If you rent out your home or apartment through an online rental site such as Airbnb, you could be a greater risk of being a victim of identity theft.
That is the warning from the identity monitoring firm LifeLock, which conducted a survey of about 1,000 American adults and found that 41 percent said they have snooped through the private items of homes they have visited or rented.
That rate is higher, 57 percent, among millennials, who are most likely to use rental sites such as Airbnb.
Identity theft and short-term rentals are phenomena that have grown in the digital age. But there is yet no data to show a direct link between the growth of identity theft and the surging popularity of short-term rentals.
Still, Paige Hanson, chief of identity education at LifeLock, said home sharing increases the risk of identity theft because it gives travelers access to private homes and personal data, a problem that doesn’t exist when travelers stay at hotels.
“There will always be those bad actors who use those services to find victims,” she said.
Airbnb, the largest home-sharing business, advises people who rent out homes through their website to lock up their personal papers and stop their mail when renters are in the homes.
But if an Airbnb host has his or her identity stolen, Airbnb spokesman Nick Shapiro said, the company will pay for the services of Allclear, an identity repair and protection firm.
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CONVENTIONS BOOST CITIES’ ECONOMIES
Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump will help boost the economy before either of them get into office. At the very least, they are expected to help the hospitality industry in the two cities that are hosting the Democratic and Republican conventions next month.
As expected, the hotel occupancy levels and nightly rates have already jumped for the dates of the conventions in Philadelphia for the Democrats and Cleveland for the Republicans.
What is unusual is that those high occupancy levels and rates are not dropping dramatically after the conventions, which suggests that delegates and others attending the political shindigs may be hanging around for a few days for some tourist activities.
John Hach, a senior industry analyst for the travel consultancy TravelClick, said data from dozens of properties show that occupancy rates for the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia have already jumped 125.6 percent while daily rates are up 38.6 percent to about $182 per night.
For the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, he said, occupancy levels are up 158.6 percent and daily rates have jumped 109 percent to about $141 per night.
But instead of dropping back to normal after the political events, hotel rates are easing back gradually, suggesting that some delegates and attendees may be adding a few days of travel to their visits to the City of Brotherly Love and the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hach attributes this to a strong travel demand nationwide and good weather expected in both cities.
“It’s a good time of the year to visit these … cities,” Hach said.
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UNITED ADDS SLIM SEATS, NEW LOUNGES
Hoping to match the profit margin of his competitors, United Airlines Chief Executive Oscar Munoz laid out a plan this week to generate $3.1 billion in new revenue and savings by 2018.
One way he hopes to meet that goal is do what airlines have been doing a lot lately: Squeeze more thin-cushion seats into the economy section and offer more luxury seating for well-heeled fliers near the front of the plane.
“Myself and the entire leadership team recognize that we have not performed to the level of our own expectations, or frankly in line with our peers,” he told industry analysts in a conference call.
United has been replacing its traditional economy seats with so-called slimline seats that have thinner back cushions, making it easier to squeeze more passengers per cabin. The carrier is about halfway through retrofitting its 737 planes with the slimline seats. The entire airline will be fitted with the seats in 2018 once crews install them on the smaller fleet of 757-300 planes.
Another way to generate revenue, Munoz said, is to introduce new high-end fares.
The newest offer, an international seat dubbed Polaris, launches in December. The seat is super roomy and includes lots of extra storage area. But the real plus is that ticket holders get exclusive access to new swanky Polaris lounges that include spa-like showers and mixologists at United hubs across the country.
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