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Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

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Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#21

Post by bombcar »

endisneigh wrote: post #17

In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available. Back to the topic - removing listings isn’t a sufficient enough punishment imho. And how would you even prove it from the guests side? Take a picture I suppose? But how do you stop bad actors? Not sure what the correct solution is. Someone who wants to spy can purchase a spy camera which is very abundant these days.

AirBNB "when it started" was quite likely to find you quirky and cheap options.

Now it's commoditized and a business, and the quirky and cheap options are few and far between.

Part of the degradation is both the company, the sellers, and the buyers - back in the very beginning it wasn't well known and most of the customers were well behaved - I'm not sure that's entirely the case now, as the customer base has grown.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#22

Post by mholt »

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts.

Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning.

We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to:

- Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry

- Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash some items)

- Collect and take out all the trash to the curb

- Clean the grill/stove/oven

And we still had to pay a $200 cleaning fee when booking the place. A hotel would never require this of us or charge us extra.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#23

Post by ransom1538 »

endisneigh wrote: post #17

In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available. Back to the topic - removing listings isn’t a sufficient enough punishment imho. And how would you even prove it from the guests side? Take a picture I suppose? But how do you stop bad actors? Not sure what the correct solution is. Someone who wants to spy can purchase a spy camera which is very abundant these days.

"In my experience Airbnb isn’t even cheaper, just has more “interesting” housing available."

I still, can not wrap my head around this. The idea behind airbnb was to rent out unused parts of your house. You STILL can not do this. Motel 6 is cheaper all day everyday. I will keep giving my $80 to Motel 6, but, I KNOW there is someone out there that has a room and needs $80. The original problem still exists. I can't pay $120 + $30 in cleaning fees, plus do your house chores Sarah.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#25

Post by vundercind »

xvector wrote: post #16

I almost forgot how annoying Airbnb is until I started staying in hotels again. I will gladly take a smaller property in exchange for dealing with people that have actual hospitality training, daily room cleaning, room service, etc. Hotels are just a nicer experience. I don't want to spend my vacation cleaning the room or worrying about a "host."

Airbnbs are amazing for:

- Group get-aways where the point is being together at the place, not seeing the sights of whatever area you’re in.

- Families traveling, especially when not staying in a city core

- Trial runs at living in a place

- Areas poorly served by decent hotels

They’re bad for lots of other scenarios.

[edit] oh and the less time you’re staying the worse they tend to be—stuff like cleaning fees and having to tidy up before leaving really suck if you only stayed for a night or two, but aren’t a big deal if you’re there for a week.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#26

Post by ohnoitsahuman »

mholt wrote: post #22

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…

It's hard to gauge cleaning effort: if a guest uses every dish in the kitchen without doing a wash up, they cleaning crew could be there for hours.

But if a guest is tidy, then the cleaning fee should be nothing.

The hard part is that you need to reserve and pay for a cleaning crew as if it was always a disaster.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#27

Post by ActualHacker »

digging wrote: post #12

Making small changes to policy like this will continue to have no effect on the negative externalities of AirBNB rentals. Will this improve guest privacy? No, hidden cameras are too difficult to detect and too easy to install. Will this prevent AirBNBs becoming party houses/apartments in residential areas? No, obviously not, since that's apparently already banned. Will this collect commercial taxes from investment pr…

But they get to remind everyone that they're the "good guys", and they're "trying"

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#28

Post by bombcar »

dylan604 wrote: post #20
colechristensen wrote: post #15

[flagged]

I think the punishment needs to continue to flow uphill, and start hitting AirBnB directly. If I run an operation that continuously provides safe harbor to people knowingly and willfully breaking the rules, I get in trouble.

It could be "solved" in some way by requiring surety bonds to be provided to the city for each rental; bonds that could be seized if malfeasance was proven (now given that it is a physical property, that can also be seized).

I suspect that AirBNB (like Uber) will eventually split into various affiliated but somewhat isolated entities, primarily to avoid liabilities.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#29

Post by CapcomGo »

digging wrote: post #12

Making small changes to policy like this will continue to have no effect on the negative externalities of AirBNB rentals. Will this improve guest privacy? No, hidden cameras are too difficult to detect and too easy to install. Will this prevent AirBNBs becoming party houses/apartments in residential areas? No, obviously not, since that's apparently already banned. Will this collect commercial taxes from investment pr…

My guess is it will stop property owners from using cameras openly indoors as they have been allowed to before.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#30

Post by sneak »

mholt wrote: post #22

I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts. Anyway, what Airbnb should really ban is hosts charging a mandatory cleaning fee when also requiring their guests to do the cleaning. We just stayed at one this weekend, and like almost all our previous bookings, the host asked us to: - Take off all bedding and towels and start a load of laundry - Do all the dishes and start the dishwasher (but required to hand-wash…

If you’re paying the cleaning fee anyway, why would you do any of that stuff?
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