In the hospitality industry, employees need an extra layer of security. TraknProtect leverages HERE Venues and HERE Indoor Positioning to ensure the safety of hotel staffers.

Last week, I checked into a hotel in preparation for a week of working at the HERE CES 2019 booth during CES Las Vegas. As I headed to my room, I crossed paths with a bellman wheeling an empty luggage cart, and a housekeeper going about her daily duties...

This series of events made me think about the importance of a partnership we recently developed with TraknProtect. A wearable safety device, it provides a real-time location platform that integrates accurate sensor data into security and operations systems for those working in the hospitality industry.

Safety first

Hotel staffers that tend to work in intimate, isolated areas often find themselves in precarious positions with complete strangers. These one-on-one encounters have the potential to turn dangerous, leaving them at risk of everything from verbal intimidation to full-on physical assault.

The TraknProtect platform can increase vulnerable staffers peace of mind. The wearable safety buttons are equipped with algorithmic location information that instantly pinpoints their whereabouts when pressed.

(While similar text-alert security systems already exist, many are outdated and/or imprecise, providing approximate location information as opposed to exact.)

When activated, the TraknProtect safety device sends its precise location to hotel management and security, followed by continual alerts for half an hour after activation. Responders then access a mobile app or web portal to instantly gain map-based visual context for exactly where assistance is needed. For instance, instead of searching for room 1422 once stepping off the elevator, they can see which way to turn, which hall to take, where the stairwells are, and if the employee has moved since activating the sensor.

Enabling efficiency for every element

When introducing a tracking solution, providing help on demand is just one aspect of the company's capabilities. When third-party vendors are working on site, TraknProtect can provide ID cards (monitored through proprietary “heat maps”) that ensure temporary contractors are where they're supposed to be. Similar inventory trackers can be placed on physical assets that are in constant motion within a hotel.

For example, TraknProtect would give the bell desk the ability to quickly see where all of the luggage carts are located throughout the property. At the end of a shift when carts need to be retrieved, a hotel porter can go straight to each one, rather than checking every floor to see where they were left behind.

Another example – a sensor can even be placed on a room-service tray. When a guest has finished their meal, the tray can be placed outside the door. When the sensor detects that it has left the room, it automatically alerts relevant staff that it needs to be retrieved.

Solutions like these utilize precise indoor maps to make people safer and jobs simpler – an effort we’re proud to be a part of. Interested in how indoor maps can be put to work for your company or venue? Learn more about our indoor mapping solutions.