Hotel security training: what’s worth learning

• Service: greets, directs, helps — and says “no” politely, with a reason.
• Discretion: what the guard sees about guests stays inside the procedure.
• De-escalation: a calm voice, distance, moving the conversation somewhere quiet, informing the shift manager.
• Fire safety, evacuation, first aid: the first minutes, until the emergency services arrive.
• Cameras and personal data: what may and may not be watched in a hotel.
• Languages: English helps a lot; every extra language makes a difference.

What a shift looks like in practice is covered in Hotel security job: what the work is like. Here we focus on how you learn it.

Security staff in Greece need a category A or B work licence (Law 2518/1997, art. 3 §1). For category A, Joint Ministerial Decision 4892/1/76-γ/2010 accepts three specific titles: a post-secondary diploma as “Security Services Officer”, a level 1 certificate in “Private Security Staff” or the equivalent ΕΟΠΠΕΠ certification, or a degree from a military, police, coast guard, fire service or prison officers’ academy.

If a course promises that it “gets you the licence” or “counts as certification”, ask to be shown where the official source says so. Certification comes through the ΕΟΠΠΕΠ exams — see Security certification exam.

• Talking to guests: welcome, complaints, saying no politely, working with reception.
• Discretion and privacy: what you never say about a guest, and to whom — see Discreet hotel security.
• De-escalation: how to calm a confrontation and when to call for help, practised through role-play.
• Hotel fire safety and evacuation: guests who are asleep, don’t know the building and don’t all speak Greek. The basics are in First aid and fire safety training for guards.
• First aid: hands-on practice, taught by a first-aid instructor.
• Cameras: the rules that apply specifically to hotels (below).
• Reports: how to record an incident so that whoever reads it the next day understands it.

Article 17 of the Greek Data Protection Authority’s Directive 1/2011 limits hotel cameras to points that control who comes in and out — such as the main entrance, reception and the entrances to lifts and stairwells — to cash desks and to the electrical and mechanical installations. They are not allowed in dining areas, in corridors leading to rooms, at room entrances, in toilets or in leisure areas such as pools, gyms and changing rooms.

The Authority also points out that video surveillance may not be used to monitor or evaluate employees (Hellenic DPA, video surveillance). That concerns you twice over: as the guard watching the screen, and as an employee who is in the picture too.

• Who teaches: people with real experience of hotel security, and a first-aid instructor for the first aid.
• Practice: role-play, evacuation drills, first-aid practice — not just slides.
• Assessment: whether you are tested at the end or attendance is simply logged.
• Certificate: who issues it and exactly what it says you attended. It is a certificate of attendance, not a title for a work licence.
• Promises: a “guaranteed job” or “licence included” is a reason to ask more questions, not to sign up faster.

The Greek Labour Code requires the employer to give every worker suitable health-and-safety training, in particular on hiring, on a change of duties and when new equipment or technology is introduced; the training is repeated where needed, costs the workers nothing and takes place during working hours (art. 538).

In a hotel, the most useful part of it is a briefing on the fire and evacuation plan of that particular building — something no generic course can cover. If you’d like to work in hotels with OVIT, apply through the Careers page and list your languages and any relevant training.