After conducting nearly 100,000 hotel audits and assessments in over 100 countries, auditors see travel safety and security in a different light. In our latest Assurance in Action podcast, “Personal Safety in the Travel Industry” Intertek Cristal travel audit experts Andy Janes and Rhiannon Parker discuss travel risk management and share perspectives on hotel security.
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Intertek Cristal - SecurityCheck
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Follow us on- Intertek's Assurance In Action || Twitter || LinkedIn.
After conducting nearly 100,000 hotel audits and assessments in over 100 countries, auditors see travel safety and security in a different light. In our latest Assurance in Action podcast, “Personal Safety in the Travel Industry” Intertek Cristal travel audit experts Andy Janes and Rhiannon Parker discuss travel risk management and share perspectives on hotel security.
Links
Intertek Cristal - SecurityCheck
Intertek Cristal - AccessCheck
Intertek Cristal - LinkedIn - Twitter - Instagram
Intertek Business Assurance - Linkedin - Twitter
Follow us on- Intertek's Assurance In Action || Twitter || LinkedIn.
Welcome you are listening to another episode of assurance in action. The podcast that covers key assurance topics brought to you by Enertech. My name is Jessica Demicco. I'm joined today by Rhiannan Parker, COO of Enertech crystal and Andy Jane Intertek, crystal security expert. Welcome. Thanks for joining me.
Speaker 2:Hi Jessica. Thanks so much for having us. I'm actually really excited to talk about all things, uh, travel, risk management and security and hotels. So, uh, from my perspective, hotel security and, and I guess security within travel and tourism in general is one of the most interesting parts of the job. And, um, I find that it's actually one of the areas of our business that I've learned the most about. Um, and I think we'll talk about this in a minute, but I've learned a lot from Andy and the perspective, just kind of starting out thinking that hotel security was just about, uh, you know, terrorism and, and different types of threats like that. Um, but it turns out there's a lot more to it. So Andy, did you maybe want to start by just giving an introduction to what, you know, a day in the life of, you know, auditing and assessing hotel security looks like?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. Um, it's an interesting topic within hotel security and, you know, it's one, that's certainly been improving over the last few years. Uh, but I think prior to that, it was always, you know, I guess a kind of, you know, we have to do something so, you know, we'll, we'll put a few cameras up or we'll put some security guards on the gate, but there was no real in depth understanding of, uh, I guess the wider aspect of security and for a long time, I think you're right. Things like terrorism and, you know, extremely high impacts, uh, incidents where w w was seen as, you know, the, the, the leading factors. And if they hadn't happened in that country, then the attitude was, was largely, well, we don't really need to do much because it's never happened here. And it's very unlikely to, I think, changing that, I guess, perspective on security and going more down the, the education route and explaining, you know, there's a lot more to it than that. Uh, and understanding risks that face not only your hotel, but your region and what could affect your operation as, I guess it's proven key to, uh, you know, to really pushing the understanding of security within hotels, uh, and certainly all different regions. So one of the things we really look at, uh, is not only the, I guess, the physical aspect of security, and of course, lots of people would, would define that as how many cameras they have are poor, you know, barriers and whatnot, but really delving into the understanding of first of all of, you know, diligent risk assessments and making sure that whether it's a global chain or an independent hotel, that they have correctly risk assessed, um, their property or their operation, and they're focusing their security efforts. And more importantly, their security budgets on, on things that are relevant to them and essentially not wasting, um, any budget. They do have all resource, they have, um, in areas where they don't need to, and from a security check, uh, perspective and what we've been working towards prior to the pandemic and with all of our clients is really getting that understanding of, it's not about how many guards you have, or how many cameras you have, or, you know, the, the more, I guess, the more superficial side of, of what they can put in their properties, but having a detailed understanding, training your staff, uh, whether that's security staff that you're, you're directly employing, uh, but also the importance of security awareness training for, for general staff. These are individuals that are in and around the hotel all day, every day. Uh, and for the most part should any form of security incident take place. They're going to be the ones that are all there on a seeing it and hopefully reporting it. So it's been an interesting journey and one that unfortunately post pandemic I think, is going to be set back quite a lot. Um, and certainly what we've seen is when incidents such as COVID, uh, rise the security budget. So are very often the first to be cut. Um, going back to the example I used earlier, um, in that if it hasn't happened, you know, it's not really important to us and therefore, you know, we don't so much need to worry about security. We've got more important things to be dealing about. So I think the next few months, the next year, uh, assessing, you know, where the, where the industry stands and, uh, and I guess just how much of a step back it's taken from a security perspective is going to be very interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I totally agree. Um, I was just thinking about, so, um, you know, within, within the work that we've done over the last, you know, 25 years, we we've done a hundred thousand audits and assessments of hotels. So when you get up close and personal with that data, and, and I guess the, you know, the, the risk and the findings and things that we see, there's, there's not much we haven't seen over the years. Um, and I think, you know, it's interesting working in this role in the, in this industry, a lot of people when they know what we do, okay, well, we go in and we do surface testing, um, and we find some very interesting findings to say the least on, on surfaces. And, um, in the realm of security, we see a lot of, uh, a lot of things that just fundamentally change the way that we view these spaces. Right. So people ask me a lot, like, you know, there's some things that you can't unknow. Um, so I'm just super interested, like when you travel with your family, uh, what are the things from a security perspective that you're looking at, or that you observed just after all the things that we've seen and, and I guess the good, the bad and the ugly. So, uh, yeah. What do you think about that?
Speaker 3:I mean, there's lots, there's lots of little things that, you know, that hotels already do, and they may not see it, uh, you know, as a security function that they have. And I think one of the biggest things we see is hotels will spend lots and lots of money on the most up-to-date, uh, electronic entry, uh, locking mechanisms for guest room doors, which is great, and you know exactly what they need to be doing and, um, and provides them with, you know, really robust, uh, systems across their hotel. However, one of the bigger thing, biggest things we pick up when we certainly, when we're doing security check audits, or when I stay at a hotel is w you know, we look at ground floor rooms and they've spent all this money on, on, on primary entry points into the room. But nine times out of 10, you look at the, the, the secondary doors. So balcony, doors, sliding doors, whatever they have. Um, and for the most part, there will be the very old style kind of push locks, or in some cases we've seen just hooks that are, uh, a hooking onto to the side of the wall and can be opened very easy from the outside. Uh, so, and that's just a good example of, you know, one of the very small things that's overlooked. So even if a hotel, you know, really says, well, you know, we don't do much for security, they'll already be doing something. And I think that's one of the biggest aspects of security check is just helping them, I guess, harness all of that information, but backing it up with robust policies and procedures. And again, I guess when you are conducting his audits and you do stay at hotels and certainly ones you'll go, you're taking your family to you, you can't help, but look at things you would normally check you're there conducting audits. And depending on the region, you're in, let's say you were holidaying in north Africa, in Egypt, in Tunisia or Morocco. Um, over the past few years, they very much focused on, on physical security and, you know, a very overt presence of security to make guests feel safe. And of course, again, a big part of, uh, the security audit is reviewing all of that and then making sure it's actually relevant to the sites, uh, and is performing in such a way that is providing a layer of protection to guests, staff, and property. Um, so yeah, I mean, you certainly, I think when you, when you are conducting audits, you see the most polished version of the hotel, because of course it's announced and they know you're coming and they're well prepared for it. But when you, I guess when you do holiday in, in these destinations, or you are just staying there in, in any other capacity, uh, one of the most interesting things is seeing how they operate. Day-to-day when they know they're not being audited. Um, and we, you know, we've certainly see that we, we stay in hotels as we move around that we may not be auditing. Um, and wherever, you know, all of the, the well presented, um, security staff that are normally on the gate when you're conducting a robust audit are no longer there when you're not there to conduct an audit. So I guess from that perspective, it's very interesting.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I think the thing that struck me in looking at our data and, you know, a lot of the work that we engage in is, is almost like the regional trends. Right. So, um, I remember a bunch of conversations we were having in 2019. Um, I think that was an unprecedented year, um, in the Caribbean for, I think it was physical and sexual violence. Right. Um, you know, so there's a lot of different things that don't hit the press or don't hit, you know, I guess the mainstream media that we're dealing with. Um, but it just really reinforced the importance of, like you said, okay, well, where do you place that budget? What, what do you focus on? And it, isn't just, you know, one size fits all. And I think that's something that, that global brands really need to reflect on. Like, yes, it's great to have standardized procedures and things like that, but there is a re, especially with security, um, and personal safety, there is this regional specificity to what is going on, the trends, um, things like that. Right. Uh, and I remember there was an incident, uh, and I, I probably, because I'm a parent, I feel like becoming a parent has really changed the lens through which I view things, but, um, looking at things like child safety and security, right. So do you, do you know the incident I'm talking about?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I, you know, I think you're touching on one of the biggest issues of security within the hotel sector, and that's the reporting of incident data and the problem, I think when you are approaching a new hotel or maybe one that hasn't so much conducted any form of security operation in the past, it very much feels like scaremongering, but actually when you look across the entire spectrum of security across a certain year, you can pretty much be sure in most years that you will cover most things. Now, of course, that doesn't mean that all hotels are going to see all of these things happen. But when you start looking at violence towards women in hotels, you know, unfortunately extreme violence and extreme sexual violence towards women is recorded within hotels. And 2019 was, was certainly no exception to that. And we saw some pretty significant cases, um, that occurred, uh, globally. And of course, as Rihanna just mentioned, that child safety, you know, is a huge part of the, the security audit process in safeguarding procedures, uh, and, and certainly anything to do with lost or missing children. And there was certainly been, you know, many incidents where individuals have either tried or succeeded, um, and, you know, one specific incident as you've, you've highlighted, that was, um, uh, a middle-aged woman walking in to a hotel or courts on the CCTV system, um, walking into a children's club and, and seven or eight minutes later, walking out with a, with a small child, uh, and then subsequently out of the hotel, but no one really batted an eye because it didn't look out of place. Um, and, and when she was walking past the security staff, you know, uh, a middle-aged lady with a child didn't seem out of place to them and therefore they weren't stopped. Now, luckily that individual was found quite soon after, uh, by the place, but it's just another example of why these procedures are needed no matter how unlikely any given risk may be, you know, unless it can be completely ruled out. There's absolutely no reason why that is not highlighted in your risk assessment. And of course, if we look at the more extreme end of, of the spectrum from a security risk perspective, of course, terrorism and, you know, uh, active shooter incidents and all of these things, of course, they are important to highlight, and you should have emergency procedures in place to deal with them. And I know different governments have been pushing out information to try and educate terminal staff on and hotels on, on what they need to be doing and, and apt to also advise emergency procedures to be in place. But it's everything else that, you know, that comes before that. And I've been to hotels before to conduct audits. No, I've asked them, I always asked them, you know, when was the last security incident that took place in, do you, do you record incidents? And can you take me through them? And the security management team have said, we, you know, we don't have security incidents here, you know, and we never have, we, we, we don't have a problem with security. However, we have had lots of stuff going missing out of rooms. And it's just a, it's, it's an interesting response. And then when you explain that, of course, theft of any kind, whether that's internal or external is, is a security related issue on one in which they should absolutely be recording.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt there. I was just thinking about, you know, there's, and this is talking about kind of our physical, personal, you know, wellbeing and safety, but a lot of the stuff that we also see go on and it touches in the cyber realm and data, um, and that's a huge aspect of, of the risk that, you know, resides within the hotel environment. Um, and so I don't know if you want to touch on that,
Speaker 3:The, a really interesting one. And I'm certainly not saying that, you know, there are, there are not very, very good, you know, data protection processes out there we've been hotels because there are, and when you look at global groups that they very often have very, very good, uh, cybersecurity policies in place and data protection plans in place. But what we do see, and we see quite frequently is once you get down to site level, in some cases, corners are cuts. And for, I guess, from a cyber perspective, because, you know, you can't see it, it's generally overlooked and it's not seen as, as such a big issue. Uh, whereas, you know, we know there are, uh, they are a lot more likely to encounter some form of cyber related attack than they are physical. And the data protection side of it is interesting. And again, differs greatly from region to region. I try to explain that the moment you copy, um, you know, any form of official documents. So the copying of passports, although it's very much being phased out now, um, by electronic systems was, was a very big part of what hotel receptions did. And, you know, we've conducted a at sin hotels where we we've come across doors that are open, where they've had bits of paper folded up holding the door open that we're actually copy or passport copies of the photo pages of, of guests passports. Uh, and trying to explain that, you know, the protection of data is such a huge right now. And they, they have to have very, very robust policies and procedures in place. Um, ha has proven quite a challenge. Um, but like I said, at the beginning, there certainly, you know, big hotel, uh, global chains have very, very good processes in place, but sometimes when you get down to site level, um, corners can be cuts and, you know, and we, and we do stumble across these things quite often. Hmm.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think it's simple things even like, you know, lack of security around passwords or, um, I mean, there's just, it's not the big stuff that tends to fail. It's, it's the simple decisions, you know, phishing scams and, you know, different things like that. So, um, but I think, you know, one thing that we've been talking a lot about, um, you know, in regard to the work that we're doing around disability inclusion and, and some of the more, you know, the things more focused on, um, yeah, diversity and inclusion is we've got a lot of brands that have embraced, uh, kind of these new value systems and are looking to, um, engage in inclusive marketing and, and trying to engage a wider consumer base, which is amazing. Um, but I think what we're seeing is that there's not, um, I guess the, the systems or health and safety systems or their risk management systems are not keeping pace with the evolution of this diversity. Right. Um, and so when we look at security and we look at the risk that is unique to a disabled guests, for example, we've seen some really interesting things where, um, you know, I remember the one we were talking about where we saw this amazing, you know, accessible room installed and how fantastic that is. Um, well actually, I'll let you talk about that one because you were there. Um, but just how important it is to, to make sure that, you know, if you're diversifying and you're, um, you know, attracting a, a wider base of consumer, how important it is that your risk management systems aligned with this, right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I think first and foremost, you know, who hotels that th that priority is to, you know, is to provide the best possible service to guest. And we certainly see even from a, from, from an access perspective, they are getting better and they are trying, and in this instance, and certainly in regards to security, one of the big things we look at are their evacuation plans, not just from a fire perspective, but also their emergency evacuation plans and how they would effectively discharge guests from the hotel should they need to, uh, and in this case, they had spent lots and lots of money on transforming rooms, uh, to be accessible. Um, and they had done a very good job and we're very pleased, quite rightly, very pleased with the work they had put in place. But when we got to the points of walking their evacuation plan, uh, and them talking us through exactly how they would action that should, they need to, all of these rooms have been converted, uh, on the second floor, uh, w which is great. And then when we got talking, they're explaining their evacuation route and how one of the first, first things that would happen is the elevators would be shut, shut down. Especially of course, if it's a fire related incident. Uh, and then of course, I think the penny dropped that if the elevators were no longer available, how would they, uh, evacuate disabled guests from the second floor? And it was a consideration that hadn't really been thought about, I think up until that point points. Um, and I guess it goes back to suddenly the pain planning phase of, of anything that they're implementing, uh, whether that's, uh, updating their rooms, uh, or implementing any kind of, of, of emergency response plan or evacuation plan, uh, and ensuring that they are thinking about all guests, all staff, uh, and everyone in that hotel. And that was just a great example, have very, very good intentions. Um, but I guess a lack or all of planning in the initial phase. And I mean, that's very consistent with, uh, a lot of the processes we see across the spectrum of physical security and particularly technology, uh, and cameras are, are a great example here in that hotels will spend lots and lots money on cameras that they don't need, or they will use, you know, in some cases, um, the same individual that's advising them on, you know, where they should put these cameras and how many they need is the same individual that's selling them to them. Um, and a great example of this was we're seeing extremely high grade, uh, PTZ cameras, you know, placed a meter off the ground at the front gate, just looking at, uh, a bit of tarmac and a gate. And then when you go down to their beach access, which was, you know, the best part of a hundred meters long, they just have a very simple fixed point camera at an angle, looking down the beach. Um, and again, it just reinforces the fact that that is initial training and understanding and planning of not only, you know, conducting a risk assessment, but also implementing their security plan, uh, has been one of the major things that certainly that we've, we've stumbled across, um, in all the audits that we've done and still very much do. Um, so yeah, I mean, it's going to be interesting once we do get back to full auditing again, once the world starts to open up, just to see, you know, how much this has been maintained and if there has been any significant changes.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I mean, it'll be very interesting to see, and, um, I think what's been interesting during the pandemic too, is just, it's almost, uh, uh, well, I think it's quite a significant shift in the traveler psychology, right? So I look at myself, um, I look at, you know, probably many of us on our team, um, you know, we eat, sleep and breathe this stuff. Uh, you know, it's our jobs to look at risk and manage it. Um, but when I prepare for a holiday or when I used to, um, that, that wasn't a factor that I was looking at, I wasn't going and combing the data to see, you know, if there've been any safety incidents or fatalities at a hotel. And to be honest from what we know about incident reporting in the industry, I'm not sure that that stuff would come up. Um, but the shift that we've seen towards, um, you know, people really caring about health and safety and, you know, looking for those metrics and looking for that information, um, you know, at the level of the hotel, it will, there'll be interesting to see how this all evolves. And if there is a kind of, um, you know, more of a push for this type of stuff. So I don't, maybe that's overly optimistic to think that that will happen, but I, I think it's important. And, uh, when you look at, I guess, again, getting back to this traveler psychology, I think for some reason, there's this assumption that in five star resorts or, you know, the higher, the luxury, the more safe and secure they are, and that's not what our data tells us, that the data tells us that these types of, um, issues or incidents occur across the full spectrum of hotels and accommodation. So, um, yeah, just, I don't know what you think about that, or, you know, if there's some comments on, you know, what we've seen in luxury versus lower end, or, you know, what, there,
Speaker 3:I think that's a, that's a hugely important point in that. I mean, impact and likelihood is it is very important for hotels, operational teams to, I guess, to understand certainly when they're going through that, that risk assessment process. And I guess putting that points across that no matter how unlikely you deem it to be, or just because it's never happened here doesn't necessarily mean that it won't. And I think looking at five-star and the higher grade, uh, properties, you know, th they're certainly not exempt from this. And I mean, we w we've seen this across the board, um, and it was a very easy to get to place in that if we, we look at a certain risk and say, well, you know, there's no possible way that could happen, therefore, not really going to consider it. Uh, it did tend to happen a lot. However, just like you mentioned about COVID and, and the fact that, you know, guest perception of risk is now very much changed, and everyone knows what a QR code is and how to approach them and find information. And I think it's safe to say that after certain incidents, from a security perspective, certainly into 2015 onwards, that, you know, the travelers perception of security related risks suddenly increased as well. And, you know, people had a much keener understanding of security related risk, um, and, and therefore expecting it from hotels. But yeah, I don't think that's a challenge that's going to go away. And certainly, you know, we've mentioned the lack of incident reports and across the industry, but, but really stressing that point that conducting a robust risk assessment and not ruling things out just because they seem too unlikely is key. And, you know, it doesn't have to be very extreme or it doesn't have to be about particular incident. You know, we've certainly come across this when asking to see emergency procedures and the response being, well, why do we need those? Um, you know, we, we don't need to implement them because we'll never use them. Um, and of course, you know, for the most part, hopefully they, they, they probably won't. But I think as with everything insecurity, I don't think it's ever fully appreciated, uh, until it's too late.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Yeah. I agree. So, I mean, the, our conversation today has been very focused on hotels. Um, but I think it's worth noting that there's some very interesting developments in the industry right now. So we've got the impending, um, release of ISO 31 30, which is, you know, guidance to be released on organization's responsibility for when they send, um, their employees on, on business or organizational, uh, travel. Uh, and yes. Okay. So you've got the hotel environment and the accommodation piece of it, but all of the things that we've been talking about from the perspective of personal safety and risk assessments and all of that also apply, and we see some, you know, some pretty incredible things happen and, and the risk that people are exposed to. Um, and w what, I guess, one of the areas that fascinates me the most is, is kind of the, the awareness or the regional, again, getting back to this regional specificity of risk and, and how, um, I guess the outcomes when people are not aware of the environments that they're heading to, and whether that's the cultural norms, whether that's, um, I mean, it can be all types of things, but I know that you have a lot of expertise in that area. Did you want to talk about that for a minute of like the importance that, that pre-trip planning and proper travel risk management beyond the physical environment of the accommodation?
Speaker 3:Yeah. It's just a very interesting subject area in our perception of risk per region. And of course, it's very easy to think that okay, if I'm going to, uh, north Africa, okay. You know, that's high risk because in my mind, I know that, you know, something terrible has happened there, therefore that's a higher risk, but if I go to a European city, you know, that's relatively low risk. And although we, we know that absolutely not to be the case certainly within, within this industry. That's, you know, generally how, how it is looked at, where in fact, you know, you can't get away from security related risks, no matter where you are. Uh, and again, always going back to the importance of, of a detailed, uh, risk assessment. And just looking at the, I guess the example you used there and 31 30 coming in, and the importance of pre-trip planning, um, of course understanding your environment, um, and ensuring, you know, that you have the correct information, you have processes in place, uh, to, to, to deal with incidents. Should they arise no matter how small, I mean, it could be something as very basic as, as losing, uh, an important document, like a passport all the way up to being, you know, accidentally caught up in something, whether there was protests or whatnot going on in that country, it's it, it's important to understand the environment you're traveling to. And very often we see that that's a process that just doesn't take place and any form of awareness training beforehand just isn't there. Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think I'm getting back to that concept of the evolution of, you know, not just the, you know, the leisure traveler, the business traveler, you know, that's becoming more and more diverse. And so you see, I think the number is like 62, uh, jurisdictions globally, you know, still criminalize, same sex relationships. Right. And so for the LGBTQ community, you know, knowing where you're traveling to and, and the legislative environment there, um, you know, for the disabled community, knowing, um, you know, what's going on in destination and things like that, it, it's, it's really, really significant for the outcomes of personal safety. Um, but we see this even in, in very large organizations, not, not doing a great job of that, or kind of reflecting on, you know, the, even the reputational risk, um, coming back upon the organization, if something were to go wrong. Right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's hugely for standards like this, or guidance standards coming out like 31 30 to shine a light on this area and, you know, really pushed the, the need for organizations to be doing more. And I certainly think it's going to be a hugely positive thing for, for all aspects of travel risk management. And certainly the section in there, as you mentioned, that puts the spotlight on accommodation providers of all types, uh, can only be a good thing, but of course, to make that work, you know, developing and continuing that, uh, awareness and understanding, uh, is going to be crucial and security is, is one of those areas that, that is a constant, and it's never going to go away. And, you know, whether that's from the very basic day-to-day issues that you would, that you, that you would incur right up to the more extreme end of the spectrum, um, hopefully we will eventually get to a point where all accommodation providers, uh, hotels, vacation rentals, whatever it may be, business travel, um, that we're all looking at it from the same perspective that detailed and robust policies and procedures. And just as importantly, training and understanding are implemented at all of these facilities.
Speaker 2:Yeah. And I think we have a lot to learn from some other, you know, other industries. I know I talk a lot about, you know, oil and gas and the culture of, um, incident reporting and transparency and kind of sharing lessons learned amongst different industry participants. Um, so in travel and tourism, I think we've seen a couple, you know, major, we, we know why we have empathy or sympathy as to why it is tough to, you know, to transparently share those incidents, because we've seen, um, single incidents lead to, you know, the, the effective shutdown or closure for multiple years of a given, uh, region. Right. And so that, that's, that's tough. That's, uh, you know, it's scary. Um, but I think we have a lot to learn, you know, if, if an industry like oil and gas can share transparently on incidents and near misses and, um, you know, things like that, I think we, as an industry can do it. And I think there's a lot to gain from that, right. Because if we start to see trends and we can, um, do a better job of benchmarking and understanding, um, that would go such a long way.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I completely agree. And I think, you know, the moment third party, independent inspections became a thing within the hotel industry. Um, you know, I, I think that was a great step towards achieving that. Um, and you know, the importance of, of third party inspections, I think con will always, um, will always drive standards. And, you know, we've, we've seen that, uh, across many organizations over the past few years and, and hopefully over the coming years, um, that really continues, uh, and all chains organizations, and whoever it may be really pick up on this and continue to drive standards forward.
Speaker 2:Well, yeah, I guess we've, we've set out our wishlist for the future. We're eternal optimists.
Speaker 3:Why not? I think, I think it's important to be, of course, you know, there are lots of things that, that happen year on year, that that are negative. And I, that, you know, that's, that's the nature of, of looking at security related risk. Um, but you know, looking at the lessons learned from those incidents is, is crucial and, uh, evolving the security plans and security operations of hotels around the world to hopefully help further mitigate that is, you know, is one of the leading reasons on why we do this. And, and, you know, hopefully that really continues in in years to come.
Speaker 2:Yeah. Well, I think that's a great note to kind of close things out on week. We'll see how that goes and how are our predictions come to light, but, uh, it's been awesome talking to you as always.
Speaker 3:Likewise, I'm optimistic certainly after, after the last 18 months, you know, it's, um, it's good to really start focusing, um, or switching focus, uh, and getting back to ensuring standards are maintained. Agreed.
Speaker 1:Thank you both so much for joining us. If you're interested in learning more about security in the travel industry or Intertek crystal, please follow the links at the bottom of this page. Don't forget to subscribe and rate us and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.