El Tovar is in the heart of the South Rim Park, lots of rails - families with kids and such need rails. Almost anything not in a heavily touristed area will not have rails. The guy may well have climbed over the rail to get a picture.
We 4-whelled it about 75 miles down to Toroweep in northern AZ to the edge of the canyon. No fences...no nothing...except for a 3500 foot drop. Cool.