‘Tis the season – not only for holidays, but for nonrenewal notices. At least one major hotel insurance carrier has sent out its nonrenewal notices, meaning that some of you reading this blog will be shopping for coverage. If you’re not careful, you could find yourself buying what appears to be a great deal, only to find that on the next renewal, the deal evaporates or worse, the company dumps the book of business, leaving you searching once more for hotel insurance coverage.

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Whoever came up with the first point reward system knew that consumers are eager to earn freebies. From airlines to hotel stays, consumers rack up massive quantities of points that can be redeemed for merchandise, free stays/travel, or in some cases cash. It’s a bonus program system that boasts huge participation levels.

The reason these programs work so well is that consumers often forget to use them. In a recent survey of frequent travelers, 47 percent have never redeemed points or rewards earned through airlines and hotels. Since most points systems are set up with definite expiration dates for earned rewards, millions of free comps are being left on the table. Great news for hotels, but what’s it doing for your business reputation?

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Hoteliers have see it all, heard it all, and dealt with it all. It would be hard to find a hotel manager or owner who hasn’t had to ask a guest to leave due to bad habits or behavior. But what happens once you clear the hotel of the bad guest can you breathe that sigh of relief?

If you’re smart, your hotel will have a process in place, and in use, for reporting the incident. It’s a litigious world we live in, and a strong policy, consistently enforced, can go a long way to avoiding or lessening any claims against the hotel.

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It’s the news no hotelier wants to hear – union staff have voted to walk out. Not only do you have to find interim help that’s willing to cross picket lines; you have to find guests who are also willing to do so.

 A work strike could cost your company more than just dollars. As with the case of the downtown Chicago Sheraton hotel locations facing such a strike the last week of October 2009, staffing shortages could seriously impede your business as usual. In the case of the Sheraton unionized workers, over 1,000 staffers were set to vote on whether to walk. Finding replacement help – adequate replacement help – is a crippling task. What’s more, interim staff have a higher risk associated with them. Because they’re not familiar with your business model, there’s a good chance your guest relations ratings could suffer. Not to mention the variables you can’t control – temporary employee unreliability, theft, and the chance that these employees weren’t vetted properly. Inefficient performance is one thing – guest safety, entirely another.

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Of all the risks a hotelier faces, who would have ever considered the risk of a guest tampering with another guest’s room? Yet that’s exactly what happened to ESPN’s Erin Andrews, who was the victim of an alleged peeping tom – a man who reportedly stalked the woman in a most unusual way. The case against the man states he tampered with the peep hole in Ms. Andrews’ hotel door, then proceeded to watch her movements in her hotel room.

What’s equally disturbing is the alleged perpetrator’s actions prior to the incident and the hotel’s response. According to police records, the man requested a room adjacent to the victim’s room, a request the hotel chain honored. That move has turned the industry upside down in an effort to redefine hotel policies and guest security procedures.

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