Hotel security cameras that speak up when something is wrong
In a small hotel, guesthouse or B&B, the hotel security cameras record every corridor and nobody watches them. The owner is often somewhere else. You can make the same cameras tell you about the few moments that matter: an empty front desk with a guest waiting, a side door at 3am, cash left on the counter.
What goes wrong in a small hotel
- A guest waiting at reception and nobody at the desk.
- Cash or a card machine left on the front desk with nobody behind it.
- Luggage left in the lobby with nobody around.
- A side door or the back entrance opened in the middle of the night.
- Someone in the storeroom, the laundry or the office after hours.
- People at the pool or on the roof terrace after it has closed.
Rules for hotel security cameras
- Reception: “Tell me if a guest is waiting at the desk and nobody is there.”
- Reception: “Tell me if cash is left on the desk and nobody is behind it.”
- Lobby: “Tell me if luggage sits in the lobby with no one around.”
- Back entrance: draw an area as a motion alarm for the night. The alert arrives within a second.
- Pool: “Tell me if anyone is at the pool after 10pm.”
Checks you no longer have to make
Write a time and what should be so. If it isn’t, your phone gets the photo.
- “06:45, breakfast room open.”
- “23:00, main entrance closed.”
- “23:00, pool gate closed.”
Ask about your hotel from anywhere
- “Is the breakfast room full?”
- “Is there cash on the front desk?”
- “Did the back door open last night?”
- “How many people came to breakfast today?”
- “Send a photo of reception now.”
Tampering and guests’ privacy
If a camera is turned away, covered or unplugged, you are told, and the last 20 minutes before it are saved as a black box. If the PC itself goes silent, your phone hears about that too.
Cameras belong in shared areas: entrances, reception, the lobby, corridors, the parking area. Never in guest rooms or bathrooms. Puw describes actions and objects. It does not recognize faces or identify guests, and the footage stays on your own PC.
Puw was built for a hotel like yours
We built Puw for our own hotel, which is far from where we live. Puw is a Windows 10/11 app that connects to the cameras or recorder you already have, over RTSP or ONVIF; Hikvision, Dahua and most other IP brands work. Nothing new to install on the walls.
The AI runs on the PC at the front desk or in the office. Alerts come to your phone on Telegram with a photo. Puw also learns each camera’s usual day and reports motion at an hour that is always quiet, without a rule.
- A daily report of what happened.
- The PC must stay on. For a busy reception camera, an NVIDIA graphics card is recommended.
- 30 days free, the full version, no card.
30 days free · full version · no card
Frequently asked questions
Do hotels have security cameras in the rooms?
They shouldn’t. Cameras belong in shared areas such as the entrance, reception, corridors and parking. Guest rooms and bathrooms are private.
How long do hotel security cameras keep footage?
As long as the recorder’s hard drive allows. When it is full, most recorders overwrite the oldest days. Puw doesn’t record around the clock; it keeps captions of events on the PC, so you can search back to the day it was installed.
Can I check on my hotel when I’m away?
Yes. Ask Puw from your phone in plain words, like “Is anyone at reception?”, and it answers with the moments and a photo.
Does Puw recognize guests?
No. Puw has no face recognition and doesn’t identify people. It describes what happens: a person at the desk, a suitcase in the lobby.
Hikvision, Dahua, Lorex, Reolink and other brands are trademarks of their owners. Puw is not affiliated with them.