Worried About Safety? Here Are The Surprising Things Travel Companies Are Doing About It

10.02.2024 - 10:19 / forbes.com / Dan Richards

When you rent an apartment from Tabas by Blueground in São Paulo, get ready to be screened.

First, you'll fill out forms with your home address and other personal data. Next, you'll have to send the company an image of your passport. Then they'll need a selfie with you and your passport.

A selfie? Yes, a selfie.

"We need to make sure it's really you," explains Leonardo Morgatto, a CEO of Tabas by Blueground, a company that specializes in furnished rentals.

Morgatto says the company then runs a background check to make sure you're not a security risk. It's not just for the apartment's owners, who want to make sure they're getting well-behaved guests. The other guests want to know they're in a safe building, too.

Tabas by Blueground's security precautions are part of a new emphasis on security in travel in 2024, particularly the lodging industry. Safety is now a top concern among visitors, and hotels and rentals are meeting the demand with everything from detailed security information to digital locks.

It turns out travelers have been thinking about safety a lot lately.

Civil unrest and terrorism are travelers’ leading fears, according to the latest Global Rescue Traveler Sentiment and Safety Survey. Those worries surpassed accidents or injuries for the first time, marking a dramatic attitudinal shift among travelers.

“We’re seeing an understandable increase in traveler concern worldwide," says Dan Richards, CEO of The Global Rescue Companies, a provider of medical, security, and evacuation services. The Middle East conflict, the latest air travel incidents and overall global instability are stoking travelers' fears, according to experts.

Those have fueled the growth of travel companies that are stepping up their security activities, including Tabas by Blueground.

"They want to make sure we're renting to vetted clients," says Morgatto. In a place like Brazil, security is taken to the next level. In São Paulo, high walls surround apartments, businesses and parks. Many neighborhoods are perfectly safe for pedestrians, but if you wander around the city you can easily end up in a place that is less safe for tourists.

Morgatto says about 15% of his customers are international visitors, and they want peace of mind when they come to South America's largest city. The passport selfies, the forms and the guards all add up to keeping visitors secure. He says before implementing the selfie rule, some renters would send someone else's passport photo and invariably, there would be complaints about these guests' behavior.

"Lately," he adds, "we've had almost no complaints."

Improving safety started during the pandemic, when travelers were so concerned with their health that they simply stayed home. Now safety is part