The Impact Of The Paris Attack On Hotel Safety And Security Systems

Legislative Changes after the Paris Attack

Question:

Discuss about the Emergency Procedures For Hospitality Organisations.

The Paris attack occurred on the 13^th of November in the year 2015 and the act of terrorism shook France to the core. It occurred in the November 13^th. The world almost stopped for France when the city of Paris was attacked as it was the heart of the France. The maximum amount of sufferers of the country was the tourists that stayed in the hotels of Paris. Almost 130 people lost their life on account of the Paris attack (Bbc.com, 2017). This incident brought great changes in the legislation of France. The French parliament has overwhelmingly approved the sweeping new surveillance powers in the wake of the terrorist attacks in Paris. The French president convened the Council of ministers on Saturday during the evening of 13 November. The first and foremost legislative change that occurred soon after the attack was that the state was declared under the emergency situation. The mobilization of police forces, the gendarmerie and soldiers continues to be deployed within three days. The border controls were restored by the president (Iacobucci and Toope 2015).

There were some legislative changes that occurred after the attack. This included the warrantless house searches are authorized night and day, unless the house is occupied by a lawyer or a Member of Parliament. This authority was granted by the Home Affairs minister or the Perfect of a region. The law included that the prosecutors will be notified without further delay (Henderson et al. 2010).

Soon after the attack the warrantless searches of the electronic devices were authorized. It was designed so that the data can be accessed and copied by the enforcement of the law. The legislative change was brought in the decision of the government who had the right to dissolve groups or associations that actively participates in the execution of the acts that represents a serious infringement to the public order or the activities of whom facilitate or incite the execution of such acts (Ortmeier 2017).

The next change that was brought was the law was reinforced where the step was taken to allow the concerned authorities to block the websites that promoted the act of terrorism, without the intervention of a judge. There was an enforcement of anti-terrorism law. The biggest change was brought when the French President announced the proposal to modify the French constitution (Paraskevas 2013).

Hotel Safety and Security Systems

However the incident abused the fundamental rights and there was lot of impacts on the Muslims in France. They are at a high risk of stigmatization and having their social links broken down. The changes claimed the nation to be much more triumph democracy (Nytimes.com, 2017). The changes brought in the democracy made the situations for the tourists much better and they were formed with the aim of improving the condition of the tourists as well as the inhabitants better. The changes were implemented from the January attack itself. The legislative changes in Paris were remarkable and they had a great impact in the running of the government smoothly (Groenenboom and Jones 2003). The aim of the formation of the acts was to bring the nation out of the threat of the future terrorist’s attacks (Wilks, Stephen and Moore 2013).

'Hotel safety and security systems: bridging the gap between managers and guests', International Journal of Hospitality Management, March, no. 32, pp. 202–216 Mest, CE (2015)

The following journal article includes the matter of safety and security of the guests of any hotel. The safety and security are always considered to be the most important factors for any hotel. The owners of the hotel usually follow the local regulations while designing the safety and security of the hotel. The article includes the fact that the gap between the hotel safety and security`s managers` and hotel guests` perceptions of the relative importance of safety and security facilities. It includes two sets of questionnaires that have been designed for the managers and the guests. The questionnaires are about the attributes that were used to gauge the respondent`s perceptions of different hotel safety and security system installations. The findings revealed that the guests perceive the well-equipped fire prevention systems in accordance with the local regulations. It was referred as an emergency plan. On the contrary the managers of the hotel perceive the close-circuit television systems for the public areas of the hotel. The final results included a fine matching between the two thoughts. However the end of the article concluded with the fact that the managers must understand the expectations of the guests. The gap addition includes the study that discusses the importance of the staff security and security training. It also includes the acceptance of the high-tech safety and security systems and the necessity of female guest floors and provides a huge number of insights to help the hotel managers to better understand the need of the customers which in return allows the mangers to employ measures that are likely to keep the satisfaction of the customers (Woo 2015).

The Impact of the Paris Attack on the Hotel and Hospitality Sector

According to Chan and Lam (2013), it is the duty of the hotel and hospitality sector to ensure that the people visiting the places are safe from any type of mistreatment. Customers visit these places in order to relax, enjoy and spend quality time trying to understand the place. However, in the modern days, it is seen that the threat of terrorist attacks has dampened the spirits of the people in visiting different places. Terrorist attacks have become a sudden trend in most countries particularly due to the cold war that exists between certain countries over political reasons. Hence, common people find it difficult to lead a healthy life without any fear of terrorist activities. The advent of the Paris attacks in November 2015 has resulted in the rise of such a fear among the people. As such many hotels and restaurants have increased the security level in order to protect the safeguard of the customers.

Understanding the source of the attacks is one of the major points that need to be followed. Terrorists may attack from different sources that are unpredictable to the normal people. However, it is not always possible for every person to analyse and improve security in every place. Hence, the basic protocols need to be followed in order to mitigate the threat of the terrorists. As stated by Paraskevas (2013) the Paris attack had a huge negative impact on the hotels of not only in France but also around the world. Following the attack, hotels around Paris had received about 300 cancellations. The effect of the attack lasted for over a year during which many people and sportsmen had refused to travel to Paris due to security concerns.  This was a big blow for France as the economic condition of the country also depleted. The hospitality sectors ran at a loss due to lack of customers.

It has been seen that some hotels managed to tighten security in order to ensure that customers find it safe to visit the places. A reputed hotel in London, Troxy, increased the number of security by increasing bag searches to feel the guests as safe. Discussions were made with clients and promoters in order to increase the security by arranging hidden cameras within the premises of the hotels. The optimism factor is that despite the international event, UK did not get affected by lack of tourism. Major tournaments or events did not get cancelled due to the effects of the Paris attack. A multi-agency approach can be considered that works with security team as well as the police in safeguarding the interests of the public. However, it is to be kept in mind that due to the excess security concerns, the ethical consent of the people is not compromised.

Ethical Considerations for Increasing Security Measures

Wilks, Stephen and Moore (2013) were of the opinion that searching people without proper reason can be considered as a breach of ethical condition. Apart from this stereotyping people on the basis of race, colour and ethnic background are also considered non-ethical behaviour. It is not a hidden fact that a certain ethnic group is considered as the creators of any terrorist activity in every part of the world (Enz and Taylor 2002). Hence, it is to be noted that such stereotype may bring about problems in the hotels while attracting customers. Reports have suggested that following the attack organisations in France have led to the sacking of Muslim workers for maintaining the tradition of the religion. This is a breach of ethical code at a workplace as under no such circumstance employees can be laid off. The fact that such ethnic discrimination has not occurred in the hospitality sector with the customers have been a positive factor among the terror of terrorism (Ortmeier 2017).

Hence, it can be concluded that international events such as Paris attack by terrorists cause a great deal of imbalance in the daily lives of people. New laws and legislation related to the travelling from one country to another are formed along with the revision of political connection. Business and economic factors get affected due to such events as people fear about a victim to the affairs. Hence, increasing the security keeping in mind the ethical culture of a country or organisation need to be undertaken in order to ensure such activities can be mitigated in the future.

References

Bbc.com (2017). Paris attacks: Who were the victims?. [online] BBC News. Available at: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-34821813 [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].

Berezina, K., Cobanoglu, C., Miller, B.L. and Kwansa, F.A., 2012. The impact of information security breach on hotel guest perception of service quality, satisfaction, revisit intentions and word-of-mouth. International journal of contemporary hospitality management, 24(7), pp.991-1010.

Chan, E.S. and Lam, D., 2013. Hotel safety and security systems: Bridging the gap between managers and guests. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, pp.202-216.

Didier, B. and Guild, E., 2015. The EU Counter-Terrorism Policy Responses to the Attacks in Paris. Towards an EU Security and Liberty Agenda. Brussel: CEPS.

Enz, C.A. and Taylor, M.S., 2002. The safety and security of US hotels a post-September-11 report. The Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, 43(5), pp.119-136.

Gravili, S. and Rosato, P., 2017. Italy’s Image as a Tourism Destination in the Chinese Leisure Traveler Market. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 9(5), p.28.

Groenenboom, K. and Jones, P., 2003. Issues of security in hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 15(1), pp.14-19.

Hassanain, M.A., 2009. Approaches to qualitative fire safety risk assessment in hotel facilities. Structural Survey, 27(4), pp.287-300. Marketing

Henderson, J., Shufen, C., Huifen, L. and Xiang, L.L., 2010. Tourism and terrorism: A hotel industry perspective. Journal of Tourism, Hospitality & Culinary Arts, 2(1), pp.33-46.

Iacobucci, E.M. and Toope, S.J. eds., 2015. After the Paris Attacks: Responses in Canada, Europe, and Around the Globe. University of Toronto Press.

Nytimes.com. (2017). Attacks in Paris. [online] Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/news-event/attacks-in-paris [Accessed 27 Nov. 2017].

Ortmeier, P.J., 2017. Introduction to Security. Pearson.

Paraskevas, A 2013 ‘Aligning strategy to threat: a baseline anti?terrorism strategy for hotels’, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 140–162

Wilks, J., Stephen, J. and Moore, F. eds., 2013. Managing tourist health and safety in the new millennium. Routledge.

Woo, G., 2015. Understanding the Principles of Terrorism Risk Modeling from Charlie Hebdo Attack in Paris. Defence Against Terrorism Review, 7(1).