U.S. hotel staff to get panic buttons for protection

Tens of thousands of employees at more than 18,000 U.S. hotels will soon carry panic buttons to help protect them from harassment and assault in an era of heightened awareness around the #MeToo movement.

More than a dozen big hotel chains — including Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Wyndham — said that they will provide personal safety devices by 2020 to all employees who deal one-on-one with guests. The companies will also train staff to identify and report harassment and publish antisexual harassment policies in multiple languages.

The devices will vary by hotel. In a new Wi-Fienabled hotel, for example, companies could give out devices that automatically send the employee’s location to security officers. In an older or smaller hotel, they might distribute devices that emit a loud shriek.

The American Hotel and Lodging Association, which is backing the effort, says about three-quarters of its 25,000 member hotels are participating. It is working with harassment and human trafficking organizations to develop training and testing devices to help hotels figure out what works best.

This isn’t the first time hotels have given panic buttons to staff. New York has required them since 2012, after a hotel maid there accused French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn of sexually assaulting her in his suite. Chicago and Seattle began requiring them more recently.

But increasing public discussion about harassment and the #MeToo movement has given the effort a new sense of urgency. Red Roof Inn, Best Western, AccorHotels, Four Seasons and Caesar’s are other participants in the rare display of unity from a fiercely competitive industry.

Marriott plans to make the devices standard at all of its nearly 5,000 hotels in North America by 2020, eventually expanding them globally.

Rani Accettola, a housekeeper at the Embassy Suites by Hilton in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, has a safety fob clipped to the front of her uniform at all times. If she presses a button, hotel managers and security are immediately notified of her location. Accettola said the system gives her an added feeling of security, especially when she works late.

“At any moment, help is there if you should need it,” she said.

It’s unclear how often the devices will be used, but harassment of hotel staff is an ongoing issue. In a 2016 survey of 500 housekeepers in Chicago, 49 per cent said guests had flashed them, exposed themselves or opened the door naked.