Cassie Steele – HospitalityLawyer.com

Legal Issues in the Hospitality Sector

Cassie Steele — Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:00:01 +0000

The Hospitality Sector has many unique legal issues, and the number of crimes involving Hospitality Laws continues to rise. There were 2656 hotel crimes committed in New York in 2017 alone. Hotels and bars restaurants are the two most common sites of hospitality crimes. Legal issues in the hospitality sector most often involve the theft of guest property, the safety of a business’ staff, or failure to meet safety standards for the property.

Property Crimes Still Dominate the Hospitality Sector

The majority of hotel crimes are property related. Burglary and theft are the two most common crimes in hotels and most hospitality-based businesses. Hospitality businesses are expected to provide a safe environment to their clients. Many clients have begun seeking legal action not only against the thieves, but the service providers as well. Evidence suggests that this number is tied to poor security practices and that many property crimes could be avoided.

Security for Your Staff

Harassment and discrimination crimes continue to soar in the hospitality sector. One poll of 300 workers in the hospitality sector showed that 89% had been sexually harassed by guests or fellow employees at some point. Of those, around 56% said that the harassment came from a member of the public or a client. Staff safety and avoidance of bullying for physical and mental health reasons however, is a priority.

Furthermore, legal issues regarding tip pools and Fair Labor Management are expected to become an important topic soon. In countries like America and the UK, prices in the hospitality sector are expected to fluctuate due to recent changes in policy. This means businesses trying to maintain their same wages and practices may soon fail to meet minimum wage laws, overtime laws, and more.

Negligence Maintaining Buildings and Permits Persists

For management, the most common legal issues still involve business maintenance. Laws regarding expiring building permits and health codes are expected to become stricter soon. The rate of legal cases involving tax obligations and trademark issues has remained steady for the time being.

The hospitality sector currently faces several legal issues. Discrimination and harassment are unfortunately considered common in the hospitality sector. Property theft and burglary are the most common legal issues facing guests and clients in the hospitality sector. The most common legal issues for management in the hospitality sector continue to be issues regarding health codes, expiring building permits, and tax or trademark issues that businesses have chosen to ignore.

Boosting Team Morale And Productivity In Your Hospitality Business

Cassie Steele — Thu, 13 Sep 2018 16:00:05 +0000

The success of your hospitality business relies on the strength of your team. Happy and engaged employees who feel strongly part of a team are more likely to perform well and achieve best results. For example, highly-engaged employees achieve twice the annual net income of organizations with poorly-engaged employees, Forbes reports. In the hospitality industry, it can be a struggle to boost team morale largely due to long, irregular hours and high turnover rate. But it’s your job to take steps to foster an environment that’s more team-oriented and rewarding for your employees, and consequently, your bottom line.

Schedule fun activities

Getting your staff regularly involved in fun activities unrelated to work will strengthen team bonds. Host a monthly team lunch or icebreaker game which requires them to work together to solve a problem. As your employees develop stronger relationships, they’ll become more motivated at work — even more so since won’t want to let the team down. You could also offer food discounts or free meals to encourage your team to eat with each other at the restaurant — keep work-talk to a minimum. Ultimately, you want to create bonds which go beyond the workplace.

Celebrate accomplishments together

Taking the time to celebrate employee accomplishments will boost their happiness, engagement, and even their length of employment. 74% of employees who hadn’t celebrated accomplishments with their co-workers said they were more likely to leave their jobs, Globoforce found. Track employee accomplishments — whether it be a receptionist with consistently excellent customer feedback or a cook who flipped the most burgers in a shift — and celebrate with the whole team. Thank your stand-out employee publicly and perhaps reward them with gift cards. This will prevent employee dissatisfaction and limit turnover rate.

Deal with negativity head on

It’s natural for hospitality employees to feel discouraged sometimes. Rather than just waiting for it to blow over, proactively work to find and implement solutions. Talk with your employees about why they’re feeling down and look for ways to you can provide better help and support. You may feel uncomfortable at first, but you’ll soon become used to managing these situations — and the honest, valuable, and actionable feedback you receive will be worth it. After all, happy employees are 12% more productive, which means more revenue for your business.

Ultimately, hospitality is a high-pressured and fast-paced industry which can often leave staff feeling overwhelmed and demoralized. You should continuously work to boost team morale, so your employees keep coming to work each day with renewed enthusiasm. Not only will you cultivate a happy workplace, but you’ll also reap the benefits financially, too.

Do You Need Event Security and How to Handle It

Cassie Steele — Sat, 28 Jul 2018 16:00:52 +0000

Preparing Hospitality Event Security

Meetings and events are crucial to the growth of the US economy contributing $446 billion to GDP in 2016. Business services and the insurance company contributed the most to this figure followed by food & beverage, hotel & lodging and travel & tourism. Preparing for a hospitality event not only involves logistics such as equipment, food & drinks and other paraphernalia. Event security is an important part of any gathering and it is through careful planning and preparation that its success is guaranteed.

An Overview of the Event is Key to Ensure its Security

Event security is attained if there is full control of the meeting. This means that organizers must have an accurate scenario of the entire event in all its stages from design to execution. One of the most important activities in planning and managing security is site inspection. Scanning the venue for possible threats, vulnerabilities and strengths can help in the preparation of a security plan. Strategic check-in spots, emergency exits, assembly points and parking can be defined by doing an in-depth tour of the event premises.

Furthermore, information on how the venue handles emergencies as well as a history of its past response to crises, injuries or deaths assist in designing an appropriate security strategy. In short, ongoing risk assessments in event security ensure the safety of participants and the venue, according to an Event Risk Assessment Guide published by the University of Western Australia.

Event Security Blueprint

Creating a team and sub-teams will ensure that there is someone responsible for specific tasks whether it is to coordinate with the lead agency organizing the event or to identify specific risks and threats. Preparing an organizational chart will also make sure that everyone knows with whom to communicate regarding security. The org chart can become the lifeline of the event especially for new hires and employees (Pingboard.com).

A significant threat that should not be overlooked is cyberattacks. Every 39 seconds, a hacker strikes affecting the lives of 1 in 3 Americans according to the Clarke School study at the University of Maryland. The average cost of a data breach is expected to climb to $150 million by 2020 based on a Juniper Research. A group can easily infiltrate the on-site information systems of the event. The system will contain data on communications, security plans, access areas, surveillance, utilities, automated locking mechanisms and other information technology. If information gets into the wrong hands, it can compromise the safety of participants & organizers or inflict damage to property.

The security of meetings and events is dependent on how well organizers plan and review existing and potential risks. Full control of the site and its vulnerabilities also guarantee that the appropriate responses are generated should emergencies or attacks occur. Only then can an event proceed smoothly with minimal disruptions.