Springfield, IL (CAPITOL CITY NOW) – Human trafficking has been a large scale problem in our country and even around the world years. Hotels are usually the biggest hot spot to catch trafficking. Fortunately, there are some new ways that various different hotel staff have been attempting to catch and stop human trafficking.

Michael Jacobson, President of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, spoke on the WTAX Morning Newswatch, about how big of an issue human trafficking is, and what he plans to do about it here in Illinois.

“It’s a huge issue, not just for hotels but really for our entire community. Human trafficking is a multi-billion-dollar industry that impacts twenty-seven and a half million people globally. So, we think it doesn’t happen in our back yard but in fact it does.” stated Jacobson.

Why is this such a big issue in Illinois? Jacobson answers that question saying, “With Illinois being in the center of the country with all of the interstates and rail lines coming through, is one reason why it is a big issue here in Illinois.”

With that being said, as big of an issue that human trafficking is, especially in hotels, we need to band together and try to spot these cases and report them.

What are hotels doing to stop trafficking? It begins with the hotel staff being observant.

“In the hotel industry, the fact that we interact with so many people coming and going throughout the state, our employees are uniquely positioned to be really that first line of defense to notice some of the warning signs, and if they do notice them to be able to be trained to be able to act appropriately and report any suspicious activity to the proper authorities so they can come in and investigate.” Jacobson stated.

If you have ever wondered why you have to show your ID and your payment card to check in, that is to show the hotel exactly who is paying for the room and for them to make sure that there is not any suspicious activity going on. Another example of employee’s being observant would be the front desk clerk paying attention to the amount of times, for example, that a client of the hotel comes to get replacement keys for the room, Or perhaps a man and a woman come in together, the employee will engage the woman and ask things such as asking if there is anything they need, or would they like some water, to see if that individual answers for themselves or not.

Another tool that hotels utilize involves technology.

“Every time you scan in and out of a room, that’s being tracked to see how many times that door is being opened, so if that’s being opened too many times, that’s a red flag.”