Advice for Traveling Teacher Leaders

Written by Michael Bowers, Student Travel Safety Consultant, Travel Safety Solutions LLC.

Hotel Pixabay Public Domain

SYTA, the Student and Youth Travel Association, consistently works hard to ensure the student group travel industry is as safe, efficient, and educational as it can be, and their recent work with the Center for Student Travel Safety only furthers this notion.

To reduce the chance of a problem surfacing during student travel, SYTA and the Center for Student Travel Safety have developed a certification program, a first of it's kind operational and safety standard that was carefully curated using SYTA's 25 years of experience in the industry.

We are going to present the safety tips STYA gives in parts, this first part covering the topic of Hotels when traveling with student groups!

*Remember, Each group is different and group leaders must assess the potential risks facing their group.

Part 1: Hotels

Main Hotel Safety Takeaways:

• Always know the hotel's emergency and evacuation procedures. Be sure to give your students a primary assembly location in case of any emergency.
• Ensure students are aware of the responsibility of damages to the room.
• Make clear proper hotel etiquette: no bare feet, no hanging items from fire suppression sprinklers, never block hallways, etc.
• Conduct room checks nightly.
• Implement a buddy system for hotels.
• Consider night security at the hotel.
• IF students are allowed to explore beyond the hotel perimeters freely, be sure to set up check-in and check-out processes to keep track of students' whereabouts.
• Remind students to never open their hotel room door to a stranger.