Hotel terrorist attacks or fires: How to reduce your risk

“You’re more likely to get struck by lightning than to be a victim of terrorism at a hotel,” says Bruce McIndoe, chief executive of IJet Intelligent Risk Systems, a travel security company in Annapolis, Md., that works with more than 500 businesses. Your far greater risk is fire, he said in an interview today.

A dozen of McIndoe’s clients had a brush with both at the Taj Mahal Palace & Tower, one of the hotels hit by terrorist attacks and explosions today (Nov. 26) in Mumbai, India, that killed scores of foreigners. (McIndoe said his company moved his clients to safety at another hotel.)

Here are tips to avoid trouble:

Don’t book a front room: “The rear of the building, away from roads, is usually the safest place at a hotel,” McIndoe says. That’s because most bombers go for the front.

Stay low, but not too low: You want to be within reach of fire ladders, which means the fifth floor or below, for your best rescue chances, McIndoe says. But the ground floor can be unsafe because, as in Mumbai, attackers often target lobbies.

Move away from trouble: If you hear an explosion or other commotion, don’t rush to the scene. Some of those killed in the huge truck bombing in September at a Marriott in Islamabad, Pakistan, were gawkers who went to the front windows, McIndoe said. Curiosity can kill.

Go luxe or not?: Not everyone agrees on whether cautious guests should shun five-star chain hotels near government centers and tourist spots, like those attacked in Mumbai. Several experts I spoke with, including one at IJet, for an earlier column, said these are more likely to be terrorist targets. But McIndoe says top-tier hotels are generally safer than second-tier ones because they are in lower-crime areas and have better security and fire-safety systems.

Terrorist attacks are so rare and random that avoiding them is “a crap shoot,” McIndoe added. Your best bet as a hotel guest, he said, is to focus on fire safety. Choose a name-brand lodging and make a mental note of fire exits.

— Jane Engle, assistant Los Angeles Times Travel editor

[Photos: (top) Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai. Credit: Lorenzo Tugnoli /AFP / Getty Images. (bottom) Site of a blast at a market in downtown Mumbai. Credit: Gautam Singh]

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2008 at 6:01 pm by Jane Engle and is filed under Asia, Business Travel, Global, Hotels, Luxury Travel, News, Tips & Advice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site.