SCENARIOS - What more can top hotels do to boost security?

By William Maclean, Security Correspondent

LONDON (Reuters) - The Jakarta hotel bombings confront security experts with an increasingly familiar dilemma: How do you give fortress-like protection to businesses whose very existence depends on the gentle art of welcoming people?

Bombs tore through the luxury JW Marriott and the Ritz-Carlton hotels in Indonesia's capital on Friday, killing eight people and shaking faith in the effectiveness of security at hotels and other possible targets. [nSP391776]

Police said the Marriott device was planted by people who had checked in as guests and had probably assembled the device in their rooms.

Governments have been highly attuned to hotel security since devastating attacks on high-end establishments frequented by wealthy people or Westerners in Pakistan and India last year.

But they are finding there are no simple, one-size-fits-all solutions to protecting the world's five-star hotels.

Better protection depends on a relentless focus on better routine security practices -- a challenge for managers and workers alike because the tasks are by definition repetitive and monotonous, industry analysts and counter-terrorism experts say.

WHAT HIGH-END HOTELS MAY SEEK TO DO

Tightening check-in