HOTEL · SECURITY
Equip hotel security with 4–8 radios: lone-worker alarms, man-down, 12-hour battery, recording and a base station for the control room.
Quick answer
Hotel security is a lone-worker job for much of the night. The officer on the car park, the loading dock or the service corridor may be out of sight and out of earshot of the control room. The radio is the safety line.
That means the specification is different from the front desk: louder audio, a rugged body, a long battery, an emergency alarm that carries identity and position, and a recording trail for incident review.
Keep contact through the patrol route, including basements and stair cores.
Cover the areas where mobile signal and direct radio range are weakest.
Raise an alarm with identity and location, and coordinate the response team.
Join the emergency group for fire, medical and security incidents.
Direct the control room to the right camera without leaving the post.
| Position | Typical users | Radio & accessory | Talk group | Example quantity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Control room | 1–2 | Base station + dispatch | Security | 1 |
| Patrol | 2–4 | DMR handheld + earpiece | Security | 4 |
| Gate / lobby | 1–2 | Handheld + earpiece | Security + front desk | 2 |
| Car park | 1–2 | Rugged handheld + speaker mic | Security | 2 |
| Response team | 2–4 | DMR handheld + speaker mic | Security + emergency | 4 |
Example for a 200-room hotel with 24/7 security. Add 10–20% spares and a charger at the control room.
| Accessory | Why it matters | Recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Earpiece | Keeps security traffic out of guest areas | Discreet wired earpiece |
| Base station | Gives the control room a fixed, always-on position | At the control room desk |
| Recording | Supports incident review and disputes | Local + central recording |
| Spare battery | Covers double shifts and night patrols | One per radio |
Lone-worker protection raises an alarm when the officer cannot. The common functions are a one-key emergency alarm, a man-down/tilt alarm that triggers when the radio is horizontal or motionless for a set time, and a timed check-in that the officer must reset.
The alarm should carry the radio identity and, where available, the position or post. The control room then knows who needs help and where to send it.
The car park and basement are the hardest hotel areas for radio coverage. They are below grade, full of concrete and metal, and often have no mobile signal. A rooftop repeater may not reach them through the slabs.
Plan an indoor antenna in the car park or a local repeater for the basement. Test along the patrol route with the final antenna positions, and keep direct mode as a fallback if the repeater link fails.
The dispatch platform can record nominated security talk groups centrally, and some handhelds keep a local copy in the terminal. The recording should be stored with radio identity and time so it can be found by post or period.
Define the retention period and who may listen. A recording that cannot be retrieved under policy is not evidence; it is storage.
A well-designed system opens a voice channel to the control room, shows the radio identity and position, and can trigger the response workflow. The control room can acknowledge, listen, call back or dispatch the response team.
Test the full path before acceptance: alarm button, network, console, operator action and response team. Testing only the button does not test the alarm.
Click a question to see the answer
A 200-room hotel with 24/7 security typically needs 4–8 radios plus a base station in the control room. Add 10–20% spares.
A sensor detects that the radio has been horizontal or motionless for a set time and raises an alarm. It protects officers who are unconscious or unable to press the emergency button.
Yes. The dispatch platform can record nominated talk groups centrally, and some handhelds keep a local copy. Define retention and access rules before go-live.
Plan an indoor antenna in the car park or a local repeater for the basement. A rooftop repeater alone usually does not reach through the slabs.
A dispatch platform can link radio alarms to CCTV, so an alarm brings up the relevant camera. The integration scope is agreed during design.
Send the site size, number of users and talk groups. Our engineers reply within one working day with a workable configuration.
