HSt George Hotel and KSS – deterring dragons and providing safe nights for knights everywhere!

St George Hotel is situated in the historic town of Chatham and clings tenaciously to the side of a steep hill overlooking the Medway River. Kent and Sussex Security (KSS) provide the CCTV which keeps safe the property as well as staff and visitors to the hotel.

The hotel is a family owned business, having been built in the 1960’s by Roland Stanley’s grandfather, George Stanley. KSS installed the first cameras in 1999 and has subsequently expanded and updated the CCTV system to the 18 cameras which it now comprises. As the hospitality market grows and expands, there have been huge developments in the market’s requirements and hotels are keen to portray themselves as safe havens – for staff and visitors.

Many hotels have areas which are tucked away, where people can feel vulnerable or where management would like to keep a more watchful eye – in store areas, for example, or places where cash is changing hands. From the guests’ perspective, knowing that they are in a safe and secure environment, where their belongings (and perhaps their car) are protected twenty four hours a day can be a deciding factor when choosing a hotel.

KSS was asked to install a CCTV system which would help the St George Hotel’s staff to manage the hotel car parks and entrances – which are on several levels, due to the slope of the hill on which the hotel sits. The hotel is a popular venue for many functions and hosts many events as it has spacious public rooms, which consequently means that the bars associated with them require monitoring.

Recently, KSS updated the original system to include colour/monochrome cameras and digital recording. Additional cameras were installed in locations in which it was deemed desirable to have monitoring - notably, in the lowly lit areas in several of the bars around the hotel. A second Dedicated Micros DVR was added to cope with the extra cameras and was integrated with the existing DVR to provide seamless control of all the cameras.

Comments Roland Stanley “KSS has been most helpful in providing advice and guidance enabling us to grow the system to suit the changing needs of the hotel. By being able to expand the current system, we provide a safe environment for guests and staff as well safeguarding their possessions. The system allows for easy monitoring and is not detrimental to the atmosphere of the hotel.”