15 years
There is a small chain with a regular lock and the room mate assured us he locked his locker...
Hostel Security
Front Desk Operations
(Please feel free to move this post to another section if you feel it is more appropriate there.)
I am thinking about opening up a hostel in Philadelphia, but I am just a little concerned about running an all-hours business in a city that has had and does still have some crime issues.
It's not that the city is unsafe or anything. I love living here. It's just that the streets feel less safe at night than streets in many of the major European cities I've hostelled in. Also, bars and clubs almost all close at 2am here, so there are generally less people out and about during the early morning hours.
I was wondering if there are any hostel owners out there from other major US cities who could offer me some advice on hostel security. I've read a lot of great things on this forum about preventing theft and other "internal" crimes, but not too much on what kind of security measures are taken to secure the building from unwanted outside visitors.
Of course I welcome the opinions of people working in non-US city hostels as well. I just suggested American cities at first because we (unfortunately) seem to have a bigger crime rate here.
Thanks for any help you might be able to give!
- Comments
15 years
There is a small chain with a regular lock and the room mate assured us he locked his locker...
Strange... do you think he could have picked the lock?
15 years
The lock didn't look forced or anything.... no scratches or dents...
Maybe the thief was a pro? It's possible to pick locks without scratching them, especially the smaller padlocks.
15 years
One time we had someone pry the back/top off of a metal locker. We've also had someone come in with bolt cutters and snap the locks right off.
Short of having a metal detector at the front entrance, if you have provided a locker, there's not anything more you can do. I
know how you feel as i used to feel horrible when guests had stuff go missing.
I thought the feeling would be gone once we got lockers for each guest but i still felt badly when the two things described above happened. But i've found that guests usually don't blame you for things like this.
I've just tried to empathize and help them get a police report filed. That's all you can do really.
Here's one more thought however. It IS possible the guest forgot to lock his locker. I can't tell you how many times guests have assured me they did something they didn't. Like accuse us of stealing something only to find they repacked that item in some other place...
15 years
Yeah.
Right now the pax came and threatenned to call so many places I have no idea of how to deal with this. He´s really ticked off.
We´ve opened 1 month ago, we have a 91% in hostelbookers...
15 years
I have no idea how the authorities are in argentina, but in the usa no cop is going to come out to the hostel because something was stolen.
You need to be polite and try to get the guest to calm down. Then you need to offer empathy - tell them of a time when you had something stolen - and explain again that if the locker was locked by the guest then you have no idea how things were taken. Also explain the reality that there are people who make their living ripping off guests in hostels across the world. while rare it does happen and you've provided a secure locker for that.
What i'm not clear on - did you provide the lock or did the guest? if their lock then if they get too out of hand you can dismiss them. if your lock you'll will need to stay emphathic without.
ask them if they have travel insurance and offer to help them get the paperwork together. you can write a letter to the insurance stating that the guest REPORTED items missing. Don't confirm that they were taken as you really have no proof of that.
Offer to help them with the local police to fill out a police report which they will need if they have travel insurance.
If you can't get them to calm down and be reasonable you have three choices . toss them out (not a great thing - be ready for them to trash you on reviews), deal with it until they leave or offer to comp their stay - not admitting fault because it wasn't your fault, but to 'help them out' while they sort things out. We've done this in the past and it usually helps a little.
He'll probably demand compensation of some sort but - again, not knowing the laws there - in the USA if you've provided 'reasonable' security accomodation then we are not liable for thefts. A locker and lock is reasonable.
and finally, don't be freaked by the threats. I used to get totally wacked out by it and after being threatened repeatedly now, i'm used to it. They are just upset and need to take it out on someone. And, you unfortunately are the target. Just try to understand where they are coming from.
15 years
Here's one more thought however. It IS possible the guest forgot to lock his locker. I can't tell you how many times guests have assured me they did something they didn't.
That's a good possibility... :)
15 years
The more happens the more I suspect he left the laptop on top of the bed.
We are trying our best to keep him calmed and to understand our responsibilities, but he insists in adding more stuff to what he originally declared as "missing" and threatening to call the media...????????
15 years
We are trying our best to keep him calmed and to understand our responsibilities, but he insists in adding more stuff to what he originally declared as "missing" and threatening to call the media...????????
Was it his own lock or the hostel's lock?
These things happen occasionally and there's no way to prevent all of them.
I remember one time someone came to the front desk and claimed he and his roommate had their wallets stolen. It only took about 2 minutes to figure out that the guy who reported the crime had performed the crime. We called the cops but there was nothing even they could do. The guy lost his wallet and hopefully learned never to leave it alone in a dorm room again...
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