Hospitality Security Systems

Hospitality is one of the hardest environments to specify detection for. Commercial kitchens produce steam, grease and heat; open cooking and chargrills produce visible smoke as a matter of routine; and none of that should put a full restaurant onto the street. Standard optical detection in the wrong position will either be isolated within a week or will cost you a service every time somebody sears a steak.

Getting it right means the correct detector technology in each area, positioned with an understanding of how air actually moves through the space, and a system designed so a kitchen activation is investigated before the building evacuates where the fire strategy permits that. It is a design problem rather than a product problem.

The security picture is equally particular. Premises hold cash and stock, staff work late and lock up alone, and venues carry licensing conditions that often specify camera coverage and recording retention explicitly. A system that satisfies the licence, protects the takings and looks after the staff at two in the morning is doing three separate jobs.

Hotels and any premises with sleeping accommodation sit in a different category of fire risk entirely, and the standard treats them accordingly. Detection in bedrooms and escape routes, an evacuation strategy that accounts for guests who do not know the building, and interfacing with door release so escape is never obstructed are all non negotiable rather than desirable.

Alongside that sits guest room access, staff and back of house control, and plant room security, ideally on one system rather than three that do not talk to each other.