Security Intelligence

Security for Luxury Hotel Long-Stay and Serviced Apartment Residents

Q: "Why is a long-stay hotel guest at higher security risk than a short-stay business traveller?"

"A business traveller staying for two or three nights is a relatively anonymous guest. Staff do not know their schedule, the hotel has no sustained intelligence about their movements, and the pattern of their stay does not become observable from outside. A guest staying for four weeks or four months has a different security profile entirely. Within two or three days, front-of-house staff, the concierge, the restaurant team, and the housekeeping team learn when the guest leaves and returns, who visits them, what they order and when, and where they go. This pattern-of-life information is accessible to anyone who speaks to those staff, asks questions of the right person in a bar, or cultivates a relationship with a lower-paid member of the hotel's extended team. For an HNWI or executive whose location and movements are of interest to a hostile party, a long hotel stay creates a sustained intelligence exposure that a short business trip does not."

Q: "What is the Unsaflok vulnerability and does it affect luxury hotels?"

"In March 2024, security researchers Lennert Wouters, Ian Carroll, and others published research on a vulnerability in the Assa Abloy Saflok electronic door lock system used in an estimated 3 million hotel rooms across approximately 131 hotel brands and management companies. The vulnerability allowed an attacker who had obtained any expired key card from the hotel -- from the rubbish, from a checkout desk, or through any casual acquisition -- to use inexpensive equipment to clone a master key capable of opening any room in the property within seconds. The attack requires no insider access and leaves no forensic trace. The vulnerability affected a wide range of properties including properties marketed as luxury hotels. Assa Abloy and Dormakaba began issuing software patches from Q3 2024, but full remediation required both firmware updates to each lock and replacement of all keycards in the system. At the time of publication, full remediation across all affected properties had not been completed. This is not a historical risk; it is an ongoing one for HNWI guests in long-stay arrangements at affected properties."

Q: "How does smart-home technology in luxury hotel suites create security risk for long-stay guests?"

"Premium hotel suites -- particularly those at the top-tier properties that attract HNWI long-stay guests -- increasingly incorporate smart-home technology: voice-activated assistants (Amazon Alexa and similar), smart lighting and temperature control, and IP-connected entertainment systems. These systems are managed by the hotel's infrastructure and in most cases are connected to the hotel's network, which is a shared environment. Voice-activated assistants listen continuously for their wake word and in some configurations transmit ambient audio to cloud processing systems. A guest conducting sensitive business conversations in a suite equipped with a smart speaker should be aware of this. The NCSC's guidance on smart devices recommends unplugging or disabling any voice-activated device before sensitive conversations. The hotel's smart lighting and entertainment systems connected to the same in-room network may also be accessible to the hotel's IT infrastructure and by extension to anyone with access to that infrastructure."

Q: "What is the limitation of in-room hotel safes for high-value items?"

"All hotel in-room safes -- regardless of the property's price bracket -- have a master override code or physical override key held by the hotel's housekeeping management or security team. This is a legal and operational requirement for fire, emergency access, and management of items left by departing guests. It means that the security of an in-room safe is contingent on the integrity of every member of the hotel's management team who has access to the override. In a luxury property, this may be a very small number of senior staff. In a property with high staff turnover, which is common in the hospitality industry, the number of individuals who have had access to the override code over the period of a long stay may be significant. High-value items, sensitive documents, and devices should not be stored in an in-room safe as a primary security measure. A hotel safety deposit box in the front desk or vault (a different system with a logged access audit trail) is more appropriate, or the items should be in the care of a security professional."

Q: "How should an HNWI or executive manage personal security during an extended hotel or serviced apartment stay?"

"Several practical measures significantly reduce the exposure. Arrival and departure should be varied in time and route where the property allows. Room number should not be given to visitors or disclosed over the phone beyond what the hotel requires. Meeting sensitive contacts in the hotel room (as opposed to a private meeting room or off-site) creates a record of who visited. Package and mail deliveries to the hotel front desk should be expected and screened -- the hotel address is potentially known to adverse parties, and hotel reception staff rarely have the ability to screen packages for threat content. In properties where smart-home technology is present, sensitive conversations should be conducted elsewhere or after disabling voice-activated devices. Housekeeping access should be managed so that the room is not repeatedly entered during predictable windows. A regular review of what information about the guest's presence at the property has become visible in the public domain -- social media, press coverage, publicly available schedules -- is a basic operational security discipline for a long stay."

HNWI guests staying weeks or months in luxury hotels face pattern-of-life exposure, RFID card vulnerabilities, and smart-home interception risk. James Whitfield on long-stay residential hotel security.

7 min 7 May 2026

Written by James Whitfield — Senior Security Consultant

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A long stay in a luxury hotel or serviced apartment is a materially different security scenario from a standard business trip. The guest becomes known to the staff, the property, and – through the various channels by which hotel information becomes public – to parties who are watching.

James Whitfield, Senior Security Consultant, works with HNWI clients, executive protection teams, and estate managers on residential security arrangements for extended stays in hotel and serviced apartment properties. The consistent finding is that the luxury brand and the premium price point of a property are not security qualifications. They are hospitality qualifications. The security baseline of a GBP 3,000-per-night suite may be technically identical to that of a mid-range property in the same chain.

The pattern-of-life problem

In a professional security context, pattern of life refers to the observable routines and behaviours that, once established, allow a third party to predict where a target will be and when. A long-stay hotel resident develops a pattern of life that is visible to the hotel’s staff within 48 to 72 hours of arrival.

The restaurant manager knows when the guest comes for breakfast. The concierge knows when they leave for meetings and when they return. Housekeeping knows which days the room can be serviced without encountering the guest. The door staff recognise the vehicles and drivers. Over the course of a four-week stay, this collective knowledge is extensive and is held by a large number of people, some of whom will be on relatively low wages, with relatively high staff turnover, and no particular briefing on the guest’s security requirements.

The exposure this creates is not hypothetical. Organised criminal groups targeting HNWI individuals – for kidnap, robbery, or fraud – use hotel staff contacts as a primary intelligence source in P1 markets. The 2008 attacks on the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel in Mumbai (166 killed) demonstrated that major luxury hotels in high-risk cities are primary targets, not protected zones. In markets from Lagos to Istanbul to Manila, the luxury hotel environment is a concentration of high-value individuals whose movements are visible to a large and imperfectly vetted workforce.

RFID card vulnerabilities

In March 2024, security researchers Lennert Wouters and Ian Carroll published details of a vulnerability in the Assa Abloy Saflok electronic door lock system affecting an estimated 3 million hotel rooms across 131 hotel brands in 50 countries. The vulnerability – named Unsaflok – allowed an attacker who had obtained any expired keycard from the property (from a checkout desk, from discarded materials, or through any casual acquisition) to programme a cloned master key using inexpensive equipment. The cloned card was capable of opening any room in the property.

The attack requires no physical force, no insider access, and leaves no forensic trace on the door lock system’s audit log. The attacker appears to have used a standard hotel keycard and entered in under 10 seconds.

Assa Abloy and Dormakaba released patches from the third quarter of 2024. However, full remediation requires both a firmware update to every lock in the property and replacement of all keycards in circulation. As of mid-2025, full remediation had not been completed across all affected properties. For a long-stay guest in a luxury hotel with Saflok-based door locks, the risk that the property has not fully remediated is material.

The appropriate question when checking into a luxury property for an extended stay is not one that can easily be asked at the front desk. It requires a pre-arrival advance conversation between the protection team and the hotel’s security management.

Smart technology and conversation security

Premium hotel suites at the top end of the market frequently incorporate smart-home technology as a guest amenity: voice-activated assistants, smart lighting and temperature control, and connected entertainment systems. These are marketed as convenience features. From a security standpoint, they are continuous-listening microphones and networked devices on shared hotel infrastructure.

Voice-activated assistants – Amazon Alexa, Google Home, or proprietary hotel systems – are in a state of continuous audio monitoring for their wake word. Cloud-based processing means that audio captured by these systems passes through infrastructure outside the hotel’s direct control. The NCSC’s Consumer Smart Devices Guidance (updated 2024) recommends unplugging or disabling voice-activated devices before any sensitive conversation.

The hotel’s shared Wi-Fi and IP infrastructure – to which in-room smart devices are typically connected – may also be accessible to hotel IT staff or, in the event of a network security incident, to external parties. Sensitive business communications in a long-stay hotel room should use end-to-end encrypted platforms and should not be conducted in the presence of active smart devices.

In-room safe limitations

All hotel in-room safes have a master override code or physical key held by the hotel’s management. This is a legal and operational requirement for fire evacuation, emergency access, and recovery of items left by departing guests. The security of the in-room safe is therefore contingent on the integrity of every member of hotel management with access to the override during the length of the stay.

In a luxury property with low staff turnover and a small, well-vetted management team, the exposure is limited. In properties with higher turnover – which includes many flagship hotels in high-footfall city locations – the number of individuals with historic access to the override code over a four-month stay may be substantial.

High-value items, important documents, and sensitive devices should not be stored in an in-room safe as a primary security measure. A hotel safe deposit box at the front desk – a different system with a logged access audit trail – provides an improvement. For the highest-value items, direct custody within the security team’s arrangements is the appropriate standard.

Serviced apartment considerations

HNWI clients who stay in serviced apartments for extended periods – as opposed to hotel rooms – face a related but distinct set of security requirements. The apartment address becomes associated with the resident in a way that a hotel room number does not. The resident’s name may appear on utility accounts, delivery records, and building management systems. Domestic cleaning staff have regular access and are typically employed by a management company with its own vetting standards.

Specific additional requirements for serviced apartments: review of the building’s access control system and the protocols for management and maintenance access; a vetting check on the cleaning staff provided by the management company; smart-lock credential management and the ability to change access codes on departure; a review of what data the building management system collects about entry and exit; and a delivery management protocol for packages received at the building address.

For the short-stay business travel security framework applicable to standard hotel stays, see our hotel security for business travellers guide. For the residential security programme framework applicable to HNWI clients with multiple residences including extended hotel stays, see our UHNWI security programme guide.

Sources:

Wouters, L.; Carroll, I. et al: Unsaflok – RFID Hotel Lock Vulnerability Disclosure. March 2024. NCSC: Consumer Smart Devices Security Guidance. 2024. NCSC: Protecting Senior Officials – Guidance for Organisations. 2024. OSAC: Hotel Security Assessment Framework. 2024. Control Risks: HNWI Residential and Travel Security. 2024. ASIS International: Privately Owned and Operated Facilities Security Standard. 2024. British Security Industry Association: Hotel and Residential Security Guidance. 2024. Kroll: Executive Security Assessment Programme. 2025.

James Whitfield is a Senior Security Consultant with experience in close protection and residential security for HNWI clients, including extended-stay security arrangements internationally.

Summary

Key takeaways

Long-stay hotel guests develop an observable pattern of life within days of arrival

Hotel staff across housekeeping, front of house, concierge, and food and beverage learn a resident guest's schedule quickly. This information is accessible to anyone who cultivates a hotel staff contact or asks questions in the right way. Pattern-of-life variation and discretion about schedule information are both necessary.

The Unsaflok RFID vulnerability is an ongoing risk in properties that have not completed full remediation

A significant number of hotel properties worldwide use Assa Abloy Saflok locks affected by the Unsaflok vulnerability published in March 2024. The vulnerability allows any expired keycard to be cloned into a master key. Full remediation requires firmware updates to every lock and replacement of all keycards -- a process that was not complete across all affected properties as of mid-2025.

Smart-home technology in luxury suites is a conversation security risk

Voice-activated assistants in hotel rooms listen continuously. They are connected to the hotel's shared network infrastructure. Sensitive business conversations should not be conducted in the presence of active smart speakers.

The in-room safe is not a primary security measure for high-value items

All hotel in-room safes have a master override held by hotel management. High-value items require a separate storage arrangement with a logged access audit trail, or should remain in the direct custody of a security professional.

Serviced apartments require a distinct security review compared to hotel stays

Serviced apartments for HNWI long stays involve domestic cleaning staff, building management access, and a longer-term arrangement where the apartment address becomes associated with the resident in a way a hotel room does not. The security review should cover building access control, cleaning staff vetting, smart-lock credential management, and building management access protocols.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

A business traveller staying for two or three nights is a relatively anonymous guest. Staff do not know their schedule, the hotel has no sustained intelligence about their movements, and the pattern of their stay does not become observable from outside. A guest staying for four weeks or four months has a different security profile entirely. Within two or three days, front-of-house staff, the concierge, the restaurant team, and the housekeeping team learn when the guest leaves and returns, who visits them, what they order and when, and where they go. This pattern-of-life information is accessible to anyone who speaks to those staff, asks questions of the right person in a bar, or cultivates a relationship with a lower-paid member of the hotel’s extended team. For an HNWI or executive whose location and movements are of interest to a hostile party, a long hotel stay creates a sustained intelligence exposure that a short business trip does not.

In March 2024, security researchers Lennert Wouters, Ian Carroll, and others published research on a vulnerability in the Assa Abloy Saflok electronic door lock system used in an estimated 3 million hotel rooms across approximately 131 hotel brands and management companies. The vulnerability allowed an attacker who had obtained any expired key card from the hotel – from the rubbish, from a checkout desk, or through any casual acquisition – to use inexpensive equipment to clone a master key capable of opening any room in the property within seconds. The attack requires no insider access and leaves no forensic trace. The vulnerability affected a wide range of properties including properties marketed as luxury hotels. Assa Abloy and Dormakaba began issuing software patches from Q3 2024, but full remediation required both firmware updates to each lock and replacement of all keycards in the system. At the time of publication, full remediation across all affected properties had not been completed. This is not a historical risk; it is an ongoing one for HNWI guests in long-stay arrangements at affected properties.

Premium hotel suites – particularly those at the top-tier properties that attract HNWI long-stay guests – increasingly incorporate smart-home technology: voice-activated assistants (Amazon Alexa and similar), smart lighting and temperature control, and IP-connected entertainment systems. These systems are managed by the hotel’s infrastructure and in most cases are connected to the hotel’s network, which is a shared environment. Voice-activated assistants listen continuously for their wake word and in some configurations transmit ambient audio to cloud processing systems. A guest conducting sensitive business conversations in a suite equipped with a smart speaker should be aware of this. The NCSC’s guidance on smart devices recommends unplugging or disabling any voice-activated device before sensitive conversations. The hotel’s smart lighting and entertainment systems connected to the same in-room network may also be accessible to the hotel’s IT infrastructure and by extension to anyone with access to that infrastructure.

All hotel in-room safes – regardless of the property’s price bracket – have a master override code or physical override key held by the hotel’s housekeeping management or security team. This is a legal and operational requirement for fire, emergency access, and management of items left by departing guests. It means that the security of an in-room safe is contingent on the integrity of every member of the hotel’s management team who has access to the override. In a luxury property, this may be a very small number of senior staff. In a property with high staff turnover, which is common in the hospitality industry, the number of individuals who have had access to the override code over the period of a long stay may be significant. High-value items, sensitive documents, and devices should not be stored in an in-room safe as a primary security measure. A hotel safety deposit box in the front desk or vault (a different system with a logged access audit trail) is more appropriate, or the items should be in the care of a security professional.

Several practical measures significantly reduce the exposure. Arrival and departure should be varied in time and route where the property allows. Room number should not be given to visitors or disclosed over the phone beyond what the hotel requires. Meeting sensitive contacts in the hotel room (as opposed to a private meeting room or off-site) creates a record of who visited. Package and mail deliveries to the hotel front desk should be expected and screened – the hotel address is potentially known to adverse parties, and hotel reception staff rarely have the ability to screen packages for threat content. In properties where smart-home technology is present, sensitive conversations should be conducted elsewhere or after disabling voice-activated devices. Housekeeping access should be managed so that the room is not repeatedly entered during predictable windows. A regular review of what information about the guest’s presence at the property has become visible in the public domain – social media, press coverage, publicly available schedules – is a basic operational security discipline for a long stay.

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