Business | Tourism
Hotel Show 2010: Under the scanner
Hotel security systems in region see high demand after assassination of Hamas man in Dubai
- By Jay B. Hilotin and Salam Al Amir, Chief Reporter and Staff Reporter
- Published: 00:00 May 20, 2010
- Image Credit: Xpress /Pankaj Sharma
- Besides a wide range of innovative security systems on display at the Hotel Show, there was a slew of futuristic entertainment products, such as this stunning acrylic glass piano with self playing mode and iPad-iPod connections
DUBAI: Even before you complete check-in formalities at a hotel, a scan of your passport goes to the authorities' desk, suppliers at a hotel exhibition said.
Scanning passports at hotel receptions is not limited to Dubai. Authorities have started adopting it across the GCC countries, where $7 billion (Dh25.69 billion) worth of hotel projects are under way, out of which projects worth $4.4 billion (Dh16.148 billion) are in the UAE.
Better equipment
At the three-day Hotel Show 2010, which ends today at the Dubai World Trade Centre, suppliers said demand for better hotel security equipment and high-resolution CCTV cameras has gone up following the assassination of Hamas commander Mahmoud Al Mabhouh in a Dubai hotel room in January.
Reza Ramez, a consultant at Opentec Systems, a Dubai-based IT firm, said: "The countries in this region are way ahead in the use of hotel security systems."
Opentec supplies the passport scanning system to hotels in the UAE and other Gulf nations
According to Ramez, scanners read several types of information in seconds - normal, infrared, ultraviolet and e-passport as well as the time and date stamps.
He said one scanner can process 15 to 30 passports an hour, adding that a new hotel in Dubai has installed 40 scanners.
Geoff Stow, Founder and Chief Executive of Red Berry software company, said: "The people here are so much ahead in this type of technology. Those in the West have a lot of catching up to do."
Stow said the same system can be applied to aviation security, adding that programmers in Manila and London have jointly developed software that allows airlines to capture passport records and quickly send them to destination airports. "This [capture and transmission] can be done fairly easily even before the passenger boards the aircraft or before take-off."
Al Mabhouh murder
The role of hotel security systems came to the fore when Dubai Police quickly identified 27 of the suspects involved in the Al Mabhouh murder case. On May 6, Dubai Police identified five more suspects — bringing the number involved in the Dubai hit to 32. Interpol lauded Dubai after police exposed the elaborate plan made by the suspects with the help of extensive CCTV footage, phone and credit card records.
Phone can open your hotel room door!
Phone or door opener?
Guests will soon be able to use their phones to book hotel rooms and also open and shut their hotel rooms with it, thanks to next generation near-field communications (NFC) system. Guests get an encrypted SMS from the hotel which grants them room access.Spanish company Salto unveiled this system at the Hotel Show.
Hi-Res CCTV camera
UAE hotels are installing thousands of high-resolution CCTV cameras to boost security. One company has installed more than 10,000 CCTV cameras in Dubai last year alone. Shamma Sakkeer, engineer at Zio Technologies, said there’s also a shift towards internet-enabled
CCTV cameras.
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