I was asked to comment on the Hotel Security Management discussion group regarding: “Now that upper management has gotten used to the cuts that were made in hotel security, does anyone have an expectation that staffing or labor hours will increase once an economic turnaround occurs?”

My professional opinion is that what we are now experiencing is the adjustment to the continuing “do more with less” philosophy in Hotel Security staffing. We were originally asked to cut some Security positions to help the overall labor reduction goals of a year ago. Then the “new normal” discussion came into play.  What we have morphed into are Security Departments that more closely mirror other hotel departments than in the past. Security staffing levels have gone from the old fixed staffing, to the “new normal” of adjusting staffing levels each week to levels established based on planned occupancy.

The up side of this weekly exercise is to involve more Security Directors in the P&L process of their hotels. Although Security historically has been seen as a non-revenue department, Security Directors can now highlight their business side and be part of the revenue retention discussion, while still maintaining a level of safety and security our guests and team members expect and deserve.

View  the entire discussion.