How Booking.com and It’s A Penalty Are Addressing Human Trafficking in Hospitality

Human trafficking is a complex and often misunderstood issue, and one that exists across communities, including within hospitality.

In this episode, we’re joined by Betsy Steckler, Regional Director of Partner Services at Booking.com, and Jennifer Easterday, Head of Human Rights at Booking.com, to talk about how their teams are approaching human trafficking through awareness, education, and partner support.

From building training programs to equipping operators with practical tools, they share how Booking.com is working to help partners better understand the signs, respond appropriately, and create safer environments for both guests and communities.

We then continue the conversation with Philippa King, Deputy CEO of It’s A Penalty, a global non-profit organization focused on raising awareness and preventing human trafficking through large-scale campaigns tied to major events like the Super Bowl and the upcoming World Cup.

Philippa shares how these campaigns work, why major events create both risk and opportunity, and how collaboration between platforms, organizations, and local communities plays a critical role in prevention.

Across both conversations, a few themes stand out: the importance of awareness, the need for practical action, and the role that individuals, teams, and communities can play in recognizing and responding to potential risks.
While the issue is complex, the conversation highlights practical ways to better understand it and take action when something doesn’t feel right.

Episode Chapters:
03:00 – Booking.com partner services and human rights overview
05:30 – Human trafficking awareness in hospitality
08:30 – Understanding human trafficking in lodging and guest environments
10:30 – How operators and teams can stay informed
13:00 – Signs of human trafficking in guest stays
18:00 – Reporting suspicious activity and escalation process
22:30 – Training and resources for hospitality teams
30:36 – It’s A Penalty overview and mission
31:00 – How It’s A Penalty campaigns started
34:10 – Human trafficking risks during major events
36:20 – Types of human trafficking explained
40:30 – Real-world example of trafficking in a rental property
43:00 – Why human trafficking is often hidden in plain sight
45:30 – Practical steps for awareness and prevention
47:10 – World Cup preparation and risk awareness

Connect with Betsy:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/betsysteckler/

Connect with Jennifer:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifereasterday/

Connect with Philippa:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/philippa-king-04307b4a/

Website: https://itsapenalty.org/

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#vacationrentals #shorttermrentals #humantrafficking

Transcript

Welcome To The Podcast

Alex Husner 0:01

Welcome to Alex Bananny, the real women of Vacation Rentals. With more than 35 years combined industry experience, Alex Heusser and Annie Holcomb have teamed up to connect the dots between inspiration and opportunity. Seeking to find the one story, idea, strategy, or decision that led to their guests' big aha moment. Join them as they highlight the real stories behind the people and brands that have built vacation rentals into the $100 billion industry it is today. And now, it's time to get real and have some fun with your hosts, Alex and Annie.

Sponsor Message From BookingPal

Speaker 10 0:37

We'll start the show in just a minute. But first, a word from our premier brand sponsor. My name is Sally Lockard.

Sponsor Spotlight: BookingPal

Speaker 8 0:42

I'm the head of sales marketing at Hoseva. We have been working with my BookingPal since about 2019. Hoseva is a full service property manager and software company. We manage about 6,000 properties over 16 countries, over a myriad of services. At Hoseva, we have our own custom-built PMS where we build our own direct channel connections. The reason we decided to partner with BookingPal is because they were able to expand our reach. BookingPal really stays on top of making sure that all partners have easy API access to add on the channels, even for people like us who have our own channel connections. Implementing the integrations with MyBookingPal have allowed our teams, you know, more time and more trust and less worry on our sides, right? We know things are working. The reason Booking Pow was a good strategic choice for our business was we specifically wanted to connect to some of the channels that they had access to that nobody else did. Having the exclusive ability to distribute to homes and hideaways by Hyde has been a big plus for us. We are aggressively growing in the independent hotel and multifamily sector where being able to attract those travelers that are used to staying in a hotel like a high and feeling safe with that kind of brand has been really increasing when it comes to conversion and numbers for our revenue side for these type of properties. I would say BookingPal as a partner is a really good loyal friendship, right? You know, we have a nice integration that's obviously put deep rooted in to tech, right? But the teams really speak well together and we have a direct contact if we need it. It really is important to us to have 24-7 customer support, and we really value that in our partners. I would definitely recommend my BookingPills to others. It has just helped us to continue to grow and be in front of as many travelers as possible. And it's helped us to do that with ease and with partners that we feel like we can trust.

Speaker 6 2:34

Looking to expand your distribution and grow revenue without adding operational complexity? With BookingPal, you can streamline channel management, connect to global marketplaces, and bring greater visibility and control to your distribution strategy, backed by a reliable team you can trust. Alex and Annie listeners get onboarding fees waived, plus 20% off your first two months when you get started. Click the link in the description to learn more.

Booking.com Teams And Roles

Alex Husner 3:00

Welcome to Alex Nanny the Reliment of Vacation Rentals. I'm Alex. And I'm Annie. And we are joined by two ladies today. We have Betsy Steckler, who is the Regional Director for Partner Services North America, which includes VacationRentals with Booking.com, and Jennifer Easterday, who is the head of global human rights for booking.com. So great to see you ladies today. Thank you for having us.

Annie Holcombe 3:23

Thank you for joining us. I think we have a very important topic of conversation to get to. But before we do, why don't you give yourself just a little introduction to our audience about your positions at Booking.com.

Jennifer Easterday 3:34

Jennifer Easterday, head of human rights at Booking.com. So at Booking.com, our human rights program is based in our legal and compliance function. So I'm a US BARD lawyer, actually from San Francisco, California. But I am currently living in Europe and I've been at Booking.com for about five years now, setting up and managing our human rights program.

Betsy Steckler 3:57

And I'm Betsy Steckler, the regional director for our North American uh partner services team. We work directly with the partners on a day-to-day basis at their local sites. Um I am also based uh out of San Francisco, um, and I've been with Booking almost uh 12 years.

Alex Husner 4:16

Oh, wow, long time. That's awesome. Very cool. And you've got a nice New York City background behind you, and you actually are in New York City. So that's cool. Awesome. So tell us a little bit about, I mean, what is the partner services department at booking.com? What is your team responsible for? What does that mean?

Betsy Steckler 4:34

The way to think about it, all of us know booking as very much a global platform. And while we operate at incredible scale, my team is really focusing on understanding those local needs, insights, and understanding the communities in which our partners operate. And this allows us to support partner success very much at a local level. And when we talk about partners, that could be a vacation rental, that can be a hotel, that can be a group in which we support. But most importantly, we meet partners where they're at in their own markets. So this is about really understanding the global reach and translating that into local insights, ensuring that whether or not you're managing a portfolio in Orlando, Florida, or a single home in Aspen, you definitely feel supported, heard, and empowered to welcome travelers from anywhere in the world.

Local Partner Support At Scale

Annie Holcombe 5:30

Awesome. So are you on Ian Auckland's team then? I am. Okay, great. We love Ian's great. We love talking with him. Um, so uh I guess like just to really understand how your teams work together. Maybe Jennifer, tell us a little bit about your role. You said with human rights, but how does that role interact with this, you know, with um Betsy's team?

Jennifer Easterday 5:50

Yeah, great question. So as I said, we sit in in the legal and compliance team. So we're really a sort of corporate function, and we work with a lot of different teams within booking.com, sort of depending on the issue, the topic, or what we're trying to achieve. Um, and in this case, when it comes to really working to equip our partners and to help raise awareness about an issue as important as human rights and human trafficking in this specific case, um, we work with teams like Betsy's to help really make sure that the message that we're sending and the support that we're able to give to our partners is really what our partners need in that specific local context. And also really resonates with them and supports them and is very market specific. So we want to make sure that we have a very context-relevant and localized support and training and awareness for our partners when it comes to topics as complex and sensitive as human rights.

Alex Husner 6:43

Yeah. Wow. Not a small undertaking there by any means. Um, Betsy, how does your team work with Jennifer's team? How do you support the human rights strategy?

Betsy Steckler 6:53

Yeah, Jennifer covered some of it. It's very much about the strategy lives uh with her and the human rights team. And ultimately, our team is connecting it back to the local partners, but more importantly, identifying where we can have localized uh efforts. So it's beyond just sending an email. We host local activities, we look for market-specific events, we hope to use those local touch points as a way to build awareness around human rights in a way that feels very relevant to that community. One community may need a different level of education than maybe another community. And our teams are taking that strategy and then helping form that into very locally relevant opportunities. And it's about ensuring that we get to the point of where our partners are doing business. And that includes both vacation rentals and that includes hotels.

Annie Holcombe 7:53

Yeah, so it's a it's an interesting topic. I learned several things about it a few years ago. I actually saw a story on it around the Super Bowl. I have to admit, I was shocked at kind of the numbers that were surrounding just the Super Bowl. Um, but obviously there was a very large, you know, global event that's coming to the U.S. So it's very important, I think, to get this, get this word out there. So maybe, Jennifer, tell us a little bit about kind of, I mean, you obviously, if you have a department that's that's looking at this, this is a serious, the serious matter within the organization. But what is um, you know, what is the overall approach to this? I mean, you're you're talking, this is something that happens in almost every corner of the world, sadly. So you you do, like you said, you have different market approaches, but um, from a from a company level, what is what is the actual approach to human rights and kind of the advocacy towards this?

Building A Human Rights Program

Jennifer Easterday 8:39

Yeah, thank you. That's a it's a good question. And I think human rights is a really loaded term sometimes. So we also try to break it down into specific issues, and we're really trying to understand what are the different topics and risks that are really specific to booking.com, but also to our partners and our travelers and people who are using our platform. So we take that approach and we try to understand what is our role at booking.com to help prevent our business operations or just our industry and the way that our travel and tourism industry works from having that negative impact on the rights of our travelers and our community members and our staff and our employees. And so it's really trying to look at that holistically and put right tools in the hands of people so that they also know what they can do. So we do a lot of things internally at Booking.com, looking at our own business and to make sure that we're running a respectful business and a sort of inclusive business when it comes to human rights. But then we also want our business partners to be able to do the same and feel empowered and equipped to run their businesses in the same way and really understand the value of those business practices to having a successful short-term rental, for example, or a hotel, or any of the other sort of services and travel services that we provide. Um, I should just mention we're not sort of making this up as we go along. So our practices are based in international standards, UN guiding principles on business and human rights. There's this whole area of practice that we are trying to follow. We strive to follow that guidance, and we work with a lot of experts and community members and stakeholders as well to make sure that we get it right because we know it is complex and it really does take that whole community effort to make sure that we're getting it right.

Alex Husner 10:22

Betsy, could you give an example? I mean, how do you actually engage with property managers and hosts about this topic? Like what is that, how do you assist? Like, what does the conversation look like?

Betsy Steckler 10:32

Yeah, it's a it's a great question. And I think we're constantly looking at how do we evolve our approach. We kicked off our support with It's a Penalty last year, and we've tried some different methods. Some of those methods involve very nuanced conversations, some very locally relevant, um, maybe at a property level or maybe with a specific host. But it's also really understanding that we understand that the vacation rental space itself is so localized. They have this really unique vantage point that a large group or hotel chain may not have. Um they know their neighborhoods. Um they have an understanding of potentially things that go on there or potentially they're aware of or observe potentially opportunities for us to come in and help with some of that messaging. So if we're thinking about it from a they're a large-scale professional or even a solo entrepreneur, the community aspect is important. So one of the things that we try to do is really understanding both the industry piece as well as leveraging that local knowledge. And how do we then adapt programming, education, and materials to fit that local community need? And so part of it is down to the housekeeper and the maintenance crews. We want to make sure that they're educated to understand what to look for because they become this powerful protective layer for the community. And so ultimately, it's about our shared responsibility and role. We're connecting travelers to these local homes or properties. So we have this shared responsibility to understand how to keep those neighborhoods safe and ethical. And we continue to share insights on human trafficking and those signs potentially of what to look forward.

Annie Holcombe 12:22

As a follow-up there, I know one of the things that I've been talking um a lot about with your team is kind of that again, you know, again, going to the differences between hotels and vacation rentals. And one of the challenges is with hotels, there is that line of sight to the guest almost every time they come to the front desk. And so we were having that discussion about like how to help managers be able to understand that one, this is important. I mean, I think that they they on the surface, they understand that. But it's like if they're not seeing the guests, that there are ways that they can still be proactive and be part of the solution. Um, so have you found any, I guess, any ways or any tips that have that you're using with vacation rental specifically knowing that they're not actually seeing the guest at check-in?

Betsy Steckler 13:07

Yeah, and I think that comes back to the point that I made around housekeepers and maintenance. And how are we ensuring that we're creating materials that are readily available but easy to understand? So part of some of the work that we've done is we've done events where we bring in hosts, we bring in property owners, where we walk them through what are some of the signs. How do they then share that with the individuals that are on the ground, meaning their cleaning crews, the individuals that potentially have conversations back and forth with their guests, whether it be online or in person at the time of check-in, depending on the check-in process. And so part of it is really adapting our approach to each need of the properties that we're working with. So I think one of the big things that we've learned is there's not a one size fits all, that we really have to look at both the materials and the way that we communicate to partners very uniquely different, especially for vacation rentals versus that of hotels and the mass scale that they can reach versus the individual renter, if you will, or traveler that's coming to a local home or a short-term rental. And so part of that is really understanding how to adapt and adjust our materials and overall communication. I think we're finding better ways to do that. I don't think that we have the magic yet. Um, but with this campaign that we've been working on, this is a new year for us, kicking off some of the best practices that we've learned from last year. And it's where I can see us slowly adapting and adjusting our approach.

Alex Husner 14:54

Got it. So it was interesting when Annie first brought this up to me, the idea for this episode. And I was on a work trip and uh was talking to somebody, and they said that I had I would never have thought this, that the Super Bowl is one of the most largest events for human trafficking. And I never really would have ever thought of that. But I mean, for for the people that you talk to or just our listeners, I mean, what are some of the signs that you educate to look for to know when something's not right?

Jennifer Easterday 15:23

Yeah, I can take that one. So I think there's a couple of different um opportunities we have to really talk about the risks around human trafficking as a specific risk around major sporting events. Um and there's a couple of ways that we do that. And that's one of our partnerships with It's a Penalty is really critical in this way because they're they're really experts at bringing this larger community of awareness and then also making it hyper local, as Betsy was saying, is such a key. So I'll get to some of the signs, but I just wanted to know that one of the most important things that we can talk about with our partners is knowing what to do if you spot a sign or if you have even a hesitation that you might see something that looks unusual. And so it's a penalty, does this excellent work with local grassroots organizations and we paper every local community with billboard signs and signs on buses and any transport, taxis, um, bus stations, airports, videos in the backs of um on your airplane when you're traveling into a location so that people are just sort of able to see this information. So if you spot something that's unusual, you're out to dinner, or a cleaning crew comes in, and you see something a little weird with the people checking into the STR that's upstairs, for example, because you have a shared building, you know who to call, and you're calling a locally relevant and vetted organization. So that's the other side of the thing is once you know what to spot, what do you do with that information? And that's where it's a penalty, it's a valuable resource. Some of the things that you might look for are just certain guests that might not uh might have a little bit of signs of vulnerability. So for example, a guest who might check in, who isn't looking who might look scared or intimidated, or who might have other signs of vulnerability, who might not be completely in their own control. For example, they don't have control over their documents, or they don't have control over their luggage, or they might not have luggage, these kinds of things, which I think it's if you're moved into this space, you're a professional host, or you've hosted a couple times, you'll probably get a sense of what feels like maybe a little bit high risk or suspicious. And you can just always report that safely and securely and anonymously if need be, right? And not feel like you're gonna get anybody in trouble either. So there's also very victim-centered ways to handle this information. Um, other things can be when you come in and clean things that are just unusually dirty, messy, disturbed, um, certain kinds of paraphernalia that we might see. I don't want to get into a lot of like gory things. I think we can those things that seem a little bit out of place. And we we actually do in our trainings, we walk through the nitty-gritty and we we really get into specific signs that you might see. Um, and you just want to kind of gloss over it for the sake of this conversation given all the trigger warnings. Um, so there's a lot, and but it's being able to spot it, but then also being able to report it, I think is it's a really critical full circle campaign that we try to run. Um and we also work with other training organizations as well. So we have existing information both on our partner hub and articles, and we have some videos that we've put out um that you can also access through our platform and pointing to different resources for expert organizations, because of course we're not the anti-trafficking experts. We work with a lot of other groups who are trying to get their messages out and into the hands of our partners.

Detection And Trust And Safety

Annie Holcombe 18:50

Yeah, I know um over the last probably, I would say the last year, I feel like the more I've traveled that I've started to see more um no like just notices, like things on the back of bathroom walls. I mean, I I saw it for a while in some airports, but it feels like I see it all the time now. So that is both comforting that it's being acknowledged, but also disturbing that it has to be acknowledged at that level. I I was curious with your teams. I mean, is there training that's done with your teams? Obviously, I I think, you know, Betsy, for you, there's there, there's things that you're you're talking with partners about, but it just in the sense of like reservations being booked. And if somebody, you know, can they call and then there's like an escalation within the organization to react to things? Like, how does that happen if they're if something is noticed?

Jennifer Easterday 19:39

Great question. I'll I'll take that one. So part of our approach to general human rights risk management is looking at how can we as a platform also spot some of these risks sort of before they get to our partners. And that's a core part of what we are trying to do. And so indeed, we have our trust and safety team, is what we call it at booking.com. And they are really um running a lot of great programs, providing training to different teams inside the business. They themselves are trained up to really be able to spot those kinds of patterns and those kinds of bookings and be able to escalate it internally to do an assessment and understand, right, what are the appropriate actions that should they should take. They also do that when we receive reports in. So that report can come in from another guest. It can come in from a partner. So one of those reporting channels is the partner can just call booking.com and it will be escalated to the right team. And we will run an assessment and we will understand sort of within our own protocol what we can do about that. So we run sort of a three-pillar program around anti-trafficking and human trafficking, and that's detection. So that work that we were talking about, being able to spot some of these reservations and some of these risky signs internally, then responding to that, making sure that the escalations are working, that our team knows what to do, and that we're getting those handled appropriately. And then really this awareness raising program, which is helping to make sure that our partners and our communities also understand what are these signs, what do they do with it, what should they do with it if they spot a sign, and how can they connect to us or to those grassroots communities and anti-trafficking centers that the It's a Penalty does such a good job of connecting them with.

Betsy Steckler 21:22

I was just gonna add on the team team level as well, there's extensive training that our teams are going through. So even before getting to the market and understanding kind of the local needs, our teams are also being trained by It's a Penalty as an example prior to this campaign going live and the focus for 2026 specifically around the World Cup. And part of what our teams are doing is ensuring that they have a clear understanding of what are some of the signs, how to have those conversations with property owners, with partners. More specifically, how to then answer questions around how do you get support and help from our internal teams, specific to what Jennifer was just referring to. So we really focus a lot on it's not just educating our partners and property owners, it's also about educating our teams, the local teams that are working with partners on a day-to-day basis.

Alex Husner 22:21

Gotcha. And I mean, this has got to be just a massive library of content and education that you put together here. So as far as how you're actually communicating these out to hosts and property managers, do you do webinars or is it articles or like what is the training? Are there courses? What does it look like?

Practical Steps For Property Managers

Betsy Steckler 22:39

Yeah, we do a mixture. We have um a lot of digital content uh that we provide to our partners on our partner platform. So very much self-service. Um, they can get and access information on their own. We also do very targeted um campaign learning um sessions with our teams and partners locally. So we host multiple events. A great example of that is we've led several, what we refer to as Discover events in our local communities with partners and property owners invited. And we talk about it both at a how should you be thinking about this and communicating and educating your teams. Um, again, going back to the individuals that might be coming in and out of the home or the property. But we also want to make sure that we answer any questions that they have. Um, so we kind of look at it as a three-part there's digital and the ability to be self-service. There's very uh much that we have these discover-like events uh that we do in market. And then we have targeted campaigns that we do specifically in communities, for example, where we know we're hosting uh the World Cup events. Uh, we may have very specific events or communications that we do, given that uh focus on a sporting event where we know that human trafficking um is at a larger scale during big events like the Super Bowl you had mentioned, but now the World Cup that's coming up in 2026.

Annie Holcombe 24:16

Yeah, and I I can't imagine again, Super Bowl is very easy. I say very easy, it's probably not easy, but it's one city, it's one location. And this is, I mean, we're talking multiple locations just in North America, you know, or just in the US. And then you've got Canada and Mexico and that type of thing. And um, I was wondering if there was like before we wrap up, like any practical steps that property managers can take, you know, maybe if they're not working with you guys right now, but they want some information. And I think working with a partner that is acknowledging this is really important. So I encourage everybody to use Booking.com because of things like this. I think that because you're proactive on it, it's important. Um, but are there some practical steps? Maybe I think Jennifer, you might have some things that a manager could like have implemented within their organization if they're not a partner and they don't have access to your training.

Jennifer Easterday 25:03

Yeah, um, I think most importantly is the first step is to just find that material and become aware. Whether you're working with us or not, that information um is out there. You can access it. You can go to other organizations like protect all children from trafficking. So it's called PACT. They also offer wonderful resources and trainings that is sort of independent from any of the OTAs or booking platforms, right? So before these major sporting events, or if you're thinking about listing and you're not sure, but everybody's coming to town, so you're gonna put your place up for the first time, maybe just really make sure that you're aware and you can have that information. And then those reporting channels, I would say, is the next one. Just have those um phone numbers on hand so that if you're and have make sure that your staff have them, right? So if you do see something and you're just not sure, you know how to call, you know what to do, and you have that information just right there, whether it's up on the wall in your entryway or your foyer, if it's part of your welcome materials, if it's just something you hand out to your staff or you put in um any kind of you know information that you might give out to those that you work or collaborate with. That would be my main two messages, is just get informed as early and as much as you can. There's a lot of resources out there. And then secondly, have those reporting numbers um on hand in case something does happen. And we really hope that it doesn't, right? We don't want to scare people, we want to help people feel empowered and ready, but also to enjoy, to host, to bring people into their communities, just like we always do when we're looking at major sporting events and travel and tourism in general. Um, so that's just another thing that they can do to prepare and have a wonderful hosting opportunity.

Annie Holcombe 27:00

Yeah, and I think it goes back to that thing that we hear every time we're traveling through an airport. If you see something, say something, don't be afraid because there's organizations to help with that.

Alex Husner 27:09

Yeah, thank you both for coming on. I mean, this is a super important topic. And you know, we always ask guests that come on the show what's something that's not being talked about enough. And this topic has not come up, but it is definitely one of those that fall into the bucket. So we're very grateful that you came to share the message with us today. If anybody wants to get in touch and learn more about this program, what's the best way for them to reach out?

Betsy Steckler 27:31

I think definitely for those of individuals that are using booking.com, their account manager is absolutely the right pathway for them to connect. If not, um more than happy to share an email for some general information because I think there's a lot of great materials that we can share with our partners and our hosts uh that would be helpful for them in the future.

Annie Holcombe 27:55

We'll include that in our show notes.

Alex Husner 27:57

Yeah, absolutely.

Sponsor Message From Hostfully

Speaker 10 27:58

Thank you both. Thank you so much. We'll be back in just a minute. But first, a word from our premier brand sponsor.

Sponsor Spotlight: Hostfully

Emmanuel Lavoie 28:04

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It’s A Penalty Origin Story

Speaker 7 30:18

Looking for a smarter way to manage your short-term rental operations? Get started with Hostfully and bring everything into one streamlined platform. Alex and Annie listeners, get free onboarding when you mention you heard about Hostfully from the Alex and Annie podcast. Click the link in the description to get started today.

Alex Husner 30:36

And we're back. We now have Philippa King, who is the deputy CEO of It's a Penalty. Philippa, thank you for so much for joining us.

Philippa King 30:44

Thank you so much for inviting me. It's wonderful to meet you and be part of the conversation. Yeah.

Annie Holcombe 30:48

The first part of our episode, we had talked to some folks from Booking.com and kind of took kind of the programs that they're doing. Specifically, it came up in conversation around the World Cup and sporting events, but it's a larger conversation that needs to be had about human trafficking. So why don't you give us a little bit of background on it's a penalty and kind of how it the origin story of the organization?

Philippa King 31:08

Yeah, so um our founder, Sarah, she um was running a charity to help street children in um Brazil, and she was looking after girls that had been abused and trafficked, um, had had multiple pregnancies, and she was having a conversation with this one young girl, um, Rose, and Rose's eyes were dead. You know, she'd had so much trauma. I think she was 13 or 14. And Sarah just asked her and she said, you know, what can I do to help? And Rose just looked at her and said, Tell other people about it. So it doesn't happen at all. That's pretty much what we do still to this day. It's evolved. But just after that, um, Sarah's coming back to the parliament government in England to a meeting about street children, and she was sharing the story. And this was actually just before the FIFA World Cup in Brazil. And police were there, and they said that if you told people, and particularly travellers that are going in, it might actually prevent people from you know exploiting others or becoming perpetrators. And so that was how it started. And so we work with the travel and tourism industry, we work with airline partners, hotels, um, and we tried to get all of the travel touch points as people go into a city so that they hear the messages all the time, and obviously to try to end it. So, yeah, so sort of we're coming full circle now with C4 World Cup, but we've done 23 campaigns in 12 countries, so the Olympics, Paralympics, we've just uh completed our ninth campaign around the Super Bowl in San Francisco, and you know, the more people that we can actually share and you know, folks that understand actually what it's like because there are so many myths around human trafficking. You know, often people think that you know young girls are kidnapped from one space to another. You know, that is not the case. Um, and particularly in America, actually, you know, most of the victims will be US citizens. Um so yeah, so we use sporting events. I mean, they're an amazing platform to get you know to reach millions and millions of people each campaign that we do. And for each sporting event, we will use we have campaign ambassadors, so they will be you know famous uh sports players within you know that event, so NFL players, soccer players. And what's really good about that is that they become real advocates and they're role models as well. And so it means lots of people take uh notice and attention to the campaign messages. Yeah, so so you know, we raise awareness and it's really important that we work in partnership with industry, with local communities, with local NGOs. So it's a whole system that you know we make sure that each campaign is contextualized to the host city as well.

Alex Husner 34:10

Yeah, and we were just talking to um Jennifer and Betsy, and you know, we were talking about how these events there what you're saying is that you use them as as the springboard, that there's so much visibility that you're pushing the message out to them, but that human trafficking happens a lot at these events. And I guess maybe just from like an educational standpoint, because I didn't know a whole lot about this until just recently. But like what happens? You know, I mean, like not just what are you looking for, but like what is going on? Like, what is the most common type of human trafficking that you're trying to prevent?

Philippa King 34:45

I think particularly uh yeah, around major sporting events is too sexual exploitation. So when we work on our campaigns, we work a lot with survivor leaders, and you know, we've heard stories and they've shared stories about you know how they have been trafficked for sexual exploitation at major sporting events and gone from one you know main event to another. But also a big part of it is the labour trafficking as well. So there's a big demand in sort of like low-cost um labour, so street vendors, or even you know, in the hospitality industry, you know, if you've got management companies hiring cleaners, that can be quite a high-risk area as well. I think it's quite uh well known in Qatar, there's quite a lot of um labour exploitation in terms of um the building of the infrastructure of all of the different stadiums. And then you've also got domestic servitude, so that will be people that are working for families, you know, often they'll have their documentation taken away from them, they won't be paid. So there's many forms of human trafficking. But again, I think people have this perception that you need to be taken from one place to another, but it can actually happen within your own community in your own town. It's it's around if people are forced to do something or coerced, and particularly exactly, and particularly for under-18s, you know, any sexual exploitation. I mean, that that is counted as human trafficking.

Annie Holcombe 36:18

So out of curiosity, there was some stories. Um, oh gosh, I want to say it's in the last couple of years, but there was a trafficking ring, I guess they would call it, in Florida. And when they got into kind of the people that were doing it, it was people that you wouldn't expect that were actually part of it. Law enforcement would be the last people I would think of. And maybe that's why they're they they get away with it for the length of time that they do, is because law enforcement, the ones that have been caught, I would say. Um, but is there like a a typical type of individual or group of people or business that is involved in this, or is it just really span all segments?

Philippa King 37:00

It's very difficult to answer that because I mean it's the crime is so insidious, and I think it cuts across all different demographics. Um, you know, you've you've obviously got the Epstein case, which is very live at the moment, but you know, there's lots of intersection with drug trafficking, so they will use individuals to sell the drugs and they will exploit them, and you know, they'll they'll get them into drug debt and then they'll start you know sexually exploiting them and grooming them in that way. Um, you know, the cartels, I mean it's it's it's across it's across the board, and unfortunately, you know, it's it's growing, it's the second largest criminal industry in the world. Um it's yeah, it's estimated that a $236 billion of profit is made from exploitation per year. Yeah, yeah. And globally there's about 50 million people that are victims. Um 24 million of those will be labour or sexual exploitation. Um and yeah, I mean it's it's global, it's in every community, it's in every city, it's rural, it's um yeah, it's endemic. And I think uh, you know, what's really important for us as an organization is to really get people to understand actually how hidden it is in plain sight, and actually to, you know, there are certain behaviours that that may indicate that trafficking's happening. Um, and I think that you know, for the general public or people, it's just like, you know, trust your gut, trust your instinct. And if you think something is a little bit awry, then maybe call the national hotline number or your local hotline number, you know, get advice um around it. Um so yeah, that's that's what what we do with the campaigns and with our partners like Booking.com, Airbnb, IHT, American Airlines.

Alex Husner 39:02

Yeah, I guess that's the very hard part about it. It's like it's not it's not just one thing. It could be, I mean, it's a it's a whole category of a lot of bad stuff and a lot of bad people doing bad things. So um hard to even have a manual or a training on what to look for.

World Cup Planning And Community Action

Philippa King 39:16

Yeah, no, exactly. I mean, but there are there are some things. So I think particularly, you know, in vacation rentals and things. Um, well, actually, there was a case in Texas, Texas in Plano recently, and it was a rental accommodation, it was in a suburban area, quiet street, there was a school close by. But actually, um, one of the neighbors noticed that there were lots of men going in and out throughout the day, and he saw that on dog walks. And so he thought, this is really odd. And so he called the police, and actually, the police went in, the law enforcement went in, and 12 people ended up being prosecuted, they're arrested and prosecuted successfully for trafficking. So I think again, you know, with vacation rentals, I mean, uh the majority are really good. You know, it's you're part of the community and it's a really lovely service. But, you know, for for owners or the community around it, just to understand, you know, some of the patterns and behaviors around trafficking, you know, you could be the eyes and ears. And actually, you know, you don't have to be professional, uh, you know, to know. It's it's just under having some understanding and and concern, and if you are concerned to make those calls.

Annie Holcombe 40:30

Yeah, on and um when we talked to the the ladies from Booking.com, it was um kind of going back to like what you always hear when you're at the airport that see if you see something, say something like don't be afraid. But I was curious from you know, looking at through the lens of like the World Cup again, trying to mobilize in multiple cities, what is the approach? Is it is it to just get the education out there, or will you actually have teams in each one of these markets as the events unfold?

Philippa King 40:56

Yeah, so we work, it's really important for us to work with local partners. So to give you an example, so in Miami, um, we're working with the state attorney's office, so they run the um human trafficking coalition there. We work with local NGOs on the ground. So, you know, they will be doing outreach into communities as well. There will be events as people fly into to Miami, you know, they'll see a 30-second PSA on the foot on the plane at the airport. There'll be signage, it will be on public transportation. So it's a whole ecosystem that comes together, you know, and that we work and convene um with others um to raise awareness and and to make sure that you know the partners that are doing frontline services and care are signposted and people know where to get help. And oftentimes people don't even realise they're being trafficked either. So yeah, because you know they're very vulnerable individuals often that are groomed for you know being exploited, and sometimes they can think, oh well, you know, I'm part of a group or something, and then it gets worse and worse, and then the exploitation ramps up. And you know, often oftentimes I think it's language matters, and it's just like, you know, are you feeling threatened in your work? You know, do you feel unsafe? And you know, sometimes they don't even sort of join the dots and realize that they're being trafficked themselves. So as part of the campaign, we also sort of you know speak to potential victims as well. So it's it's also if you think that you've seen something about somebody else, but also is it could that be happening to you too?

Alex Husner 42:40

Mm-hmm. Yeah, that was actually one of my questions was are you educating the general public that they could end up in this situation of what happens if you are being human traffic trafficked? Like, how do you get help? And how do you do that in a way that um you know you're gonna be scared to try and go away? But like, uh what do you do? And I'm sure every situation is different, but is that part of your education as well?

Philippa King 43:03

Yeah, absolutely. And I think it was um again, Miami. But uh the Super Bowl there, um, one of the survivors that we work with, she said that if she'd seen our films when she was being groomed, she would have understood and not got herself into that trafficking situation. And and again, you know, traffickers are so clever. You know, when we were working with some survivors in um New Orleans, you know, she was sharing about how, you know, he actually used to use um hotel properties, economy hotel properties to f you know, as a place for her to be abused. But he was so charming and so gregarious to the hotel staff, you know, and sort of masked at you know what was happening. So it really does happen in in plain sight. But you know, there there are there are patterns, there are tools, and also even if you make a call or a tip and it's not you know attractive. Situation or an exploitation situation, that doesn't matter. You know, you I think, you know, one of the things I say to the general public is, you know, you don't want to pro we don't want to profile people, but you know, your gut instinct is often, you know, wrong.

Alex Husner 44:16

Yeah, that's a really good point. Well, what you guys are doing for just the greater good of humanity is incredible and something that you know needs to be more more obvious. And as you're talking about things, it it's hitting me now, all the places that I do see these campaigns and bathrooms and airports. And uh it's just it's a really it's a really important thing, and it needs to be more prevalent in all conversations, not just related to vacation rentals or travel of what we do, but uh everywhere to make people aware of it.

Philippa King 44:47

Absolutely. And I I would also say that if if you know it it's an unsafe situation, do not intervene yourselves if you think that something is suspect or you're concerned, make the call. And also if if it's a dangerous situation, you know, call your emergency services immediately. Don't don't intervene. We want people to be concerned citizens, and as I say, you know, save the number or share about a myth.

Annie Holcombe 45:13

If any managers or anybody listening to our show wants more information or maybe wants to engage with either your organization or others to be able to educate their staff and maybe train their staff, what is the best way to gather that information? Is it to reach out to you guys or what's the best way?

Philippa King 45:30

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you know, go to our website www.itzapenalty.org. There's loads of resources on there as well. And I I think again, going back to sort of, you know, for property owners and neighbours, some of the sort of like site uh indicators that could potentially, you know, indicate that something's wrong is you know, uh frequent visitors, as I shared about a case in in Texas. Um, if people go with minimal belongings, you know, if there's no luggage and that that could be an indicator as well. Also, if some appears as though somebody's controlling somebody else and there's sort of like minimal interaction from one person, that that could also be an indicator. And again, suspicious payments of people using cryptocurrency, are they using prepaid bank cards? Though those are things to sort of be alert to. But, you know, as I say, you know, vacation rentals, you know, I don't want to sort of like scare people. The majority is absolutely fine. But yeah.

Annie Holcombe 46:30

Yeah, and I think it's it's it's just, you know, we were talking with the ladies, the challenge is it's a different environment. So you're looking for different, you know, you your touch points are different. And so it is, it is really about having a holistic approach to it and like educating all touch points within the stay, um, you know, whether it be the the people taking the reservation who notice that maybe this card isn't seemingly matching up or somebody who's going by the property doing maintenance, those type of things. I think that's really important. And we'll include some of this information in our show notes. Um, but is there anything specific to maybe the World Cup, since that is the big event that's that's going to be happening here in a few months that people should be um mindful of in terms of this conversation?

Philippa King 47:12

I think, you know, it's a great opportunity with you know the the thousands of visitors that are going into each city to get the awareness and the prevention uh messages out there. I mean, the World Cup is across three countries, 16 cities. So for us it's an amazing opportunity for the campaign to reach many, many people. Um, I think one of the areas that I think all of us in the space are really concerned about is around the labour trafficking. Um, because there's going to be such a huge demand for unskilled labour, low-paid labour. Um, so you know, as I said, it's street vendors, or if and again, I think if you are managing the property, maybe do some checks of of asking, you know, your your cleaners how you're getting your cleaners, do some, you know, due diligence tech checks around that. That that could be really helpful as well.

Alex Husner 48:08

Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, Philippa, it's such a pleasure to meet you today. And hopefully we'll get to talk to you and meet you in in person and get to talk about some maybe happier topics. But um, we appreciate you coming on. Um, and if anybody wants to learn more about your program, what's the best way for them to get in touch?

Philippa King 48:28

Yeah, again, just go to the website www.itzapenalty.org. Um, and then we will be launching the campaign in May across all the cities. So um look out for all of those messages. And I would say, yeah, save the number, the hotline number, and and share, you know, what you've learned from campaigns or unpack the myths or have that conversation and particularly if you've you know speak to your neighbours if you're renting out a vacation property. Um, because that you're there are the eyes and ears in the community, aren't they? And it doesn't take experts, you know, to to be the only ones that, you know, or law enforcement can help, you know, it's a it's a whole system and community.

Annie Holcombe 49:14

Yeah, it takes a village. I was shooting the words out of my mouth. It's a true village, yeah. Well, Philip, yeah, Philip, I thank you so much. Again, a very important topic, and we appreciate you coming on and it keep us posted on anything that we can do to to kind of keep the message going. I think this is something that it hasn't been talked about enough and certainly hasn't been talked about enough in vacation rentals. So anyway we can put a spotlight on it, we're happy to do so.

Philippa King 49:42

Thank you so much. Really appreciate your time. Thank you. Awesome.

Where To Learn More

Alex Husner 49:45

Well, if anybody wants to get in touch with Annie and I, you can go to alexandi podcast.com. But until next time, thanks for tuning in, everybody.