Hotel Security: How to Protect Guests and Keep Their Trust

Most guests never think about hotel security, and that is exactly how it should be. Yet behind every calm lobby sit decisions about risk, information and people that determine how a property performs when something goes wrong. So what does good security look like in a hotel, and where do most properties slip?

Jose Ruiz, Director of Security at Four Seasons, has spent twenty years protecting people and companies. He is a criminologist and leads security at a luxury resort on Mexico's Pacific coast. In his view, security in hospitality belongs to the guest experience itself.

Why hotel security is part of the guest experience

In Ruiz's experience, the biggest challenge in asset protection is trust. Luxury guests are often executives and business owners who know that bad things can happen. What they remember is how the hotel dealt with the problem and how it made them feel during the process.

He uses Maslow's pyramid to explain the challenge. These guests have long since met their basic needs, and because safety sits at the base of that pyramid, they take it for granted. The task is to let them relax and enjoy their stay without thinking about their safety at all, trusting that professionals take care of it.

From response to risk management to culture

Ruiz describes how the approach to security has changed, especially in the last ten years. He sees four stages:

• Response: a well trained team with clear processes that solves problems quickly when something goes wrong.
• Control and protocol: avoiding bad situations wherever possible by following set procedures.
• Risk management: identifying risks in advance and handling them with organisational, physical or procedural measures.
• Culture: shaping how people think, so that safe behaviour simply becomes the way things are done here.

The last stage is the hardest. His example comes from the kitchen, where staff must wear specific protective shoes for certain tasks. When a new colleague arrives and the rest of the team reminds him to put on his protective equipment, the culture is doing the work, without anyone from security in the room.

Rules and standards only stick when people understand that the measures protect them as well as the company. At the same time, Ruiz says, security leaders must accept that safety is not every colleague's main focus, and let people be their best at their own job.

“If the security and safety team is alone, your company will not be well protected.”

Jose Ruiz, 8:06

He compares the organisation to a boat. Sometimes security has to tell the captain to change course because a storm is coming.

Hard calls: weather, cancellations and revenue

Some threats depend on location. At a property on the Pacific coast, hurricanes are a yearly risk. Sometimes that means the sales team has to call a guest and advise them to cancel their trip for their own safety. Ruiz calls this a responsible process: be transparent, give up the income for now, and protect both people and reputation. In his experience, many guests notice that the hotel took the situation in hand and chose their safety over an invoice.

Weather can also move faster than the forecast. He recalls a hurricane in Acapulco years ago that the forecast did not predict and that grew within about five hours. A corporate security director with a global meeting there evacuated everyone three hours before impact, against strong pushback. It proved the best decision he could have made. For Ruiz, the lesson is that security must be the voice that puts hard conversations on the table.

Two common hotel security mistakes

Asked which mistakes hotels of every size make, Ruiz names two. Simple, but critical:

• Not informing guests on time. Staff often try to avoid giving bad news. Ruiz is convinced that guests prefer to hear about a suspicious or difficult situation on time and to understand what the hotel is doing about it.
• Failing to de-escalate. When a guest's emotions run high, a small issue can turn into a bigger one. Staff should understand and validate the emotion and offer qualified service, which does not mean agreeing with everything the guest says.

He considers de-escalation the most critical ability anyone in security can learn, and especially in hospitality, where the product is an experience. It is also the core of how to handle guest complaints.

Information security: the most overlooked risk

The risk Ruiz sees underestimated most often is information. People post everything they do, and a single message to a friend or a post on social media about a well known guest at the property can make the whole organisation vulnerable. In his view, most social engineering starts with this kind of leak.

“Information security is misunderstood on some levels and requires the cooperation of the entire people around the organization.”

Jose Ruiz, 16:27

His example: years ago, a world famous sports figure arrived at a resort, and a team member took a selfie with him in the background. The local community quickly learned he was there. Within a few hours a large group wanted to get inside, and the guest left the property by helicopter and did not want to come back. The employee meant no harm, which is why awareness matters.

How to build security awareness in a hotel team

Ruiz explains principles in simple language, with ideas staff can use every day:

• Start with their own lives: teach staff how to protect their personal information on social media. Once they understand the principles, many begin to apply them at work too.
• Make training a game: people connect more with awareness training when it feels like play.
• Test the phone lines: his team sometimes calls in while playing a role, to see whether staff share hotel information or connect outside callers to rooms. The same rules apply to a hotel answering service.
• Keep it actionable: simple processes and skills people can use throughout their careers, backed by a security department that guides them.

As he puts it, this is not rocket science. Good hotel security depends on ordinary people making small, sensible choices every day.

What comes next: AI, fraud and holiday rentals

Looking three to five years ahead, Ruiz expects information security to remain a major issue, especially if protection does not evolve as fast as criminals do. AI helps protect organisations, he says, but it also gives criminals new options, such as a video call with a convincing copy of someone's face and voice. He expects pressure on payment methods, card protection, guest identity and fraud. The same care belongs in hotel automation behind the scenes.

He also points to vacation rentals, whose service and quality keep improving. His answer is that hotels must keep offering an outstanding experience that other markets cannot match, and that the consistency of that service is part of what security protects.

“Since the asset protection perspective, the quality and the consistency of the service is the most valuable asset that we can have and provide for our clients.”

Jose Ruiz, 26:03

To hear these stories in his own words, watch the full conversation.

Frequently asked questions

What does hotel security involve?

In Jose Ruiz's view it covers far more than guards and cameras. It includes responding well when something goes wrong, following clear protocols, managing risks in advance with organisational, physical and procedural measures, protecting information, and building a culture in which every employee helps keep guests and colleagues safe. Done well, guests simply feel they are in professional hands.

What are the most common security mistakes hotels make?

Ruiz names two. The first is not informing guests on time about a suspicious or difficult situation, because staff want to avoid bad news. The second is failing to de-escalate when a guest's emotions run high. He considers de-escalation the most critical skill in hospitality security, because calmer emotions let people focus on solving the problem.

Why is information security such a risk for hotels?

Because a single photo, message or remark about who is staying at the property can expose a guest. Ruiz describes a selfie with a famous sports figure that drew a crowd to a resort within hours, after which the guest left by helicopter and did not return. In his view, most social engineering starts with information like this.