Security, Privacy and Ethical Concerns of IoT Implementations in Hospitality Domain

Abstract: The Internet of Things (IoT) has been on the rise in the last decade as it finds applications in various domains. Hospitality is one of the pioneer sectors that has adopted this technology to create novel services such as smart hotel rooms, personalized services etc. Hotels, restaurants, theme parks, and cruise ships are some specific application areas to improve customer satisfaction by creating an intense interactive environment and data collection with the use of appropriate sensors and actuators. However, applying IoT solutions in the hospitality environment has some unique challenges such as easy physical access to devices. In addition, due to the very nature of these domains, the customers are at the epicenter of these IoT technologies that result in a massive amount of data collection from them. Such data and its management along with business purposes also raises new concerns regarding privacy and ethical considerations. Therefore, this paper surveys and analyzes security, privacy and ethical issues regarding the utilization of IoT devices by focusing on the hospitality industry specifically. We explore some exemplary uses, cases, potential problems and solutions in order to contribute to better understanding and guiding the business operators in this sector.