Are We Safe Yet?

From automatic close-and-lock systems to highly sophisticated electronic keycards, hotels have turned into digital fortresses. But are the measures enough? Seasoned specialists and hoteliers talk about security trends, challenges and the road ahead.

- Madhulika Dash

Circa 2012: The mood at Black Hat annual security conference at New York is pensive. Cody Brocious, a software developer, has just demonstrated a major snafu in the company’s programmable key card locks. He showcased how the lock codes could be easily hacked to gain access to millions of rooms using easily accessible hardware and a little programming know-how. What threw the tech experts off the hook was his admission that many would have already figured this venerability and put to test too!

What ensued was a complete reassessment and readjustment as the company went on an overdrive to set the door system right. Since then, door security has undergone a 180 degree shift with companies designing hard-to-breach systems that would provide more security. The recent addition to this constantly changing segment is the Onity Directkey system.

A step up from the key accessed floors that many hotels including Shangri-La and Novotel employ as an added security measure on the guest floors, Direct key system uses cloud-based key credentialing and Bluetooth technology to allow hotel guests to securely download their assigned key to their smartphone through the hotel’s loyalty app for easy access to their guest room and other access-controlled areas.

Currently available at almost 100 Hilton properties in USA after a 4-month successful trial, the technology is billed to make hotel stay safer. And in turn,safeguard the hotel’s reputation as well.

Agrees Cajetan Araujo, hotel manager, The St. Regis Mumbai, “Gone are the days when a hotel’s luxury offering could garner guests, today a guest safety, protection and overall well being during their stay is the crucial factor in determining a hotel’s reputation.”