This summer, a new law came into effect in Chicago requiring hotel workers to be provided with digital alert systems to summon help in cases of harassment or if a staff member discovers a guest in medical distress. The law came two years after a survey by the hotel workers’ union Unite Here found that 58 percent of its members had been sexually harassed while on the job.
As a result, Marriott International announced earlier this month that it would deploy alert devices, or “panic buttons,” for all associates at its 5,000 properties in the United States and Canada. The safety technology will be tailored to pinpoint employees in all types of buildings, from lodgings spread across a large campus to high-rise towers, in order to speed aid to the exact location.
“The safety of everyone at our properties is always a top priority as is deterring and combatting harassment of any kind," Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International, said in a statement. "I’m deeply proud to say our entire industry is unified around these important goals.”
The technology is already in use at two Marriott properties in New York, the JW Marriott Essex House and the Marriott Eastside, and rollout of the devices to every property is expected to be completed within 18 months.
For more information on how the technology works, read “Panic Buttons for Hotel Staff Could Benefit Your Attendees, Too.”
