employee is expected to take to ensure the safety and security of people and property in all of our hotels.

Last year the Rezidor Hotel Group launched its' new safety and security program, T+R+I+C=S. TRIC=S stands for Threat Assessment + Risk Evaluation + Incident Response +
Crisis Management = Safe, Secure Hotels.

The 3T Monitor self-assessment program plays an important part of the "R" in TRIC=S. It is an excellent selfassessment tool our hotel managers can use to evaluate the risks in their hotels. Here is a brief background into how we developed it and what our experiences have been since it was launched exactly one
year ago.

Having recognized the need for decentralization and empowerment to our hotel managers, we had takethe fi rst step which was to take a new approach to our manual and guidelines. Producing procedures is the same
as command and control. We knew that would not be effective. Instead we introduced the idea of objectives.
Goals for every one of more than 50 chapters within our Four Cornerstone foundation: Guest Safety, Employee Safety, Operational Security and Fire Safety.

For each objective, we introduced three risk evaluation questions. Questions hotels could ask themselves to help decide if there was a risk that they weren't meeting the set objectives. The new binder we produced was well-received, but it was still a binder. Binders, books and manuals have a tendency to end up on the shelf, looking pretty but not being particularly useful on a day to day basis. Considering that we had realized that
safety and security was dependent on everyday actions at every hotel, we started to look for a way to bring the
binder off the shelf. We never really did fi nd a solution, but to our great benefit a solution found us when we were approached by our Finnish franchise partners, SOK. They were using the 3T Monitor, but wanted
content. We had content and we saw the 3T Monitor as a way of bringing the binder to life. Together we made
it happen.

The risk evaluation questions from the binder are now the self-audit questions in our version of the 3T Monitor. Since we have our four cornerstones, we release one set of questions to the system each quarter. By the end of the year, we know our hotels have reviewed the entire safety and security program objectives. In addition, a "best practice" button beside each question brings up examples of how some hotels in the group have chosen to meet the objective the question asks about.

The response from our general managers has been phenomenal. As with all new computer-based reporting systems we were prepared for complaints, but we have had close to zero. We were also prepared for the fact that this might be a "hard sell" to hotels, even though we offered it for free. In the fi rst year, every single managed property and a good number of our franchises accessed the system and did their self-audits.

The feedback we received was excellent. We also had to smile when more than one manager commented on the fact that the "Best Practice" button led them to some very useful examples. We didn't have the heart to
tell them that the examples were all found in the binder on the shelf in their offi ce, but we did rejoice in the
knowledge that the 3T Monitor had fulfilled its role in bringing the binder to life!

As a group we can now easily spot areas that we need to focus on and improve. Last year our goal was to get hotels to use the system, this we have goals that are targeting specific improvements in certain areas where
compliance with the objectives was lower than average. All in all our hotels received an exceptional score of over 90% average compliance with objectives. By having the opportunity to focus our support, we hope to see that number continue to rise.

The real success though, is that the 3T Monitor provides us with a unique tool that empowers our general managers to easily keep an eye on their own situation and to assist them in following up the everyday actions of every employee at every level, something we know will play a key
role in maintaining low risk levels in our hotels.

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