Guest safety with discretion in hospitality

The basics of the post — guest flow, working with reception, escalation — are covered in the hotel security guide. This guide deals with something subtler: how the guard stands and speaks, because that decides whether the hotel feels welcoming or guarded.

• Position: beside the entrance or near reception, with a view of the door and lifts — not in the middle of the corridor like a barrier.
• Posture: upright, hands free, no phone in hand. Attention shows in the eyes, not in a sentry stance.
• Words: "Good evening, can I help you?" rather than "Where are you going?". The same question serves the guest and clarifies the stranger.
• Languages: at least those most of the hotel’s guests need, so an instruction never turns into a misunderstanding.
• Radio: earpiece in, voice low; incident codes are never heard in the lobby.

Discretion is not inactivity. A guard who doesn’t bother anyone but doesn’t notice anything either is decoration, not security.

Law 2518/1997 allows security companies to use a uniform, of a single type for all of them, set by joint ministerial decision (art. 2 §5). When a company does not use the uniform, it gives each employee an individual certificate with the company’s details, the employee’s details, their work-licence number and their post (art. 4 §1(γ)).

What matters for a hotel: under art. 6 §1, security staff carry an ID card and wear a special badge on the left of the chest — with the company name, the holder’s name, "Ι.Ε.Π.Υ.Α." and the words "PRIVATE SECURITY" — whether in uniform or in plain clothes. So "plain clothes" in a hotel means a softer look, not a guard in hiding.

• Main entrance, car park, staff entrance: visible presence, because deterrence is the point there.
• Lobby, bar, guest areas: clothing that matches the hotel’s style, with the badge always in place.
• Events and weddings: dress is agreed with the organiser; how an event runs is covered in the event security guide.

The choice is written into the post orders per point and per time of day, so it doesn’t change from shift to shift.

A drunk guest at the bar, an angry customer at reception, a stranger who insists on going upstairs: in every case the aim is to shrink the audience and the tension before anything else.

1. Approach calmly, introduce yourself, speak quietly. Never from behind, never loud enough for the lobby to hear.
2. Offer a quiet spot: "Let’s sort this out just over here." A front-office room, not a storeroom or a windowless space.
3. Call a second person — a colleague or the shift manager — so there is a witness and nobody is left alone.
4. Follow the written escalation procedure: who in management is informed, and when the police are called.
5. Record it straight afterwards: time, place, what was said, who was present, what was decided.

Quiet handling is no excuse for improvised powers. The guard does not search or hold anyone; where people are at risk or an offence is involved, the police are informed. How to write the report properly is explained in the incident report guide.

A guard sees a great deal: who comes back late, who receives visitors, who orders what. The GDPR requires personal data to be processed in a way that ensures appropriate security, using appropriate technical or organisational measures ("integrity and confidentiality", GDPR art. 5(1)(f)). For security staff that becomes a few plain rules:

• Neither confirm nor deny: "I can leave a message at reception" is the only answer to "Is Mr… staying here?".
• Room numbers: never said aloud and never written on paper left on the desk.
• A visitor asking to go up: waits in the lobby until the guest confirms through reception.
• Shift reports: record what security needs, not comments on guests’ private lives.
• Social media: no photos or posts from the hotel, ever.

• Who knows: management, the security lead, one or two people at reception. Everyone else only knows there is a guest with special instructions.
• Booking: where possible, under a name that doesn’t give the person away, agreed with their team.
• Routes: arrival and departure through an entrance the public doesn’t see, a controlled lift, a room away from shared areas.
• The floor: security rounds and a check on anyone leaving the lift — not a camera in the corridor (see below).
• Floor staff: the same faces for the whole stay, no last-minute changes.

If the guest has their own close-protection team, roles are split: hotel security protects the premises, the team protects the person. How their side is organised is covered in the close protection and VIP security guide. OVIT can cover both sides; patrols, incidents and reports appear in one picture on the Guardly platform.

Directive 1/2011 (art. 17 §1) limits cameras in accommodation of every kind to areas that control who comes in and out — the main entrance, reception, the entrances and exits of lifts and staircases —, to cash-handling areas and to plant rooms. §2 prohibits cameras in dining areas, in corridors leading to rooms and wherever guests or visitors may be monitored: in particular room entrances, toilets, pools, gyms, sports areas and changing rooms.

The ban is itself a discretion measure: guests know nobody is recording them on their floor. So security protects the floors with people and procedures:

• a camera at the lift and staircase entrances and exits, where it is allowed;
• floor rounds at irregular times, with recorded checkpoints;
• room keycards that open only the right floor, where the system allows it;
• floor staff who know to report anything unusual at once.

Signs, retention periods and the other camera rules are covered in the CCTV and GDPR guide.