At each of the three Responsible Hospitality Institute’s networking conferences this past fall 2005, the need to view weekend activity in entertainment districts as special events was offered as a tactic for policing and managing hospitality zones. Weekends have become events for most cities.  People socialize all weekend at sporting events and street festivals, special occasions, dinners, concerts, art exhibits, vacations just because it is the weekend.    But events create a need for an increased, specialized focus.  This new focus may sometimes require public awareness and education of the problem and additional resources to address them.  However, most community leaders are in bed by the time the action starts. A suggested solution that orients stakeholders to late night issues is a firsthand, real time experience of the hospitality zone that (yes you read it right) puts council members in a nightclub bouncer’s shoes and requires participants to stick it out until last call to witness the impacts within the district.

Late Night Entertainment tours was introduced at RHI’s conferences and are being developed as a process to educate stakeholders and provide valuable information to decision makers about weekend activity in a district.  The process includes identifying key department heads from city agencies like code compliance or Streets and Sanitation, resident groups, business owners, community leaders, the police department, policy makers, council members, property owners, property managers, bartenders, servers, hospitality managers, Alderman and Neighborhood Associations.

The goal is to conduct small group tours in specific areas of a city where there is concentrated activity on weekends.   Part of the tour would include an overview of the district’s layout observed from transportation such as police or parks and recreation vans, tour group buses or trolleys.  The rest is at ground level: on foot and rubbing elbows with weekend revelers, police and hospitality staff.  Late night entertainment tours need to be kept small in size so being heard over entertainment and moving in and out of venues is manageable. 

All bars or restaurant owners will be notified that a tour will be occurring, but they will not be notified what weekend or time their venue will be visited.   The participants will not be informed of their schedule.  These tours are not meant to issue violations, but to highlight challenges of the industry and gaps in resources.  These tours are structured to provide an education to everybody.   The benefits seen at the completion of this will be an advocate for change, by breaching the gap between expectations and reality for council members and department heads, and by demonstrating the delicacy of planning for and managing issues in hospitality zones. 

A Pre-Tour Orientation at the beginning of the night is an important component to set a positive tone, to distribute observation tools and provide a context such as the need for resource allocation or action steps to improve the conditions.  If possible, mayors or city managers should make bi-annual tours mandatory to all city council, alder and ward representatives, not just those who districts include hospitality zones.  Ability for police to respond in a timely manner or at all to calls for service in their district is affected when there is a need for a police team dedicated solely to managing the entertainment district crowds at closing.

Planning, implementation and tour leading could be conducted by community policing groups, beat cops or chamber directors.  However, recommended guidelines created by RHI conference attendees suggested a neutral organization such as a Hospitality Resource Panel (HRP) would be an apt coordinator.  It is important that the entity that introduces the tour be perceived as neutral and be accepted as a point person to collect information about the issues germane to each district or hospitality zone.  

Participants could be assigned to many tasks throughout the night.  Some of these may include a job shadow component where participants work side by side with doormen or bartenders so decision makers experience challenges with fake ids, counterfeit money, intoxicated persons trying to gain entrance to a club and other front door management issues.    Checklists for observation and assessment can be provided at the orientation and pointed out by the tour leader.

The following is a standard set of issues that could be observed in any city, any weekend:

• Police staffing is adequate to crowd numbers present in district

• District appears clean and safe

• District has good mix of venues that attract a diversity of ages.

• Traffic flow and crowd is managed in such a way that pedestrians are safe and emergency vehicles and personnel have access when needed

• Sidewalks are clear of sandwich boards and sidewalk café provide enough clearance for the crowds present and for wheelchairs and other devices needed to assist disabled

• Security staff is professional, easily identified by uniform, manage lines outside clubs, utilize techniques and technology to confirm legitimate identification, deny access to underage and over intoxicated

• Parking lots are adequate in number and in placement, reasonably priced and provide visible lot attendants for security and for intervention with impaired drivers to suggest alternative ride home.

• Valet is professional and sufficient enough in numbers to return cars to customers in a timely manner, and intervenes with overintoxicated drivers to suggest alternative ride home.

• Taxicabs are accessed at a taxi stand that employ an expeditor that also provides crowd management.  Taxi service is sufficient in number during the late night hours when bars close. Cabs do not honk to attract fares

• Hours of service and quantity of public transportation is available to provide safe rides home at last call.

• Signs are not confusing (i.e. loading zone signs where parking meters are)

• Trash pick up schedule is appropriate to the district’s residents and businesses

• Mixed use businesses how restaurants are mixed as bars or taverns

• Nightclubs take steps to contain noise and to avoid high risk drink promotions

• Resident buildings built after hospitality zone establishment provide good sound insulation measures.

• Servers and bartenders cut off over intoxicated patrons

• Licensed beverage establishments provide activities other than drinking

Late Night Tours are an inexpensive way to create awareness of an enigmatic yet vibrant and growing sector, the late night entertainment industry.  Utilizing existing resources, the tours train the eyes of city leaders to symptoms of larger problems that they alone have the power to initiate change.