Security programs exist to safeguard assets.  In the lodging industry, image and reputation are among the most valuable of assets.  When a high profile security crisis occurs, these fragile assets are always at risk of serious harm.  When your property’s name is splattered across the headlines with implications that guests are in danger, whether true or not, its image and reputation can be devastated.

Have you every seen something like this on the evening news?
 

TV Reporter: (To an obviously uncomfortable hotel employee)  “We’ve been told that there have been a number of assaults and robberies in your parking lot recently.”

Hotel Manager: “Ahh…No comment.”

TV Reporter:  “Have you increased hotel security since those attacks?”

Hotel Manager: “No comment.”

TV Reporter: “Do you think that today’s murder could have been prevented if you had armed guards?”

Hotel Manager: “No comment.”

“No Comment” - the journalistic equivalent to “taking the fifth.”  You refuse to answer on the grounds that your answers may tend to incriminate you - or your property.  Many people equate the phrase with an admission of guilt.

Every day, organizations in crisis find themselves the target of close scrutiny by the media.  Some organizations rise to the occasion and turn potentially embarrassing or damaging situations into positive public relations events.  Unfortunately, most do not.

A crisis management plan is an essential element in any lodging security program.  This plan contains the policies, procedures and reference materials needed to guide staff members through unusual or crisis situations.  One often neglected plan component is media relations.

Effective crisis management plans recognize that the media decides what incidents are newsworthy.  Your organization has no say in the matter.  Once an incident becomes a “story”, the organization can only choose to work with the media or ignore them.  Any decision to ignore must be made with the realization that reporters prefer to get information directly from those involved.  However, if that isn’t possible, anyone who will talk to them can instantly become “an informed source,” regardless of how uninformed they may actually be.  Organizations that abdicate their right to provide accurate information to the press put their image and reputation needlessly at risk.

Crisis media relations is a two part process.  Part One is preparation prior to an incident.  Part Two is media management during an incident.

· Develop a written crisis media relations plan.  If necessary, bring in outside consultants to assist you. Have the plan reviewed by an attorney familiar with media relations issues.

· Ensure that the plan is available to all affected employees

· Identify a spokesperson and a back up.  If possible, don’t use the General Manager.  During a crisis they should manage the incident, not talk to the press.  A less senior spokesperson is an effective buffer in delicate circumstances.  Senior executives may have difficulty gracefully deflecting sensitive policy questions.  A lower ranking spokesperson can soften the impact by explaining the need to confer with superiors prior to providing an answer.  That isn't to say that the General Manager or other senior executive should never talk to the press.  They should, but only when their presence alone can achieve the desired public relations goal.

· Train everyone who might talk to the press.  This includes the General Manager and other senior executives.  The time and money invested in training is well spent.  Training should include a thorough grounding in company policy and legal issues.  It should also include live, on-camera exercises if possible.

· Publish a policy regarding employee contact with the press.  All media inquiries should be referred to designated spokespersons.  Company policy should prohibit all untrained employees, at every level, from acting as an official spokesperson.

· Develop a press kit that contains background information about the property and its principal executives.

· Meet the press head on and do your best to give them the information they need.

· Have a “positive message” and take every opportunity to present it.

· Don’t lie to reporters; the consequences will always be worse than anything the truth could reveal.

· Never say “no comment”.  Those two words are deadly because they imply you have something to hide.  There are other ways to convey the same message.  Be creative.

· If you can’t answer a question, say so and explain why.  Reporters might not like that answer but most will understand.

· Be responsive.  If you don’t have an answer, promise to get it; then do it.

· Don’t go “off the record”.  Never say anything to or around a reporter that you wouldn’t want to see in print.

· Don’t be intimidated.  You have information the press wants.  Present it on your terms.  Be polite. Be professional.

· Above all, don’t let poor media relations turn a minor incident into a major public image disaster.

Crime and crisis can, and does, happen anywhere; even the smallest property can suddenly find itself in the media spotlight.  Regardless of the size of your property, it is vital that you have a plan in place for handling media inquiries.

This article was commissioned by a Risk Management magazine which ceased publication prior to the article's appearance.

Copyright © 1996 by Robert A. Gardner, CPP