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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

#291

Post by risyachka »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #108
risyachka wrote: post #104

Airbnb is not evil. Tourists that don't care or follow the rules are. Without Airbnb, they will bring the same problems just to other people in other places. Many hotels do charge unjustified amounts of money, so I am personally happy there is an option to pay reasonable money for good service. Also, it's not like hotels don't have their share of problems. Many hotels in many countries offer you pure garbage when you…

Now for the counterargument: Airbnb is evil, because it facilitates and profits from rule and lawbreaking, up to and including turning whole apartment buildings into pirate hotels, while spinning the tale that it's all about individuals occasionally renting out their primary place of residence for a couple of days. It's evil because while occasional random temporary sublets aren't a problem, they become a problem whe…

It is evil the same way eBay is evil because some people lie in the description or send you bad products.

Airbnb is just a platform. Its users break laws. Just like there are bad landlords for long term rent, same is here only for the short term. The problem is landlords that break laws and turn homes into hotels etc.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#292

Post by jkoudys »

mrguyorama wrote: post #268
jkoudys wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting -- I'll look into that for NYC. I'm CTO at a startup based in Toronto, but we have a tiny space in Manhattan so it's pretty easy for me to schedule some business there and have my family tag along.

>business there and have my family tag along So you think you should be able to violate the spirit of the law? Why shouldn't you pay that tax as a tourist?

Because I'd be there on business? You seem weirdly upset that I'd want to see my family after work.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#293

Post by [deleted] »

rodw wrote: post #228
BurningFrog wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think I'm probably more pro-revolution that most, but c'mon, really? You really think that basic rules of human courtesy are the boot on the neck of humanity? We're talking about something much more fundamental than social norms you might call patriarchal or cis-/hetero-normative or anything like that. This is the kind of behavior that keeps you from getting punched. And most people are explicitly taught these beha…

[deleted]

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#294

Post by ppseafield »

pacaro wrote: post #245
ppseafield wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Generally NIMBYism involves push-back on policies that increase housing density to help more (and generally poorer) people live somewhere. AirBNB without regulation (and enforcement) doesn't help more people live in an area - in fact it removes long term residences from the market in favor of generating more revenue for existing property owners. Reducing the long term housing supply increases demand and prices, thus…

NIMBYism isn't only about housing, it refers to any pushback on a change that is generally agreed as good/useful/necessary on the basis that "sure we need this thing, but not where I live". Currently we hear it a lot regarding housing density, but it's also a factor in locating sewage treatment plants, nuclear waste disposal sites, etc.

Indeed, that's a better overall definition. My comment was in the context of AirBnB and housing.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#295

Post by ryandrake »

jkoudys wrote: post #215
dylan604 wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> However you have to pay a bit more. I've been looking into AirBnB for certain situations, and because people tell me they are cheaper than hotels. However, I have found that in a lot of cases, hotels end up being cheaper. The big gotcha is the prices shown are the fee for the room (or house or whatever), but then at the end they tack on exorbitant "cleaning" fees that I have found to be greater than the rental fee.…

Yeah those cleaning fees are bullshit. I don't want to see the prices of only one item on a list shown on the map, I want to see how much it actually costs to stay there. tbf you'll see this on a lot of hotel bookings too. We just got back from a week in NYC, and most booking systems (either hotels or airbnbs) were a massive slog. Try to airbnb an okay place in the Bronx for $110/night? Click through and see an $80 c…

Reminds me of those “resort fees” in Vegas, which are not disclosed as part of the room rate when you search/comparison shop, but can actually add up to being more than the room rate [1]. Totally evil. Why can’t we at least agree to regulate hidden fees to extinction? How does hiding the true price of something ever benefit the public?

1: http://killresortfees.com/vegas

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#296

Post by TeMPOraL »

risyachka wrote: post #291
TeMPOraL wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now for the counterargument: Airbnb is evil, because it facilitates and profits from rule and lawbreaking, up to and including turning whole apartment buildings into pirate hotels, while spinning the tale that it's all about individuals occasionally renting out their primary place of residence for a couple of days. It's evil because while occasional random temporary sublets aren't a problem, they become a problem whe…

It is evil the same way eBay is evil because some people lie in the description or send you bad products. Airbnb is just a platform. Its users break laws. Just like there are bad landlords for long term rent, same is here only for the short term. The problem is landlords that break laws and turn homes into hotels etc.

That's a cop out. AirBnB as a platform introduces systemic problems that weren't there before (effect of scale matters), exploits them in full knowledge of their impact on people, and does nothing to stop them.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#297

Post by sizzle »

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…

Is Airbnb not penalizing unruly renters booking through their platform as part of their policy? There should be some way to record if cops are called out for disturbances against their future use of the platform. Platform users should be held accountable for unreasonably disturbing the peace of neighbors period.

Random idea: internet connected decibel meter in ceiling or Alexa type device that tracks noise levels above a certain threshold and doesn't record any conversations, just measures decibel levels (100% legal). If consistently above city noise ordinances, renters get fined by Airbnb and ultimately banned if it keeps occurring across bookings. Is this too intrusive? I bet smart speakers can already achieve this functionality. Neighbors should have peaceful enjoyment is my motivation behind the system. Thoughts?

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#298

Post by Gibbon1 »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #131
_petronius wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree with this, and I think there is an interesting generalisation that can be pulled out of it: something’s which are fine (harmless, neutral, or even good) at a small individual scale become problematic or terrible when done at the scale that modern software and the internet can provide. VRBO isn’t inherently bad, hijacking VRBO into a stealth hotel business and breaking the social contract of residential neighb…

Exactly. And what's extra sad here is that once a company like Uber or AirBnB gains large-scale success, there are only two things that happen. Some places accept it and eat the social externalities. Others try to ban the practice, but legislation is expensive, enforcement is expensive, and it also hurts the society by making illegal what was previously just fine on a small scale. I think societies need to learn to r…

> and it also hurts the society by making illegal what was previously just fine on a small scale.

This is the other thing that leaves me feeling salty. Wholesale abuse of prerogatives usually results in those being taken away from everyone.

The other thing I'm saly about is when I started in tech you had two 'prongs'. One was defense companies. Which also served as tech incubators and dual use tech companies. And then mostly commercial tech companieswhich was focused on products people wanted. I feel like now a lot of tech is about enabling exploitation. Providing no benefit to ordinary people at all. And worse these companies produce zero low to minimal skill jobs.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#299

Post by okmokmz »

okmokmz wrote: post #220
ryanmarsh wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

>I still don't understand how society would benefit from AirBnb not existing and us being where we started with the hotel cabal. Many of the people on this site don't see or experience the downsides, as we are privileged enough to own our own properties or have our own space not impacted by airbnb. However, consider for example a family living in inexpensive housing with parents that work and children that are in sch…

I find it interesting that this comment initially had 7 upvotes and is now down to 2. There is nothing factually wrong about what I wrote, I guess well off engineers are just upset at the thought of potentially losing their cheap accommodations and convenience despite it having a negative impact on many individuals lives

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#300

Post by risyachka »

TeMPOraL wrote: post #296
risyachka wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is evil the same way eBay is evil because some people lie in the description or send you bad products. Airbnb is just a platform. Its users break laws. Just like there are bad landlords for long term rent, same is here only for the short term. The problem is landlords that break laws and turn homes into hotels etc.

That's a cop out. AirBnB as a platform introduces systemic problems that weren't there before (effect of scale matters), exploits them in full knowledge of their impact on people, and does nothing to stop them.

I agree that they should not exploit the problems and fix them, but saying that they should go broke is not a solution, as it will often do more harm than good.
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