The Evidence Gap Self-Diagnostic

Fifteen questions. Ten minutes. Answer them honestly.

The rule: if you cannot answer Yes with a document in your hand, the answer is No. “Mostly,” “I think so,” “we’re working on it,” and “I’d have to check” are all No — because the three audiences who will ask you these questions do not accept those answers either.

A No does not mean you are doing something wrong. It means no one outside your building has ever confirmed you are doing it right. Those are different problems — and only one of them can be solved from inside your building.

This is not a checklist. There is nothing on it you can close by working harder this weekend — that is deliberate. Every question is about who has checked, not about what you have done.

What your people actually know

Q1Has anyone other than a manager asked your front-desk staff — individually, and without warning — how they would report a concern about a guest?
Q2If you asked three of your employees separately tonight, do you already know whether their answers would match?
Q3Has anyone ever written down what your staff actually said in response — rather than recording that they completed a course?

Whether anyone outside has ever looked

Q4Has any person who is neither your employee nor paid by your brand ever examined how this property actually operates, and put their name to the result?
Q5Does any document in your compliance file contain a finding — something an outside party told you to fix?
Q6If your insurer asked you at renewal to demonstrate the controls you have in place to prevent trafficking, could you answer that with a document today?

Records that should already exist

Q7If a claim were filed next month covering a stay from fourteen months ago, could you produce that night's folio, the identity record, and the shift log?
Q8Is there a written record you could use today to tell me what concerns were raised at this property over the last 24 months?
Q9Is there a dated document showing what you concluded about the last concern that was raised here?

Whether you can see your own weak point

Q10If you had to name your weakest property on this today, could you point to a document that shows it?
Q11If two of your properties gave different answers to these questions, would you find out before someone else did?
Q12The last time you confirmed a procedure was actually being followed, did that confirmation produce a written record?

The standard someone else applies

Q13Do you know the specific questions an insurance underwriter is instructed to ask about trafficking controls?
Q14If your own defence counsel asked tomorrow for your evidence of due care, would you have a document to give them?
Q15Could you produce your compliance file without logging into a system your brand or a vendor controls?

Where to send your result

0 of 15 answered

Yellow Rose Verification Group, LLC is a private risk-management firm. This diagnostic is voluntary and no statute requires a third-party audit. We are not affiliated with, certified by, or endorsed by the State of Texas, the Texas Office of the Attorney General, DPS, or any regulatory agency. We do not provide legal advice.