Business View Magazine | January 2020

41 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JANUARY 2020 HOSP I TAL I TY TECHNOLOGY NEXT GENERAT ION brands better understand the contactless payments-enabled solutions currently available and help drive other solutions to accept contactless payments. Staff Alert Technology In today’s world, risks and threats are growing and it is becoming increasingly difficult to protect employees from privacy invasion, assault, noise, drug and human trafficking, and in the rare, but horrific instances, terrorists or active shooters. In 2018, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) created a 5-Star Promise with five of the country’s largest hotel chains committing that their properties would provide employees across the U.S. with employee safety devices, having a goal of broad implementation by 2020. Additionally, many U.S. cities have mandated this requirement including New York, Washington D.C., Chicago and Seattle. HTNG partnered up with AHLA and grew upon the 5-Star Promise with its Staff Alert Technology Workgroup. Earlier this year, the group released a Device Buyer’s Guide to point hospitality companies in the right direction whether at the start or during the process of device adoption. Although many people outside of the hospitality industry recognize this safety impact, those outside of the field may not realize the difficulty of actually selecting and implementing a safety button. Here are some initial questions to consider: • The panic button might use GPS tracking, but how can it track vertically in a tall hotel building? • Should someone rush to the scene if a button is pressed? How do you know if the person may have an immediate health concern or if there is an active shooter where backup units are preferred?