Security, the order of the day

By: Santiago Jaramillo H.

As is well known, security in the hotel industry is an element of the first order when it comes to offering tranquility and quality to guests, that is why the importance that many chains have given to this area when allocating their investments.

Precisely in this sense is oriented the case study that brings on this occasion the magazine GERENCIA DE HOTELES and that was advanced in the Hotel Meliá Santo Domingo. The project involved the total installation of an IP Video Surveillance System with Vivotek technology, aimed at both the protection of guests, as well as the reinforcement of the administrative logistics of one of the most important hotels in the Dominican capital.

As expressed by the engineer Rodolfo Bertoli, President of Digital Security B & B, "the hotel has 245 rooms concentrated in the main building of 11 floors, an extensive parking area, and its Business Center is formed by eleven Conference Rooms with capacity for 750 people. If we also consider the staff who work in the establishment on any routine day, there could be about 1,500 people in the area protected by this security system."

Regarding the motivation that led to the implementation of the security system, Bertoli said that "the Dominican Republic is one of the most visited tourist destinations in the Caribbean Sea, and although most visitors go to the beach areas, city tourism is quite intense. The building of the Meliá Santo Domingo Hotel never before had a video surveillance system, since they had preferred to entrust that task to 'physical surveillance' with a prepared team of guardians. But obviously, any situation is clarified in a more agile, precise, and timely way when it is documented in a good video," he stressed.

In the same way, our guest assured that "another of the motivations was to comply with formal regulations of a recent Law of the Secretary of Tourism that provided for the installation of surveillance cameras in the main public areas of the hotels as a measure to increase the level of security offered by the country in the tourist environment. However, it is a fact that once they decided to invest in the cameras, very accurate criteria emerged from the hotel managers, regarding the use of technology, also depending on the internal administrative and logistical tasks. "

Bertoli also acknowledges that "there was from the beginning a concern on the part of the hotel officials that the cameras that were supplied were not only of high quality and performance, but with good design and aesthetics that harmonized with the environment and decoration of the hotel."

Meanwhile, as stated by the President of Digital Security B&B "given the requirements of the client and the characteristics of the enclosure to be protected, the best option (for the Meliá Santo Domingo Hotel) was to install an IP Video Surveillance System, because high image and audio quality was desired in most areas, as well as that the system was modern and modularly expandable."

Bertoli also clarified that "the client wanted to take advantage of an investment they had recently made in fiber optic links for their data network linking the main buildings of the complex. In this way, we never hesitated to propose the Vivotek platform, one of the world leaders in IP video, which stands out for offering a very complete range of products with professional quality and extremely competitive prices," he said.

"Although the ST7501 Software supports up to 32 cameras per server (NVR), we prefer to give the customer the possibility to handle themselves with 16 cameras per server to take better advantage of the storage capacity in each NVR, and at the same time leave them ready to easily expand the system by simply installing additional cameras without the need to re-invest in the recording platform, "- Bertoli acknowledged.

Regarding the monitoring processes carried out with this equipment, Bertoli stressed that "the hotel's security management restructured its procedures to get the most out of the new system installed. In the monitoring center there is always a guardian on duty who supervises the live videos and is responsible for alerting his colleagues by using communication radios to any suspicious event he may notice, allowing them to act preventively in most situations. "

Our guest also pondered that Vivotek products allow recording in high resolution (640x480 pixels), documenting all events with excellent quality for any query or evidence.

In the same way, he externalized that "since the system runs on a client/server platform, both the Security Manager and the authorized Administrative Managers can connect to the servers from their desktops, to monitor the efficiency of their subordinates or evaluate the quality of response to customers in the different points of service such as: reception, restaurant, bar, etc.".

Technical and logistical difficulties
In the installation of any system, and more if it is a security system, it is logical that there are difficulties of both a logistical and technical nature, precisely about this matter Rodolfo Bertoli spoke to us.

"Regarding the topology and data network, the main difficulties were related to the large physical distances of many of the cameras from the Monitoring Center. But this was solved by creating 'concentration points', which we then interconnected with each other with the use of fiber optic lines that the client already had placed," explained this representative of the Dominican industry.

In the same way, he clarified that "as for the image, we had to solve the situation that occurred in the corridors of rooms where there was only artificial yellow lighting quite low in intensity and natural light never entered, which caused the videos of those areas to show distorted colors, because there was no 'reference of white light'. This was solved with the collaboration of the manufacturer: Vivotek, who immediately provided us with HTTP Commands to manually configure the white balance of the cameras and adjust the color temperature in a very simple and effective way."

On the other hand, Bertoli acknowledged that "logistically the most complex thing was to carry out the installation in a busy five-star hotel in operation, since it was necessary to control the emission of noise in the corridors of rooms and work in some areas only a few hours per day so as not to hinder the work or events that were executed in them, a fact that extended the installation time longer than initially planned; but the hotel was understanding about it and agreements were reached to compensate for the extra time involved in these unforeseen events," he said.

Regarding the operation of the equipment, Bertoli indicated that "the system works to live up to expectations, the image is excellent, the products are durable, and the platform as a whole is very stable. In short, it has been effective in raising hotel safety ratings, either to catch those responsible for wrongdoing or to deter others from committing them and preventing further harm. It has also contributed to improving the internal evaluation of customer service, administrative and logistical performance parameters," he concluded.

The IP7133 is distinguished by its compact and modern design, ideal for discreetly harmonizing with the environment. Its quality and sharpness of the image is surprising when it comes to one of the most economical products of Vivotek, but without a doubt it is among the most attractive models worldwide when evaluating the quality / price factor.

*Six cameras are of the Vivotek IP7142 model (superdynamic bullet for indoor/outdoor with infrared) that monitor outdoor access areas and corridors of the service area that usually have low lighting.

This is a robust, professional-quality model with IP66 grade weathering chassis, especially useful when you want excellent image quality independent of ambient and lighting conditions.

*Five are PTZ Speed Dome Day&Night with 18x optical zoom model Vivotek SD7151 for Indoor/Outdoor patrolling the extensive parking area, lobby, and main entrance.

The SD7151 cameras retain the functionality of analog PTZ cameras but in the environment of an IP system, together with the fact that they integrate a Sony CCD sensor of progressive scanning, very useful to capture detail in mobile lenses.