The Ritz London is one of the world’s greatest and most renowned hotels. A London landmark at 150 Piccadilly, The Ritz has been home to the great and the good, the intelligentsia, the glitterati and thousands of discerning guests since 1906.
An access control system was required to fulfil a number of criteria. Firstly, the Ritz management wanted to minimise and prevent the possibility of crime within the hotel. They also required different levels of security depending on the area to be secured.
With plans underway to expand The Ritz, Barry Gendron, head of security, wanted a system that could cope with the increased staffing levels.
“This was the right time to install an access control system,” he says. “The effectiveness of any security system is in the planning and we’ve ensured that our options are kept open for the future.”
Peace of mind for clients is essential, so the system employed needed to be highly effective yet unobtrusive.
Gendron says it was also important that the staff feel secure in their own working environment, helping ensure that they are able to continue to provide the highest levels of service.
Cards and fingers
Staff entrances are often perceived as an easy option for gaining unauthorised entrance to hotels. “We obviously have a lot of staff and contractors entering the premises, and this could be a weak spot in our security,” Gendron says.
To combat this, R&D installed ACTprox 1040 proximity readers, supplied by Norbain SD, at all staff entrances. Employees must swipe in and out of the building.
Once the card has been read, a picture of the card holder is flashed up on the screen in the security booth, where a guard can visually check that the person is who they say they are.
Should a suspended member of staff try to enter the building the system will bar their entry and immediately warn the security team, allowing them to take prompt action.
In addition to the ACT system, Bioscript fingerprint readers have been installed at staff entrances to The Ritz Club, promoted as “one of the most exclusive privately owned gaming clubs in the world”.
This dual factor solution combines a self-contained finger-scan verification module and an HID proximity reader.
The readers match the finger-scan of the person seeking entry to the identity of the card-holder, thus providing an even greater level of security. A separate control room is used to monitor activity and ensure that only authorised personnel gain access to the area.
Mike Topping, MD of installers R&D Security, has been working with Gendron at The Ritz for over 12 years and a bond of loyalty and respect has developed between the two parties.
“We use R&D Security for all our security requirements because we absolutely trust that they will provide us with a solution that is best suited to our requirements,” says Gendron.
“They always go the extra mile for us and the peace of mind that working with them offers us ensures that we’ll continue to use them in the future.”
Secure history
Gendron is well qualified to protect the interests of customers at The Ritz. Having worked in the CID and Regional Crime Squad, he was involved with high level security long before he started work at the hotel 12 years ago.
“Security isn’t just about putting the physical aspects of the job in place,” he says.
“It needs to be far more customer orientated than that. We are looking to develop our security team so that they play a more customer-facing role and start to recognise the regulars. This makes them more approachable to customers and gives them a greater understanding of their needs.”
Because of the emphasis The Ritz places on the welfare of its customers, it has one of the largest security teams of any London hotel. This is enhanced even further when VIPs visit the hotel and Gendron is required to liaise with the Special Branch.
“We are always looking to improve security and to move with the times,” he says.
“This is why we’ve chosen an access control system that uses the latest technology and is fully expandable.”
The system has been a great success, and has been received very positively by the security team. “R&D provided us with some excellent training which has meant that we’ve been able to get the system up and running very quickly with very few issues,” Gendron says.