Michael O’ Regan, FOM, was recently quoted in a skift report entitled
“Opening Closed Doors: Can Hotels Do More to Fight Human Trafficking?”
One thing Airbnb hasn’t done yet, however, is engage directly with hosts. That’s a problem, said Michael O’Regan, a senior lecturer at Bournemouth University’s Department of Sport and Event Management who studies the effects of Airbnb and similar companies.
“I think most hosts that I’ve spoken to would welcome some information and guidance around human trafficking,” O’Regan said. “But then again, you have all these issues around frictionless travel and platforms that make it so much more difficult for hosts to actually have any face-to-face interaction with their guests.”
He added that the issue of host engagement was especially important ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — of which Airbnb is a partner sponsor — as there is plenty of research that has suggested human trafficking rises during major global events.
