Meet Mickey Wiggins Travel Safety Expert and Parrot Head About Town | News

The hospitality, tourism and entertainment profession is something of a family affair.   Mickey’s wife, Rona, has also enjoyed a long and distinguished career in these same sectors, and today serves as the general manager of the Lake Arrowhead Lodge.   They moved to Lake Arrowhead last year, following the college graduation of their two daughters, both of whom who have also worked in entertainment and hospitality.  

Part beach bum, part desert rat, and part hilltop habitué, Mickey shares their mutual love of the mountains and all things California, saying, “I’ve travelled our whole nation on work-related missions, from Makena to Mashantucket, and every place in between that features a tourism attraction.    For our climate, the proximity of diverse topography, and our myriad attractions and distractions, not many places top California as a place to live.”    

He goes on to say, “When the girls were younger, we had a little weekend cabin in Big Bear, and came to love our alpine escapes.    We were familiar with Lake Arrowhead and the 51-acre playground which is the Lodge…  so, perfect timing all around, as I’ve been angling to travel less, stop the grind of the San Diego and Hollywood commutes, and do more of the proverbial WFH thing.”  

With a wry smile, he adds, “I’ve got the Zoom wardrobe down to an artform, and am saving bigtime on dry cleaning of slacks.   Of course, I did discover that failing to mute your mic is the Zoom equivalent of ‘ReplyAll’.”   

That Work Hard Yin is artfully balanced by a Play Hard Yang.   When not absorbed in professional projects, one would hardly recognize the alter-ego Mickey:  a lifelong equestrian, as well as a fine feathered fruitcake  –  otherwise known as a Parrot Head.   (For the uninitiated, that’s a hardcore fan of tropical crooner Jimmy Buffett.)    With four AQHA Quarter Horses, Cowpoke Mickey has done it all in the world of Western horsemanship, from showing and competing all around the west coast, to serving as a judge, as well as announcer.   More recently he has been involved in Equine Therapy, in the realms of both physical development, and personal growth.     

As Mickey explains, “It’s two different disciplines, both engaging horses.    Hippotherapy centers on helping people dealing with physical disabilities.   Like, it’s an incredibly impactful thing for a child who has never been able to independently  walk to feel the raw power and movement that comes with riding a horse.  Distinct from that is what we call Equus Coaching.   It’s less about riding, and more about interacting and connecting with a horse.   Learning to appreciate just how a horse perceives the world, how that differs from us, and how a horse picks up on our vibes.   It’s about how to leverage that understanding to achieve trust and influence.   Horses can be a wonderful teacher of EQ.   Great stuff for wellness retreats and personal growth. ”

The Parrot Head version of Mickey can be quite the colorful character to behold.   The Buffett fanbase is renowned for their tropically kaleidoscopic and wildly engaging concert tailgate parties.     MargaritaMickey was a founding member of the SoCal DNS Party Parrothead Club, and (until Jimmy’s passing last year) enjoyed Buffett concerts all around the country.   As he tells it, “The tropical tailgate scene was always a fine feathered frolic of escapist insanity, with costumes, displays, foods, and games… all in thematic homage to Jimmy’s most popular tunes.”    Tailgate photos confirm that Mickey rocks a grass skirt with the wildest of them.  

But as he goes on to explain, the Parrot Heads are also known for partying with a purpose.    “Yeah, we and our Parrothead pals have done alot of volunteer and charity work over the years.  An annual beach clean-up day, and fundraising for various related causes (including Heal the Bay and the Surfrider Foundation).   Our Tropical Trivia Bar became something of an infamous attraction at Parrot Head tailgates and charity gatherings all around the “Left Coast.”    Rona and I are hoping to import some of that fine feathered fruitcake fun here to Lake Arrowhead.  Time to phlock, y’all…!!!”   

Mickey and Rona happen to be one of the few Parrot Heads who actually own a Parrot.   “Well, ya don’t so much own a parrot as ya do welcome them to the family.    Our “green man” is central to the clan – just ask him,” says Mickey.    Their Solomon Eclectus is brilliant shades of green, crimson, and cerulean.    “He’s very social…  like a dog with feathers,” reports Mickey.  

TRAVEL SAFETY EXPERT     

With three decades of experience serving and protecting visitors and visitor venues, a laundry list of professional affiliations and accreditations, and an impressive track record of collaborative efforts implementing innovative visitor safety initiatives, Mickey has been invited to assist organizations and teams in these sectors globally.  This includes assessments, organizational development projects, training, and speaking engagements.    At times, this includes aiding visitor venues in crisis.    From Honolulu and the Mexican Riviera, to Niagara Falls and Aruba, Mickey and his group have been tasked with helping recover brand reputation and business following safety/security related incidents.    

As specialists in premise liability, and with global expertise on best practices in protecting visitor venues, Mickey says, “We field alot of requests from destinations having issues.   It’s preferable to conduct assessments and offer insights in a proactive way…  to prevent the bad things from happening.   But it’s a fact of business life…   people tend to wait until critical incidents are hurting their bottom line before seeking help and enacting corrective measures.”

This works matters, since the travel/tourism industry is big business.   Globally, travel generated over $11 trillion dollars to world economy last year.   Over 15 million American jobs are directly connected to this sector.    Tourism is also a significant source of tax revenues for those regions which attract visitors.   

As Mickey notes, “Tourism is much more sensitive to concerns over safety and security than most industries.   Travelers have the choice of where to go, or whether or not to go at all.    So when bad things happen, it tends to have an immediate impact on business.   Left unchecked, these perceptions can kill a tourism destination.”   

His work today centers on risk management and safety/security planning and staffing for a wide variety of visitor venues and special events.   He is noted for his successes managing risk in multi-faceted operating environments, with multiple uncontrolled variables, often involving iconic venues and high-profile participants.  Mickey also serves on the national advisory panel on hospitality, entertainment, and tourism for the world’s largest security industry association, as well as the advisory committee for the nation’s largest hotel industry advocacy group.   

“Right now we are producing an industry guidebook on implementation of PPA systems.”   Mickey explains that, “PPA systems are cutting edge technology in the Employee Safety Device (ESD) sector.   Personal Protection Alarm.   It’s an increasingly widespread tool for protecting housekeepers and other employees.    Really wazoo technology, provided it’s tailored to each unique property, and correctly installed and implemented.   With this, we can locate an employee in distress anytime, anywhere on your property, within about 12 feet of accuracy.   Anywhere on the globe, actually, which is why we’re now deploying the top tier of this tool in some of our executive protection efforts.”

Mickey also works with law firms, conducting preliminary case research as an expert witness, as well investigations of sensitive HR cases.  

A member of the Overseas Security Advisory Council, Mickey and his group support the travel safety advisory needs of select clients.  This includes firms, CEO’s and HNW and other at-risk individuals.   “With automated tools, as well as members in 14 countries and 22 regions of the world, we track crime and relevant tourism trends at destinations globally,” he explains.  

Mickey’s history includes work with the nation’s largest amusement park companies, hotel chains, convention management firms, and special event organizers.   He has directed safety/security efforts for everything from international conventions, and sports championships, to hotels and resorts, film productions and movie premiers.   The list of dignitaries, celebrities, and at-risk groups for whom he has managed protective services is as eclectic as it is impressive.

In this line of work, he hasn’t just seen it all, Mickey has investigated it all.   From street crimes, to multi-million dollar frauds.   Luggage snipes.   Rental car thefts.   Door pushers.   Online reservation fraud.  Gypsy scams.   Distraction thefts.   DFSA and other sex crimes.   Room burglaries.   Identity theft.   Ticket scams.  Pickpockets.   Drug overdoses.   Voyeurs.  Misappropriation of lost property.  Taxi & transportation scams.  Prostitution.  Bait & switch cons.  Suicides.   Embezzlement.  Ride share crimes.   Hacking and data breaches.  Lewd & lascivious conduct.  Counterfeit currency.   Homicides.    The list is nearly endless.  

As he shares, “Tourists find all sorts of ways to get themselves in trouble.  Travelers and the businesses which cater to them are constantly targeted by crooks.  The hotel sector is especially notorious for an endless parade of perverse problems, from the crazily comedic, to the terminally tragic.    Humans will be humans.   And, afterall, the business model is one of short-term rentals of beds.   

To those ingredients, mix-in that typical vacation mindset, plus a bit too much booze or dope, and you have the raucous recipe which keeps hotel security teams busy.”  

In January 2001, Mickey co-founded the Tourism Safety & Security Association.    Dedicated to facilitating networking, training, and the exchange of crime trend information between police agencies, security teams and tourism entities, all as a cost-free public benefit.   Following the 9/11 terrorist attacks this association became a key umbrella under which a number of strategic partnerships and new initiatives were developed, each aimed at better serving tourists and protecting tourism venues.    These programs came to be regarded as national role models, and were broadly benchmarked by tourism destinations around the world.  

Mickey has written extensively on related matters, and supports the publishing efforts of colleagues around the globe.   He authors an annual pre-Summer travel advisory, served as a columnist on hotel safety/security for industry publications, and just finished editing a book on distraction theft rings operating in Europe.   For 16 years, Mickey served as chairman of the organizing committee for the nation’s largest annual conference on issues related to tourism safety & security.   

As part of the association, Mickey conceived and implemented California’s first Tourist Victim Advocate program, providing special services and funding to visitors suffering acute crises, including crimes or deaths while vacationing.     

As he outlines, “For a variety of reasons, travelers are especially vulnerable.   Both targeted and susceptible to crime and loss, as well as far less able to quickly recover than if the same incident occurred at home.   Think about what you would have to deal with if a member of your family died while traveling abroad.   Or, consider your challenges if upon landing at your destination you’re robbed of your luggage, cash and credit cards, identification, and cell phone.    The most basic urgent needs are instantly beyond your reach.   And what do most tourism destinations do for visiting victims in these circumstances…?    Not much.   That’s just a piece of the several factors contributing to crimes against visitors.   The world over, there’s a class of crooks who make their livings preying specifically on tourists.   The challenges in prosecuting these pukes plays a key role in that.    Their victims often live half a world away.”  

So how did the group Mickey led address this need?    “Well, we started with the vision to de-centralize the program we were creating.   I didn’t want the police or the courts alone to try tackle needs as they arose, but rather to leverage the many strategic partnerships I had developed via the Association to get whole tourism communities engaged.   That is, all the relevant services and things victims commonly needed.   Stuff like restaurants, hotels, pharmacies, clothing outlets, and transportation services.   We also involved regional medical providers, plus prosecutors and those existing court-based victim advocates.   The biggest hurdle was getting airlines on-board with this initiative.   That took alot of doing.   In the end, we succeeded.   I created a comprehensive resource guide, and then developed and rolled out a training program.   I arranged initial funding via the Association, so no public tax dollars were involved.  

With the pieces in place, the initiative took off even faster than anticipated.   We literally had managers throughout the tourism community asking to be trained as Tourist Victim Advocates.  Ultimately, we trained over 700 TVA’s in the Southern California region.”   

As president of the association, Mickey spearheaded all sorts of varied research and surveys.    As he explains, “Alot of our surveys are the most prosaic topics, stuff of interest only to industry practitioners.   But we also conduct research on some mega-trend issues.   Everything from evolving security trends and technologies, to visitor perceptions.”   

Mickey conceived and led what turned out to be the largest, longest, and most demographically detailed survey ever conducted soliciting visitor perceptions on key issues related to their safety/security.   

“The role those perceptions play in travel decisions,” he explains, “and how our guests actually feel about our security operations.”  

The results of that year-long survey – involving over 3,000 interviews with tourists – was widely cited and used by media, businesses and tourism marketing teams globally.  

For these and other novel initiatives, Mickey received career achievement awards from the DOJ, as well as several regional tourism marketing agencies.

So, what about that street scam on the Strip  –  Did he get the bad guys…?

“Well, that incident was just a tangential vignette to a dignitary protection gig in which I was engaged at the moment.   The Italian group we were escorting wanted to snap photos in front of the Caesars fountain.   When we hit the sidewalk, I was astonished to walk up on an actual game of Three Card Monte going down.   As a geek for all things travel scammy, the scene was instantly gratifying.   I mean, despite being taught as a classic, ya never actually see this venerable con being practiced in American tourism destinations.    But here was this 25 year old guy visiting from Iowa getting taken to the cleaners by a trio of crooks – the dealer, the hustler, and their shill  –  for $450 bucks, in less than three minutes.”

Mickey goes on to explain how he brought the con to a quick end.  

“Well, as typical, a small crowd of onlookers had gathered to watch what they never realize is a scam.   The next victim in sequence always comes from amongst these onlookers, certain that he can beat the game.   I eased through the group to tip off the victim.   The hustler failed to appreciate this move, and instantly offered a not-so-civil suggestion on where I could go.   With several friends from Las Vegas Metro PD in my cell contact list, we had two units on scene 6 minutes later.  The hustler was arrested for theft, and the dealer on an outstanding warrant – for the same kinda crap.   Their shill disappeared into the crowd, but the tourist from Iowa was stoked to get his cash back.”     

Asked if he is available to share Travel Safety tips with our mountain community, Mickey replies, “While most of our programs are tailored to security, law enforcement, and tourism industry teams, we are always happy to address travel shows, civic groups, or other interested parties.   With this rise of AI, we’ve recently been asked to update our consumer-facing presentation on Privacy Protection, so that topic is again trending.”