As hotel businesses pull out every stop to aid recovery following the worst ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic, hoteliers are being warned to make sure practices conform to law and staff who have concerns are not vilified.
Brian Moore, director at Global Secure Accreditation, an independent global standard for hotel security, said this is a particularly risky time for the sector, with demand being high, staffing low, revenues depleted and costs extremely high.
“We know good owners will want to be vigilant, listen to their people and not retaliate when they do raise concerns,” he said.
Moore said he has seen evidence that so-called whistleblowers — employees who point out practices that they deem dangerous, wrong and potentially illegal — are being sidelined as businesses ignore warnings in the pursuit of profits.
Law in the United Kingdom also is set to change soon on the matter, he said.
Recently, an experienced manager told Moore that he was worried about security in his bar being low late at night when risks are potentially at their highest and that his comments on the situation were ignored.
“He said the hotel in question was not willing to make changes as it would cost money and deplete [food and beverage] revenue that is so valuable to the bottom line. I could see three or four grounds as a qualifying disclosure. His alarm was not recognized,” Moore said.
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