Safety and Security in Hotels and Home Sharing

This brief comparatively reviews the security and safety features of hotels and home sharing services. It reviews crime data, laws, and applicable theories – such as defensible space, rational choice, and routine activity theories - to determine how responsibility for crime control and accident prevention in these industries is allotted.This analysis identifies key policy questions about the role of the home sharing hosts and guests in ensuring their own safety and security, which will be of interest to policy makers, researchers and practitioners in criminal justice and law enforcement, as well as those involved in the home sharing and hotel industries. This brief comparatively reviews the security and safety features of hotels and home sharing services. It reviews crime data, laws, and applicable theories – such as defensible space, rational choice, and routine activity theories - to determine how responsibility for crime control and accident prevention in these industries is allotted.This analysis identifies key policy questions about the role of the home sharing hosts and guests in ensuring their own safety and security, which will be of interest to policy makers, researchers and practitioners in criminal justice and law enforcement, as well as those involved in the home sharing and hotel industries.