Fire alarm
 

We were at CY Bremen during the weekend. An alarm went off and there were announcement in English, German and French saying something like, 'Due to technical problem we request all hotel guests to leave the hotel immediately'. First thing I thought was 'what kind of technical problem?' It was 10am in the morning and fortunately we were up, so we left the building but no one told us what to do.

The FDs at the hotels were still checking in people when the alarm was on, there was only a male staff to tell everyone get out of the building.

We saw the fire engine came, fire fighters were walking slowly in the hotel. Obviously it wasn't an emergency, so we went back to our room when the alarm stopped.

It was really bad of the properties not to have staffs guiding people where they should go, and then count them to make sure that everyone was outside the building, and that they should guide people to the assembly point rather than tell people just to leave the building. Fortunately it was a false alarm - we found out after talking to the staff in the lift.

what Compensation is due to the firefighters who had to come out on a false alarm?

I've been through several hotel fire alarms, unfortunately none of them at 10am. At no time have any of the properties had staff to check on the vacating guests or give any direction as to where to go or how far from the building we should be. I'm only presuming someone made the rounds inside to make sure no one was still inside. None of the events were uncontained fires and most were false alarms, again no announcements made, just responses from FDCs when checking out or stopping by the front desk on the way out for the day. One CY in CA had a fire alarm going off when I pulled up to checkin. Fire trucks in the parking lot, housekeepping staff sitting on planters under the portico at the front door, alarms blaring, and no one said anything as I went in to checkin. FDC said they were trying to find someone with the key to the maintenance room to silence the alarm.

There does not seem to be any effort to tend to the guests and that's why it's very important to know how to get out of the building! YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN! I have seen some properties ask if anyone in the room would need assistance, but have never been in that situation.

Exactly how many staff do you think are at a Courtyard at 10 AM? Or do you think they should have 10 or 20 people sitting in an anteroom somewhere just in case the fire alarm goes off?

I have been waiting for a review of the CY Bremen because I'll end up staying there if I ever see my favorite Bundesliga team, and this wasn't the review I expected.

Also, Marriott fire alarms love me.

Just how many people would they need to count? Since people come and go at all hours, there's nothing to gain by counting the number of people outside at 10 a.m.

LOL. So lets think this one through. Its 10am and the alarm just went off, lets say the hotel was totally sold out (100 rooms for ease of math).


My question to you is:

How many people do I need to count to make sure everyone is out?

My thoughts exactly. So perhaps CYs could add the following staff per shift:

1 person per entrance to each floor to monitor guests coming and going
1 person per floor to guide guests
1 person per exterior door to guide guests
1 person per public area to guide guests
1 court jester to entertain guests during fire alarm.

I'm sure we'd all gladly digest a 150% rate increase to support all those new hires. On the upside it would appear such a program would take quite a bite out of unemployment.

Long time ago back in the UK, someone caused a false alarm in our dorm at the university. Fire fighters came and we were charged GBP 350 for the fee paid to the fire dept.

During the alarm, there were 2 staffs at check-in, there are 3 exits at the hotel, I have seen 1 more staff plus several in the restaurant.

At least the staff at the reception should stop checking people in when the first fire alarm went off. There was a second one at about 12 noon.

The thing that shocked me was that 2 staffs were checking people in like business as usual and the other one tell people to go out of the building.

After that, we went back to the room and then in the evening when we closed the toilet door for a shower, the ventilation cover fell off. Fortunately no one was sitting on the toilet at the time it happened.

Then we told the FD at check out about the ventilation thing, she said, 'oh they all fell down because they opened some door due to the false alarm, and the housekeeping dept was around to put them back on again'.

Do they call fire alarm 'technical problem' in other Marriott property too?

A few years ago I was traveling with an associate, the alarm went off around 0100, I go out to the parking lot, fire engines come and go after they check everything out, then head back to the room. The next morning I asked my associate where he was, having not seen him in the parking lot, he said, “what fire alarm”, he slept completely through it. Amazing.

Only when they are technical problems & not real fires ;)

Agree w/ the others that there's no way to count guests. Especially when some might be new guests brought into the room after hours ;) :D

I've been at both Marriotts & Hiltons over the years that had fire alarms. Bad news is they invariably were the middle of the night. Good news is they weren't actual fires!

Sometimes they (both chains) came over the hotel PA system & asked people to exit the building, or if the FD was called when the alarm sounded, was told to exit by stairs. Other times they didn't do anything at all (both chains).

Any traveler should make sure they know where the exit is, and also to make sure anyone in their room does as well. It also helps if you have your wallet, shoes, phone, laptop, (coat if it's winter) in a single place so you can grab them quickly when exiting the room. Yes, the hotel should stay on top of things but that doesn't mean the guest is off the hook for responsibility.

Now, let's talk about the important thing - were the firemen hotties? :D :D

Cheers.

Yep, they are - muscular hot German guys.

The counting people thing was something I learned from staying in a dorm at university. You get a fine if the warden find you in your room after a fire drill.

When we heard the word 'technical problem', we were wondering what kind of 'technical problem' would require us to leave the building.

It must be a universal rule that all firemen are hotties, no matter where in the world :D

Once the fire alarm goes off, the hotel has to evacuate guests unless the fire dept gives them the ok not to do so. I was in Toronto once when the alarm went off in the middle of the night. The hotel was able to ascertain it was a glitch & came over the PA telling people they didn't need to exit their rooms, but that they would be unable to turn off the (very loud) blaring alarm until the fire dept said they could. Sometimes they're able to ascertain up front it's a technical error. Other times they don't know & have to assume it's a fire until it's proven not to be, hence the evacuation.

Cheers.