The hotel industry is very competitive. High season arrives and hoteliers start real wars for customer loyalty. In fact, there is a wide variety of hotels in any country. Clients are free to choose hotels according to their preferences and budgets. Sure, everyone wants to get the most value for their money. Every little detail matters in the hotel. Security measures are of exceptional importance since when visitors lose their personal belongings they will never return to that hotel. Furthermore, if such theft becomes public, the reputation of the hotel will surely suffer. For this reason, the evaluation of security measures in the hotel is as important as the measurement of its business performance. Maximum security is an inseparable part of the hotel’s top rate service. These days, hotel owners and managers use the most popular performance evaluation tool known as the Balanced Scorecard. Having developed strategic objectives and chosen a set of key performance indicators, hotel managers can assess current performance and pinpoint problems.

Hotel security is provided through various services, from surveillance and camera installation to regular checks of corridors, lobbies and other rooms and areas. Without a proper assessment, it is very difficult to say if the hotel’s security measures are efficient or not. Of course, statistical information such as theft or incident rates can be used. However, these figures report on what has already happened. It is impossible to plan ahead without having figures on the current performance of the Security Service.

Therefore, to obtain such information, a set of relevant key performance indicators must be developed. To begin with, it is necessary to mention that the key performance indicators are not just numbers. KPIs represent critical success factors for various aspects of running the business, hotel security in our case. Therefore, senior managers and those responsible for the implementation of the Balanced Scorecard in a hotel must consider the most important factors that directly influence the superior performance of a hotel in terms of security. In this sense, the hotel must ensure the safety of visitors, its own staff and the protection of hotel property.

The key performance indicators used to measure security performance must be understood by ordinary security officers. If security guards don’t understand the purpose of using the Balanced Scorecard and KPIs, they are likely to offer false numbers just to get things done. Key performance indicators must be measurable. For example, it is reasonable to measure such an indicator as the percentage of time that corridors and lobbies are not controlled by security guards. Logically, the more often security officers check rooms and hallways, the less likely incidents are. Two other key performance indicators relevant to hotel security we can refer to the number of controls carried out outside, the percentage of time that security guards do not work or cannot prevent accidents, the number of security officers per floor, etc.

We must re-emphasize that the Balanced Scorecard is only effective when all staff are involved in the discussion and implementation process. This also refers to the measurement of hotel security.