From "Help! We Found a Hidden Camera in the Bathroom of Our Airbnb. When a couple alerted Airbnb to a spy cam in an outlet extender, they thought the listing would be yanked and they’d get a full refund. Wrong on both counts" (NYT).
What's to prevent anyone who wants a refund from bringing their own spy cam, plugging it into an outlet extender, then photographing it and complaining to the host?
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20 comments:
If you have AirBnB's, you are in the hospitality industry whether you think so or not. And as a friend of mine who is in the hospitality industry once told me, "the more you learn about the industry the less you'll like it."
The stories he's told me was my primary motivation for purchasing an RV.
Without evidence. With specious evidence. #MeToo and a trump card. Maybe a judgement call in New York City and some other places.
So, we just sold our house and plan to live in short-term rentals for at least the next year. Our first three months are in the vacation home of the people who bought our house, a farmhouse they're intended to Airbnb and never got around to because they found themselves spending so much time there themselves. (This has been, incidentally, the strangest and nicest real estate transaction we've ever participated in.)
When we moved in, our hosts told us about the camera they have in their living room so we could unplug it. I don't expect that we'll get that kind of consideration from future hosts. I've already added painter's tape to my list of things always to bring, to cover everything that might conceivably be a camera.
Never stayed in one. Assume you’re going to get Nick Saban as your host. If you’re a host never assume you aren’t Nick Saban…
Nothing prevents someone from bringing their own device to get a refund, but...
"...the police had obtained a search warrant to look through the footage in the memory card and found thousands of hours of recordings,..."
This story is crying out for Laslo. CC, JSM
Dear AirBnB: I never thought this would happen to me, but . . . .
I assume they all have hidden cameras, hotels too.
That's why I always make sure to give my best performances on the road. You never know. That special someone you always hoped to marry could be watching and judging. They already have your contact info, so things could blossom.
I'm saving up for a tricked out sprinter van.
Down by the river.
I've got a baker's dozen Airbnb rentals and it has never occurred to me to install surveillance cameras in any of them. Why the hell would I want to watch my guests? Mostly they behave pretty well. The worst are large groups of women on wine tasting weekends. We have found spy cameras left by guests on a couple of occasions.
"What's to prevent anyone who wants a refund from bringing their own spy cam, plugging it into an outlet extender, then photographing it and complaining to the host?"
Love that idea!
Yesterday I was at a local Grocery Store and I witness a young man walk out the front door of the store, with an arm full of goods after clearly NOT paying.
I softly yelled "hey!' but he was speedily trekking out ..
so I ran over to talk to the police officer who stands in the same place every day, by a different door.
After a quick conversation, I determined the Police officer was mostly useless.
After I paid for my items and left - It occurred to me what I should have done. I should have set down my stuff, ran outside that same door, in front of the thief- and used my phone to take photos of him. His arms were completely full. In order to stop me - he would have had to drop everything. That would have been OK, too.
I always think of the perfect thing to say or do - much later.
Next time - I will be ready.
"If your phone has an infrared light camera you can use it to find hidden cameras. Open the camera and scan the room looking for small bursts of steady or flashing light—these may be hidden cameras. You can also use smartphone apps that combine several technologies, such as Bluetooth scanning and infrared detection"
https://us.norton.com/blog/how-to/how-to-find-hidden-cameras#:~:text=If%20your%20phone%20has%20an,Bluetooth%20scanning%20and%20infrared%20detection.
The best way to make money off airbnb is to draw a swastika or hang a noose and claim it was there when you moved in. Caution - This only works if you're Jewish or black.
As a former AirBnB host - catering to weekend bridal shower parties in a 4 bedroom house with a nice pool near Austin nightlife areas - let me be one to agree with Althouse about potential guest mischief, shananigans and even whoopie. I wore neoprene gloves to remove most of the stuff I found in & under beds, in dressers, on closet shelves, in the living room, all over the kitchen. And we won't discuss the things, and stuff, and ... objects ... left in bathrooms or on the pool patio at all, at all. Bridesmaids be damn nasty, is all I'll say.
I even took pics of the place after I did the wrangling of guest leftovers and after cleaning, before each guest arrival. Every next group of visitors to my AirBnB should applaud my diligence in personally de-thinging the house and grounds before their arrivals, so that they never knew what they would have found, otherwise. Even after all that, I will say that complete removal was difficult for the tiny mylar penis-shaped glitter pieces strewn all over the house after one particular group had a fun bash there. The last one found, so far, was removed from atop the 14 foot high living room fan over three months after they left, during a deep clean last Spring.
That said, I'd call police if someone found a cam in a bathroom of my house, not post pix on Reddit. I've found that having a police call, documenting odd events, can stop all sorts of foolishness by house guests, especially the paying kind at AirBnBs.
Anyone who wants to see me poop or take a piss is welcome to set up a hidden camera. However, I demand a percentage of the profits if used for commercial use. My poop is copyrighted.
Some people think that they're free to treat the Airbnb like a pig pen. After all its not their place.
@mikee, I'd ask...if I may...what was the appeal? Was the money really that worth it? Seeing as you're a "former host", I can only assume this became unpalatable rather quickly.
In my experience with an AIRBnB competitor (as an owner), the companies put increasing pressure on owners to reduce rates and to automatically accept anyone who looks to rent, which ups the amount of time the place is rented and ups the fees (which are pretty substantial) that the company gets, which greatly reduces the owner from being able to vet potential renters.
We do have a camera, outside the front door and looking sideways so as to view only people standing at the door or entering and leaving. This enables us to know when guests have arrived or departed, which helps us coordinate with the cleaning staff and let incoming guests know if the place is ready earlier than the normal check-in. We turn the camera off once they are there. We also disclose the existence of the camera in our listing. No cameras inside the house.
In the 20th Century, it was "Dear Penthouse".
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