Conclusions, Policy Recommendations, Limitations, and Suggestions for Future Research

Abstract

This chapter provides conclusions and policy recommendations, as well as discusses research limitations and suggestions for future research. It discusses how both hotels and home shares are subject to the threat of crime; yet, home shares experience unique crimes which would never occur in the hotel setting because hotels are a highly regulated environment. Even though some states and individual localities have tried to control home sharing, crime and safety problems are still present. This is because safety and security practices in home shares are not mandatory and require voluntary compliance by individual hosts, who are not usually trained in the fields of security and hospitality, to voluntarily comply. Home-sharing companies make many safety suggestions and offer some tools hosts need to be successful, but because of their status as an internet platform, rather than an innkeeper, they bear no legal responsibility. Policymakers need to be aware that current law places the responsibility for safety and security on home-sharing users. It may be that the time has come to regulate home-sharing companies more closely; however, other policies can be considered to help reduce safety and security concerns for home-sharing users and for the neighborhoods in which home sharing occurs.