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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

#191

Post by ryanmarsh »

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 don't stay in airbnbs - the system breaks the social contract.

I didn't know I was party to this contract, and I couldn't tell you what the terms are.

I travel a lot for work and I stay almost exclusively in AirBnb because I like having my money and a nice home-like experience.

I still don't understand how society would benefit from AirBnb not existing and us being where we started with the hotel cabal.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#192

Post by impendia »

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…

Personally, I find the "social contract" to be too biased in favor of homeowners. They control municipal governments and hence zoning laws. If these homeowners decide that they don't want to see visitors in their neighborhoods, they can decide they don't have to. So, in effect, this "contract" was unilaterally imposed by one party to it.

I noticed this particularly in Princeton, NJ. A cute, small, and overly expensive town. Anyway, I was visiting the university on business, and if you stay downtown it is easy to get everywhere without a car.

Except... there are few hotels downtown, and no budget hotels. For those you have to stay near the highway (and hence rent a car).

The "social contract" would require that I view my own presence as a nuisance, even though I was being quiet and going to bed early. I decided that I didn't have any qualms about renting via Airbnb/Craigslist.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#193

Post by rhacker »

voidwtf wrote: post #154
terryf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"I think they just don't care"

Yep, if you ever lived in a vacation destination you know.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#194

Post by rhacker »

impendia wrote: post #192
terryf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Personally, I find the "social contract" to be too biased in favor of homeowners. They control municipal governments and hence zoning laws. If these homeowners decide that they don't want to see visitors in their neighborhoods, they can decide they don't have to. So, in effect, this "contract" was unilaterally imposed by one party to it. I noticed this particularly in Princeton, NJ. A cute, small, and overly expensiv…

So let's say I buy a quiet home in a peaceful neighborhood. I've risked my life savings on this home so I can get work done, meditate, relax and not hear barking dogs, children scream, etc..

So you're saying I don't have the right to want those things? That new people coming into that kind of environment should be allowed to, even though there is nearly literally anywhere else in the f-ing world they can go.

I'm not saying you, in particular, are going to bother me, you sound quiet - but why should I give up on upholding the social contracts the neighborhood has established for decades for a rowdy party animals to blast through every weekend?

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#195

Post by JackFr »

rand84545 wrote: post #14
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…

There are two possibilties here: - The noise level is within the reasonable legal limit: Tourists are exercising their rights to use the condo, in the same way that the owner (main renter) could have done. Whether it's the owner making the noise or the tourists is immaterial. - The noise levels are above the legal limits, inform them (courtesy) and then call the cops. whether it's the owner, or the tourists it's the…

There are definitely more than two possibilities:

- The condo rules or the co-op lease forbids rentals for less than a month, in which case the owner is in violation of his lease or agreement.

- The apartment is in a jurisdiction which holds short term rentals illegal, and the owner is breaking the law.

Regardless of the level of the noise.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#196

Post by BurningFrog »

ineedasername wrote: post #150
swypych wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What social contract? People keep saying this but can you please enlighten me as to what this is. Where it is written?

https://www.google.com/search?q=social+contract Basically it's the understanding that we're all in this together and we shouldn't mess things in some way for other people purely for our own benefit. Think of it as avoiding negative-sum situations. More formally: an implicit agreement among the members of a society to cooperate for social benefits, for example by sacrificing some individual freedom for state protectio…

It's also something no one ever signed, and is a concept loved only by those benefiting from the current order.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#197

Post by alistairSH »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #101
_mghw wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What?! Hostels suck. In principle, hostels have everything. A fridge, a kitchen and so on. In practice, though, you have to label all your food because there is one fridge for 50 people. You need to share the kitchen with everyone else too. Privacy is limited. Noise is biblical. Fucking party dickhead bros everywhere ruining everything. Creaky floorboards and noisy doors. I've done hostels all over Europe, and while…

I made an edit in my comment. Must be a US/Europe term difference. I don't know what the horror show you described is called in my part of Europe, but over here, hostels have nothing to do with shared fridge for 50 people, or limited privacy. They're just cheaper hotels. Kind of like a motel, except not optimized for cars, and usually in an apartment building.

Hmmm, unless things have changed since I backpacked western Europe, hostels in London|Barcelona|Florence|Paris are dorm-style with shared bathrooms and other facilities. So, it's not a "Europe" thing either. As a 40-something professional, I would never stay in a hostel - I'm too old for that crap. I want a nice bed, a small living room, and a small kitchen.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#198

Post by graeme »

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…

Most european hostels are not the kind you describe in poland. They also have shared rooms, shared kitchens.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#199

Post by peanutgal2600 »

SenHeng wrote: post #95
ubermonkey wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A very reasonable point; however, AirBnB & its ilk end up being the only viable option in some cases. There's a huge bicycling event in Texas every spring, and it overnights in a town that is, most of the time, very very quiet. The meager hotel inventory is sufficient 364 days of the year, but absurdly low for the weekend of the MS150. & so, homeshare sites make a killing that weekend.

The exception should not make the rule. Your example is one of the few edge cases where AirBnB works. The OP is talking about an everyday situation where AirBnB has instead had a detrimental effect on residents as well as would-be residents.

In pretty much any small city in developing nations, AirBNB is the only viable option. Many of these cities have experienced rapid growth thanks to EU and Chinese loans, but the hotel infrastructure has not kept up. In one Balkan city I visit frequently, I can pay $150/night in a 40 year old Holiday Inn that was condemned a few years ago for structural reasons (then the decision was reversed), or I can pay $15 a night in an AirBNB some poor schlub making $200/month is renting out to make ends meet.

I'm going to choose door number 2 every time. Any time I am given the choice to buy something, especially a higher-quality experience at a lower price, from a human being versus a corporation, the human gets my money.

Just like I prefer Uber to taxis, I prefer AirBNB to hotels. Even Hostels now, if I go into Amsterdam I will pay $35-$50 per night. If there are two of us, the $50 per night AirBNB is our choice.

These businesses flourish because the social contract is broken. Creating artificial scarcity will harm the community in the long run, preventing tourism and limiting the ability of home owners / tenants to make a couple of extra bucks on under-utilized resources.

Whatever this social contract is, I've never signed it, and I don't really recognize anybody else telling me I must abide by this contract upon which I was given no opportunity to vote or discuss.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#200

Post by pen2l »

noxToken wrote: post #174
terryf wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

>This is one of the reasons I don't stay in airbnbs - the system breaks the social contract. But it doesn't. People are breaking the social contract by not respecting the area. If I invite friends from out of town over for the weekend, is that breaking the social contract? If I'm going away for 2 weeks, and I have friends house sit for the duration, is that breaking the social contract? Tourists and visitors existing…

> If I invite friends from out of town over for the weekend, is that breaking the social contract?

That's different. You know your friends. You don't know your airbnb guests, and the reviews are only worth so much. I can't find the article now, but some porn company had an easy time gaming airbnb by getting good reviews in the beginning and using the place for shoots on the 10th stay or whatever.

And, as a person who had I think ~15 airbnbs from 2015-2018, the recent change I don't like is that some houseowners hire an 18 year told (who I have to call and meet outside) and have him give me a hurried 10 minute intro and then leave. I actually _was_ one of those people who enjoyed airbnbs for the reasons they publicize (the 'it's not a hotel' line, the 'feel at home with friends!' type of thing) -- but that seems to have largely disappeared. Last time I was in an airbnb, I would always get these nasty glares from the neighborhoods, who seem to be just screaming "We don't want you here, strange" with their facial expressions. Staying at a hotel is indeed now much more comfortable, and the consistency of services (while not perfect) is better than airbnbs in my recent experiences.

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