Securing an Exceptional Guest Experience

by | Jan 4, 2024 | Employee Safety

Image of a guest looking out at the view onto the property of the Valley View Casino and Resort

When longtime Assistant Chief Of Police Boyd Long took a job as the Vice President of Security for Valley View Casino and Hotel in 2013, he had to think of things a bit differently.

He was no longer looking at people as suspects—they were now guests. This was one of many fundamental shifts the former San Diego Police Department veteran officer  had to undergo when he took on the job to lead security for a world-class casino and hotel resort, something he didn’t think would be suited to him at first.

His pivot to the hospitality business gave him the opportunity to look to new avenues like tracking in order to respond swiftly to issues on property to ensure his constituents—now both guests and his own employees—remain safe.

Enter Location Tech in 2019 with its wireless network platform of geolocation monitoring  solutions.

“Location Tech’s network and smart devices have really improved our ability to provide a higher level of safety & risk management property-wide,” Long said.

Panic Button solution for Hotel Staff

Starting with Location Tech’s Panic Button solution, both management and employees get peace of mind that in the event something goes wrong or they feel unsafe, someone will be notified instantly and something can be done in a matter of minutes.

“Less than 2 minutes – that’s how quickly we can respond when we get a Panic Button alert. Our security team randomly tests the buttons on a monthly basis to confirm our response times, so we can assure our guest room attendants that someone will respond immediately if they ever have a reason to push that button.” Boyd Long

 

With the Panic Buttons, the second an issue arises, Valley View Casino and Hotel or the authorities can mobilize to solve a problem before it gets out of hand, or even check on someone if they are feeling unsafe.

And these Panic Buttons on LocationTech’s wireless network are more than just a convenience—in many places, it’s a necessity.

“Predict, deter…respond, recover. That’s the whole philosophy,” Long said, citing a two-minute response from his team when they tested the Panic Button system.

 

 

New ordinances requiring implementation of a Panic Button solution are being introduced across the US, driven by growing awareness of issues that create risk for hospitality staff. For example, according to a 2018 Illinois State Survey 58% of hotel employees and 77% of casino workers said they’d been sexually harassed on the job. Implementing a network of these Panic Buttons will help ensure both guest and employee safety.

But the Panic Button is more than just a tool to alert security when someone is feeling unsafe physically. During the partnership with Valley View Casino and Hotel, the Panic Button was used to call for medical services when a worker wasn’t feeling too good. The network and its uses are multifaceted.

“Location Tech Panic Buttons are a great solution that enables us to keep our staff and guests safe,” Long said of the solution. “But their amazing customer service and ongoing support was something we didn’t expect, and it’s amazing.”

 

Extending the Location Tech Panic Button solution Property-wide

Valley View Casino and Hotel wanted to quickly equip their new HR administration building with state of the art Panic Buttons, to extend the Location Tech solution across all of the buildings on the property. According to Long, Location Tech was able to install and get panic buttons up and running within a week. It’s this reactivity in a proactive way that incentivized Long to continue his work with Location Tech.

“With Location Tech, you get a responsive, committed, professional group of people that are looking to help you find a solution,” Long said.

 

Location Tech’s solutions and private wireless network have also found their way into Valley View in more ways than just the Panic Button solution.

Modular Use Cases built on one Location Tech Platform

Long has also utilized Location Tech’s wireless network to implement a leak detection solution (to prevent any repeats of flooding damage that once cost them upwards of $90,000!), as well as a product replenishment alert solution for hand sanitizer dispensers across the property, helping to ensure that staff can respond to guest needs by keeping them always full. For Long, all of these enhancements build atop one another to create the ultimate guest experience, one that incentivizes repeat visits.

On the horizon: Tamper Prevention Alerts

Next up for consideration is implementing Location Tech’s tamper-prevention solution on the smoke detectors in Valley View’s hotel rooms.

“I firmly believe in layering security and that redundancy is important,” Long explained his philosophy of implementing so much of Location Tech’s platform of solutions across the Valley View Casino and Hotel property

For Location Tech, these innovations and solutions are all working toward providing actionable intelligence that enables rapid response by 1st responders and operational continuity for our customers – which ultimately allows them to focus their efforts on creating exceptional guest experiences.

There are a lot of ways to extend the utility of this network to install passive sensors that monitor critical infrastructure across a campus or property to prevent or mitigate damage. This is all on one private wireless network, with the ability to configure alert notifications in whatever way that best suits the customer.

In the case of Valley View Casino and Hotel, our solutions enhance their capabilities in assuring safety and security for their team and their guests, which all contribute to creating an excellent experience for guests, reinforcing guest loyalty and repeat business.

“What I like about Jeff [Engel, CEO of Location Tech,] and the Location Tech team is that they don’t stop thinking about what the possibilities are,” Long said.

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