Marriott International hotels in "high-risk" areas operate at the greatest level of security, but despite these cautionary procedures some properties still have been targets of terrorist attacks, according to Marriott regional security director Jay Galindo, speaking here at the National Business Travel Association conference. His presentation flustered some travel buyers, who questioned whether certain Marriott locations deserved spots in their preferred hotel programs.
Galindo mostly addressed the bombings that took place at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower Hotel and the Oberoi Trident Hotel in Mumbai last November, where a nearby J.W. Marriott was also at risk. More recently, in July, Ritz-Carlton and J.W. Marriott properties in Jakarta were bombed. Other attacks on Marriott hotels occurred in 2003 in Jakarta and in 2008 in Islamabad.
"Marriott is like McDonald's or the U.S. embassy," said iJet Intelligent Risk Systems president Bruce McIndoe. "These are high-profile, iconic environments. Walking into the Marriott is no different than walking into a U.S.-flagged building or flying a U.S. airline."
As Marriott expands globally, it continues to open properties in high-risk areas because "if we don't, someone else will," said Galindo.
In Jakarta, the J.W. Marriott was at level red--its highest threat level--and security still was breached. Galindo said several precautions were taken: All entrances and beach areas were manned by armed police officers, only registered guests were allowed to enter and walk-in reservations were not accepted. The hotel also used sniffing dogs at all entrances to check guests and their luggage, the loading dock areas and employees, and additional security personnel were deployed inside and outside the building.
Even so, the terrorists were "trained in military tactics and had knowledge of the facility's layout," enabling them to evade surveillance cameras, Galindo said. The end result was at least eight dead and 50 injured, according to the Associated Press.
Galindo's discussion unnerved attendee Randy La Bouve, buyer and supervisor of international travel for ConocoPhilips. La Bouve said he pulled both Marriott properties in Jakarta from his preferred hotel list after the bombings and questioned Galindo on how hotels can regain their customers' trust.
"The odds of being at a hotel that gets attacked by terrorists are very, very small, but also we go into some high-risk places," Galindo responded. "We will take every measure that we can. We have studied what failed and what worked in Jakarta--the numbers in Jakarta could have been much worse. We have a lot of procedures to make sure that we are keeping up to date on our best security measures."
Galindo said high-risk properties undergo audits conducted by an outside security agency that monitors whether the hotels meet Marriott's mandated standards. However, Galindo acknowledged that certain measures are not always taken due to budget constraints. "You have these finance people who don't want to spend money, but that can deteriorate the security procedures," he said. "We make sure that we are on top of that and require that all of the security equipment be operating at all times."
Looking to the future, Galindo said third-party security professionals, along with Marriott's security team, will analyze security measures more often and hotels will install more security cameras, blast protection on windows and panic alarms.
The Corporation's Role
Travel managers can proactively ensure their travelers' safety without relying solely on hotel security, according to Scott Maxson, director of corporate physical security and safety for Hewitt Associates, a human resources consulting and outsourcing company.
A corporation should have a complete and solid continuity plan, Maxson said. That should include people and processes in place to immediately locate travelers and transfer phone calls, a security risk management team and clearly defined duties for employees tasked with emergency response.
After the Mumbai attacks--during which Hewitt had "multiple travelers on the ground, including one at the bombed Oberoi Trident Hotel--the company altered its duty-of-care policy to inform travelers about the importance of booking preferred hotels, not just for the savings but as a means to more easily locate travelers, Maxson said. "We came to find that [the travelers'] administrative assistants were working special deals with other hotels" in both domestic and non-U.S. locations, he explained.
Maxson's department also now sends to travelers pretrip briefings about any potential risks in the areas to which they are traveling, as well as alerts during their trips, when necessary.
Maxson noted that Hewitt now uses NotiFind, a communication tool furnished by SunGard Availability Services that allows employees to conference call during a crisis, issues reports on employee safety and grants access to important messages or instructions.
"I wish I could tell you that everything works perfectly and we have it all figured out," Maxson said, "but it is a work in progress."