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How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

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Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#151

Post by Scoundreller »

apexalpha wrote: post #24
JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #6

Or just go to a hotel! I have a condo in a building where most of the units are listed on Airbnb or Booking.com, quality of life for residents like me has been drastically reduced by noisy tourists that come for a weekend trip and have no regard for keeping it quiet or keeping the shared spaces clean. I hope more cities begin to ban Airbnb. Tourists belong in hotels not in buildings where families try to live their d…

In Amsterdam you can only AirBnB your house for 30 days a year. So normal residents can rent out their house when they go on holiday, but you can't buy up living space for only renting it out on AirBnB.

I like that system because it increases housing supply.

Instead of a new hotel or hostel getting built, there won’t be demand for it and an apartment will be built instead (or some other structure).

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#152

Post by gruez »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #86
JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where I live (Poland) the owner suffers no repercussions, the police can only ticket the noisy guests.

This is going to be a pretty blow-below-the-belt suggestion for our (Polish) sensibilities, but since I have very little charity for antisocial behavior - especially of the "I profit, I don't care" kind, and doubly so when coordinated by a multinational corp pretending to be a hip tech company: I wonder if the owner is paying correct taxes on the money made from AirBnB leases. It would be a shame if the Revenue Servi…

Considering that airbnb payments come through wire transfer (or SEPA), you'd have to be pretty dumb to evade taxes.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#153

Post by ghaff »

danaris wrote: post #143
ghaff wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's certainly the image that the "motel" term conjures up. TBH, I'm not sure how broadly the term is used any longer. There are certainly more modern hotels/motels, many of them big chains, that are designed around people driving to them so you can usually park near your room. The quality varies from pretty tired and not so clean, as you say, to--if not upscale exactly--to comfortable, modern, and clean.

Oh, yes; there are certainly many chains like Travelodge and Motel 6 that fit the category of "motel" but are more modern and clean. However, I can quite assure you that here in rural Upstate New York (and, indeed, even in some of the less-well-off sections of the cities), there are still a great many motels that date to the era I mentioned—very visibly so. (This is why I qualified my statement with "at least around…

I'm thinking more things like Comfort Inns or the lower-end Marriott brands. I'd put Travelodge and Motel 6 pretty near the bottom of the national chains. I had the misfortune to have to stay in a Travelodge last year because of a last minute trip.

But, yes, there are also still quite a few non-chains or small chains that aren't... great.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#154

Post by voidwtf »

terryf wrote: post #53
JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #6

Or just go to a hotel! I have a condo in a building where most of the units are listed on Airbnb or Booking.com, quality of life for residents like me has been drastically reduced by noisy tourists that come for a weekend trip and have no regard for keeping it quiet or keeping the shared spaces clean. I hope more cities begin to ban Airbnb. Tourists belong in hotels not in buildings where families try to live their d…

This is one of the reasons I don't stay in airbnbs - the system breaks the social contract. The reason hotels are more expensive is because they have to follow a bunch of rules that makes everyone's life a bit better by having insurance for risks and zoning and so on. However you have to pay a bit more. So, if you ever find yourself complaining "I wish people did something in a not the absolute cheapest and effortles…

I would argue that ‘people’ break the social contract.

These people know where they are, what time it is, and mostly what’s expected of their surroundings. I think they just don’t care. I’m guessing it’s similar to anonymity on the Internet, where people behave differently because they don’t expect to have to face those they harm.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#155

Post by dannyw »

acollins1331 wrote: post #145
ilikehurdles wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not at all for banning it. But stories like these, from a consumer standpoint, make me want to increasingly avoid Airbnb. Hosts need to be at minimum banned from the platform for having cameras in housing they're offering to guests. And "disclosing" them is not enough.

I'm anti surveillance, but if it's disclosed in the ad that there are cameras and where they were then it seems like something a person can decide whether or not that bothers them. No cameras seems a little excessive.

Cameras outside of housing like exteriors is fine.

Cameras INSIDE a home is just not OK. I cannot imagine a single legitimate purpose where that is OK, can you?

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#156

Post by gwbas1c »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #74
barrkel wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hotels with self catering and a door between living area and sleeping area are scarce on the ground and often overpriced. Even something as simple as a fridge with usable space, not packed with minibar stuff, is hard to find. Hotels aren't very comfortable places to stay.

Those places you're looking for are called hostels . They're cheaper and there's likely more of them than hotels in any given place. They're also legal and don't break the social contract. EDIT: I'm sorry, I only just realized that "hostel" in Europe means something entirely different from "hostel" in the US. What I mean by "hostel", per how we use this term in Poland, is a cheaper version of a hotel, where you still…

Extended stay rooms and suites.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#157

Post by gwbas1c »

JacKTrocinskI wrote: post #6

Or just go to a hotel! I have a condo in a building where most of the units are listed on Airbnb or Booking.com, quality of life for residents like me has been drastically reduced by noisy tourists that come for a weekend trip and have no regard for keeping it quiet or keeping the shared spaces clean. I hope more cities begin to ban Airbnb. Tourists belong in hotels not in buildings where families try to live their d…

The post points out that hotels also hide cameras, and when they do, they're usually harder to find

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#158

Post by m-p-3 »

kitd wrote: post #80
dsl wrote: post #2

If you are concerned about cameras in Airbnbs, consider picking up a camera detector off Amazon for ~$30. They are basically a ring of super bright LEDs with a colored lens in the middle you put up to your eye and scan around the room. The light reflects off the curved glass of the lens and the filter helps you see it. The less effective but impromptu version of this is just holding a super bright flashlight between…

IIRC, most smartphone cameras can clearly detect IR, so another option is to wait til dusk, or darken the room, then scan it through your smartphone camera looking for pinpoints of light that show the IR bulb. Ofc, doesn't work with cameras that don't have IR.

Most smartphones have an IR filter on the back camera, but don't on the front camera.

A good way to test that is by using an old-fashioned TV remote with an IR emitter and look for it to glow when pressing a button. It's a good way to test the batteries too!

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#160

Post by knd775 »

XaspR8d wrote: post #100
danaris wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> and there's likely more of them than hotels in any given place. Not in America. You might find a few in & near major cities, but hotels and motels are everywhere , bed & breakfasts are fairly common, and AirBnBs are plentiful.

My rule of thumb has been that a US city needs to be at least a million people to have a hostel, and at least 4 million to have more than one.

There are quite a few backpackers hostels in tiny towns along trails like the AT. But that's obviously different than what you're talking about.
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