In mystery novels and movies of a certain vintage, you’ll often come across hotel detectives – people who were, as far as I can tell, literally what they sounded like: private eyes hired full time by hotels to solve mysteries and prevent crimes.
Did this institution ever actually exist, and does it exist anywhere today? I’ve worked in multiple hotels from a grungy youth hostel to a 4-star hotel catering to the rich and famous, and none of them had a house detective, nor did they apparently have a need for one.
the hotels i worked at had security guards (the hotel contracted them through a private security company - they didn’t sit a a desk, they had routes they walked) - maybe the hotel detective evolved into the security gaurd?
And by the way, thanks a lot - you just lodged an old TMBG song in my head… off to go dig through my old CDs…
I’m curious to know this too. In addition to acting as security guards, the hotel detectives in books from the 30s and 40s also seemed to be responsible for protecting the hotel’s image, making sure no funny business/illegal behavior happened on the premises.
Havn’t you watched NBC’s Las Vegas? The guys there are Hotel/Casino Security, which do about what “Hotel Detectives” used to do. Of course, the show is glamorized with made up stuff, but the basis is more or less correct.
However, oddly, one of the primary jobs of the old school “hotel dicks” was to prevent non-married couples from conjuganal visits.
If you have a hotel security guard with a uniform including a white shirt, a badge, patches on the shirt and dark-colored pants you’d call him a hotel security guard.
If you have a hotel security guard who doesn’t wear a uniform, whether his outfit is business casual or a business suit, you’d probably call him a hotel detective.
Depending on where you stay, you’ll be served by no guards, the uniformed kind, the non-uniformed kind, or both.
Incidentally, I stayed at a Holiday Inn in Charlotte, NC, wherein the hotel detective’s uniform, training and demeanor happenned to to match “bouncer at a honky-tonk night club.”
That night, the hotel detective, he was on my side. Even helped me find my girlfriend when she got lost…
I am a Hotel Detective, just over 10 years. I work for the hotel, not any type of ‘security guard’ agency. It is true, there are very few of us left. I’m pushing 50, and I’m starting to think about moving on.
so what do you actually do?
My impression from 1940’s dime novels was that the hotel detective was there to prevent immoral activity which would give the hotel a bad reputation. ( After all, if a married man is seen in public with another woman…it would be just scandalous, you know. )
But this isn’t 1940 anymore…Sure we need hotel security men…but “detectives” ?
What’s in a name. I know a lady whose job title is Information Advisor. She used to be a Librarian and still does exactly the same job as she has done for the last 20 years.
Actually, I don’t recall classic crime novels of the 30s-40s where hotel detectives “solved mysteries”. They might’ve helped out Sam Spade and his cohorts on occasion* but didn’t go around fitting jigsaw puzzle pieces together.
*remembering the hotel detective who ran off Wilmer Cook in The Maltese Falcon.
not sure about assorted states laws, but the Canadian law (used to) read - that a location that made it too easy for prostitutes to get private time with clients could be charged with “keeping a common bawdy house”. Typically this was applied to dedicated brothels, but could also be applied to a home that was used as the landing point, or to a hotel that knowingly habitually catered to prostitutes.
So it’s not just about the reputation, but also about avoiding police raids and other unfortunate legal entanglements.
In Vegas the casinos have two different sets of roles.
First they have security. Security does a couple things. They handle customer issues, physically patrol the property, do routine checks of the property (are the doors that need to be secure, secure? etc) and work with the cage for money transport. If someone needs to be removed from the casino, the security folks handle this. They also handle medical issues.
Then there is surveillance. This would be the equivalent of hotel detectives. The surveillance folks watch the cameras for questionable behavior. This includes people on the floor and also people playing games. They watch the card and dice games quite closely. They watch the cage constantly. They are responsible for maintaining the video for court cases.
Both groups keep an eye out for people who are either wanted by the police or have been permanently banned from the casino as does the cage and floor personnel. However if someone is wanted or banned from the casino, generally the surveillance folks spot them first though the cage catches quite a few*.
On a side note, back when I did IT for a casino I sat in on a demo for a camera system. IIRC, it was a Cisco system. Anyway, the system allowed the operator to select a person in real time video by drawing a little box around them. The system would then track the person wherever they went in the casino, except bathrooms. It would just follow the person, handing off cameras as needed. It was quite slick, and a little creepy.
Slee
*You’d be amazed at how many people kite checks and do other stupid things, then come back to the same casino to try it again…
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