1. Disaster Recovery Steve Bearden The Prism Partnership

2. What We Will Cover 2Three Threads of Data Privacy & Security Why Disaster Recovery Planning Prevention: Key Design Strategies Preparation: Contingency Planning Recovery: Putting It Back Together

3. Why Disaster Planning? A good Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) can save guest experience, revenue and resources. An effective DRP will: Minimize potential economic loss Reduce disruptions to operations Ensure organizational stability Provide an orderly recovery Protect the assets of the organization Ensure the safety of personnel and guests Minimizing decision-making during a disastrous event

4. Whos Doing It Right? In a survey conducted by Comdisco, Inc., one of the largest disaster recovery companies, it is estimated that: 45% of companies maintain a formal DRP 12% have an effective DRP 6% are partially prepared 82% are ineffectively prepared for a technology disaster

5. What Goes Wrong?

6. Data Center DR Design Location – avoid water and public areas Security – proper access policies Climate – independent HVAC on generator Fire – dry pipes Power – clean power on UPS and Generator

7. Operations DR Design Power to strategic locations is key – Front Desk, Restaurants, Housekeeping, PBX….

8. Outsource??

9. The Plan Every hotel has different characteristics: Systems Location Flag Programs Therefore: Every plan should be property specific

10. Plan Documentation Plan ownership – IT/Operations The Plan should be documented in written form, with hard-copy printed versions readily available to hotel management in strategic locations Know your processes and have forms & supplies available to operate manually Detailed systems design – document make and model of equipment and software for easy restoration or remote site conversion

11. Know Your Equipment

12. Communications Notification list Contingency Team – Escalation List Key management / Alternates Home / Cell Emergency contacts Sample letters from Management

13. Vendor Management Vendor contact escalation list Have vendor contracts available Maintenance contracts / SLAs Ensure appropriate severity levels in your contracts to meet contingency expectations Alternate Location – corp offices, sister property or Hot site hosted location?

14. Backup Data! Data Backup Tape or Optical Off-Site Storage Remote backup across internet to hosted backup service? Real time? Save at least two recent generations of back-up (i.e., last night and last week) Store in a fireproof safe in a remote location Back-ups should be periodically verified Test restores periodically

15. Backup Reports Run PMS contingency reports hourly Spool them to a Laptop Sample chronological control reports: All guests in-house, checked-out or expected today with balance Every room in the hotel with the current occupancy status Expected arrivals/departures for next five days A room availability report

16. PMS Reports

17. Contingency Supplies Contingency operations require paper forms and supplies Laptop w/contingency forms Pre-printed Registration cards Room status log Reg card / Folio buckets Credit card imprinters CC Authorization terminal Generator / Measured business line Calculators Flashlights Forms and supplies should be stored in a secured location with ready access when needed

18. The Outage When an outage occurs, the Manager On Duty should first alert the Contingency Team The contingency team leaders meet ASAP to determine type of outage Brief Outage < 6 Hours Short term - > 6 hours < 2 days Long Term > 2 days

19. Brief Outage < 6 Hours Contingency team will alert the management team and affected departments Department management will call in more staff – front desk, housekeeping coordinators, night audit, accounting Distribute copies of the most recent contingency reports – (copier on emergency generator) Distribute radios to key personnel, especially if telephone service is affected

20. Brief Outage < 6 Hours Distribute contingency supplies Centralize the room inventory function with a single individual located at or near the Front Desk, essentially a rack clerk to assign rooms for arrivals and coordinate with Housekeeping Update the Contingency Reports with all arrivals, departures, etc as they occur As guests check-in, advise PBX to enable outbound calls Centralize the revenue/F&B posting function with a single individual

21. Short term - > 6 hours < 2 days Implement brief outage procedures plus: Letter from the General Manager to all guests Alert staff to come in early and plan to stay late Transcribe beginning balances from Contingency Reports and all room charges to hard copy guest folios Use pre-printed folio forms for contingency Operations Maintain room status sheet from the contingency reports

22. Short term - > 6 hours < 2 days Use a laptop (on generator) to maintain an Excel worksheet to facilitate changing statuses – FD / Housekeeping Maintain constant communications with Housekeeping Distribute updated telephone lists with arrivals and departures for operators Prepare for a manual Night Audit Post room and tax manually to the paper folios

23. Short term - > 6 hours < 2 days Manually create housekeeping assignment sheets during the Night Audit for housekeepers As checkouts occur, settle the balances manually Advise guests that the system is down and that a copy of their folio will be sent to them after the system is restored Be certain to capture addresses and email to honor this commitment Each cashier needs to balance their cash and credit card receipts to their cashiers report at the end of their shift

24. Long Term > 2 days Implement brief & short term procedures plus: Continue updating revenue and status forms in laptop or on manual forms Establish a room revenue control sheet in Excel to capture room revenue as it is posted by hand to the hard copy folios Use this sheet, plus the room charge control sheets to generate a basic revenue report

25. Long Term > 2 days Secure current availability and expected arrivals reports from the CRO Store all control sheets (Arrival/Departure; Posting; Cashier Control; Room Revenue) in an accordion file by day to facilitate recovery processes

26. POS / Restaurant If just PMS is down, settle checks to House If POS down: Issue a small supply of checks to servers recording the serial numbers Consider going to a limit menu or buffet Make CC Authorization terminal available (generator / analog line) Remind kitchen personnel to make meals only from the soft copies Use cashiers rather than allowing servers to self- cashier

27. POS / Restaurant Adjust both staffing and guest expectations accordingly Have cashiers maintain a manual control sheet (cashiers report) for all closed checks by meal period or shift After each shift, reconcile the used checks with kitchen dupes and unused checks Beverage outlets should draw a line under each drinks order as they make it Bartenders record immediate sales over the bar onto a single control sheet Alternatively, instruct bartenders to do a blind drop

28. Locking System Maintain an inventory of contingency key cards, often called fail-safe keys Keep secure but available 3 generations Log in and out

29. Telephone System Outage Power fail bypass trunks Analog telephones – patch panel? Letter to guests Post floor monitors

30. Interfaces Down Check guests into PBX In-room Entertainment – Enable Movies Call Accounting – Post only $$ calls? Watch the buffer – old calls to new guests? Voice mail or manual? If VM, check out guests for next guest

31. Recovery Restore backup tapes Input all sequential activity and charges Enter data from backup-forward check in/out - run night audits Post charges Continue to operate manually until data restored

32. Remote Site (Yikes!) If the hotel must be closed then you need to get your remote site operations underway. Set Up War Room for contingency communications Set up telephone center and network Staff remote site Reroute hotel/reservation call traffic Get equipment ordered as needed Install PCs and distribute supplies Set up and load most recent PMS backup

33. Test Test Test Your DRP Annually At a minimum!

34. Questions?