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 When you make a simple reservation request or reservation for your next trip, are you a target for thieves and scoundrels?

I ran across an interesting little tidbit in the International Herald Tribune (IHT) today. Come to think of it, one runs across a lot of interesting little tidbits in the IHT. A great source of inspiration and thought, this newspaper.

Anyway, this particular article was about Internet privacy, E-commerce security and lack of same. The paper quoted a report released by Jupiter Media Metrix Inc; an on line consulting company. The Jupiter report found that although almost a whopping 70% of all consumers and corporations professed a great concern about on line privacy and security, few, on either side, were doing “dickey bird” about it. In fact, the Jupiter report said, not a great many consumers even bothered to read privacy statements.

What’s even more scary, an overwhelming 82% of all consumers said they would enter their personal information into the clutches of an unknown web site if asked to do so IF, the had a chance of winning a prize of, say, $100.

What a bunch of jerks we are. We weep and wail about how we don’t trust on-line security, yet many of us don’t even bother to read privacy statements. And most of us will give our darkest details to a faceless stranger if we felt that we would even stand a ghost of a chance to win a hundred bucks.
Jeezus H.

It seems we as consumers are too lazy, and they as businesses, simply do not give a stuff. We moan and groan about our privacy and security but there isn’t much being done about it. They and we, have, as the saying goes, bigger fish to fry.

Well the “corporate dorks” are losing opportunity and money, and it looks good on them. Many people are simply not buying on line because of security worries. They will give their credit cards to a waiter, a voice over the phone and, one assumes, to somebody offering the chance, real or not, to win a few dollars.  But they will not shoot it off into cyberspace. Go figure.

In fact the report claims that a staggering forty billion dollars will be lost in non-made e-commerce transactions this year because consumers are afraid of entering their credit card on line. Wow! How would you like to pick up just a piece of that action?

Let’s shift this scenario into our industry. Namely on line travel, particularly hotels and/or tour operators.

Lets say you visit a hotel web site that has pretty pictures, great hotel info, great resort details and a price you can live with. You click the button or link that says “on-line booking”. You get a form.

A form that asks you to tell them who you are, where you live, your telephone, fax and email details and sometimes your age. It also asks the age of your children, when you are planning to travel, when you will come back, the lot. And, because they don’t ask for a credit card number or details, they think you won’t mind telling perfect strangers this bit of stuff about you.

You click this form and trustingly shoot it into the wild blue yonder; it is nothing more than a completely unsecured and wide-open email. Why don’t you put your details up on a billboard for crying out loud?

Well let me tell you dear trusting traveler. If I were a house thief I would be chortling with glee. Why? Because you just told me when it would be safe for me to rob your home. Or if I was going to steal your identity for whatever dirty deed I had in mind, I got a hell of a head start did I not?

Hell I can probably get a drivers license in your name, open a bank account to set up a credit card account in your name, rent a car or buy a telephone, all in your good name. Was it P.T. Barnum that said, “there is a sucker born every minute”?

Any hotel that asks you to do this in any open, unsecured platform is telling you one thing; “show me the money”. They have no concern about your privacy, or about your security. They just care that you stay with them.

They want the money!!! And to make matters worse, to add insult to injury, often they ask for credit card details. What a colossal insult. What a colossal risk both you and the hotel are taking.

Any travel supplier who asks you to do this is dumb, dumb, dumb!  They don't have the foresight to realize that, if they did care, that if they did offer you security and privacy, you would not be voting with your “simply not booking on line” response in the numbers that you obviously are. They don’t realize that if they spend just a little money or make a little effort to get real about privacy and security, they could have it all; your business, your trust and your respect.

Is it hard for a travel supplier to get security and a certificate to prove it? Nope. Is it expensive? Uh uh. Do I know where they can do this immediately? Yes, yes, yes.

Let's face it, any travel supplier can have guaranteed, certified, security for the price of a daily cup of coffee in many hotel coffee shops. And yes, we do make and lease applications that have all of the protection elements needed so that you or your details do not become fodder for the ever-growing numbers of cyber crooks. So yes we have a stake in the security and privacy situation on the Internet. But you know what? Whether you are a travel buyer or a travel supplier, so do you!

email comments for possible publication at bf@activelifestyle.com