There are lots of ways to ensure your guests have the privacy they need when staying at your hotel.
The ideas we’re going to share in this post are essential if you don’t want to be found guilty of a hotel data breach or any other such privacy violations. So, without further ado, here are our hotel interior ideas to maximise guest privacy.
How to Design Your Hotel Interior to Protect Guest’s Privacy?
These tips should help you to stay on the right side of most privacy laws and violations when designing your hotel.
1. Make sure reception’s computers aren’t visible
When you design the hotel’s reception, make sure that your receptionists’ computers, and papers on their desk, aren’t visible.
You can solve this issue by making sure the desk is up against a wall and that there are no doors behind the desk that customers frequently move through. Someone could walk in behind the receptionists and gets an eye full of private customer information, putting you in breach of the GDPR.
Also, make sure there’s some sort of barrier protecting the documents you have on your desk. A desk with an opaque cover or roof over the top should do the job.
2. Stop unwanted guests from accessing guest rooms
On a similar note, building the interior of your hotel in such a way that your guests are the only ones allowed to get into the rooms and corridors will protect their privacy. This stops any unwanted intruders from casually strolling into your hotel and attempting to enter your guest’s rooms.
The last thing you want as a hotel owner is people walking in and out of your hotel as they please, with no regard for the privacy of your paying guests.
You can do this by positioning the reception desk so that the receptionists can stop anyone from entering who they don’t recognise, or by hiring a security guard to watch it for you. If your hotel is quite large and you can’t keep track of all those guests, you can install a key system.
All you have to do is create a key to the doors that lead to the guest rooms and include a copy of it with every room key you share with guests. The cheapest security guard will always be a sturdy door.
3. Position CCTV carefully
Having CCTV in certain parts of your hotel is essential for knowing what’s going on in your hotel. The main reasons to install CCTV are:
- Curb unwanted access from intruders
- Keep track of employees and guests
- Restrict unethical activities/prove that they took place
- As evidence in any lawsuits or other investigations you might have to undergo
- Makes some guests feel more secure
Although the presence of CCTV makes some guests feel more secure, it can make others feel like their privacy is being breached. This is especially true if you install them in the wrong places.
When designing the interior of your hotel, make sure you are installing the CCTV cameras only in places where guests would expect them to be. The most common areas to install cameras without breaching your guests’ privacy are:
- At least two cameras at the entrance and exit gate so you can see who’s coming in and out of the hotel.
- All open areas of the hotel which can be accessed by guests such as the pool, park, lobby and stairs. Stairs are especially important as they are often the most popular areas for suspicious activities.
- Rooms where safe deposit boxes, money or sensitive information are stored, as these are more likely to be the subject of a burglary than any other areas
Once you have CCTV cameras in these places, you’re all set. Make sure not to install them in rooms as it is illegal in most countries and massively violates guest privacy. Installing them in the corridors so you can see who goes in and out of rooms should do the job.
4. Design your rooms with privacy in mind
There are certain rooms in your hotel that need to be designed so that they maximise guest privacy. For example, twin hotel rooms are designed for two people who are not intimately acquainted with one another. For that reason, you should make sure the room’s layout conserves their privacy.
The same should be done with your suites, as they’re usually taken up by big families or used for corporate parties. These should be designed with a communal space in the centre, so it feels less intimate and more like a private hotel shared by colleagues and families.
It’s even better if you can split the beds up by putting the communal space at the centre. This breaks up the room and makes each bed feel like it’s in another place entirely. You can even install frosted glass screens if you’re feeling especially privacy conscious.
Are These the Only Ways to Maximise Guest Privacy in Your Hotel?
In this post, we’ve managed to cover the four main interior design ideas you can use to maximise guest privacy in your hotel.
There are lots of other ways that will help you maintain guest privacy, most of which are technological, such as anti-malware software. However, if you’re looking to look after your guests’ privacy in the real world, the tips we’ve shared here should be all you need.
Thank you for reading this post and good luck maximising the privacy of your guests.
