Lothian and Borders Police are inviting Edinburgh hoteliers to join a new group aimed at improving hotel security in the city.

The partnership group, called CHECKIN, launched on 27 May at Edinburgh’s Sheraton Grand Hotel and Spa in Festival Square, which is backing the initiative.

Hotelier members will be encouraged to share information to help prevent crime, and police will provide crime prevention advice and training to participants’ staff.

“Edinburgh is a massive tourist destination, and as a result hotel occupancy rates are likely to continue to keep growing in the years ahead,” said police constable Bruce Burt, who helped design the scheme. “With this in mind, it becomes ever more important to share information with each other on how they can achieve that aim.

“The scheme has already been successfully run in cities like London, where the hotel industry is heavily involved. We hope that this can be successfully repeated in Edinburgh,” he said.