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Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

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Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#331

Post by tuwtuwtuwtuw »

dsr_ wrote: post #242
tuwtuwtuwtuw wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No they don't.

Many companies act as though they believe that they have a fiduciary duty to not think further than the next quarter's results. Are you happy now?

Such companies would fire all employees directly unless they are required to complete the current quarter. I haven't seen many sustainable businesses completely giving up all revenue for all future quarters just to improve the current quarter. It would be a very poor business decision. It sounds like a meme and I'll name it Enterprise Kamikaze.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#332

Post by klinquist »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #327
klinquist wrote: post #318

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have 6 beds. Change 6 beds when one is used? Talk about energy use and wear/tear on the linens themselves. Hotels have cleaning "scale" on their side. I'm also operating a large home with a full kitchen, balcony, garage, etc. 8 people can comfortably stay. It ends up being a LOT cheaper AND more comfortable than a hotel for 6-8 people.

>Change 6 beds when one is used? Talk about energy use and wear/tear on the linens themselves. Depends how much you want to risk a guest sleeping in dirty linens. Maybe you have very trustworthy people you can rely on to accurately gauge if a bed has been used or not, maybe your guests do not mind the risk either in exchange for cost/environmental savings. I prefer the most foolproof option when it comes to sleeping…

My existing solution of asking guests to pull the linens off their beds seems to be working great :).

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#333

Post by lukan »

autoexec wrote: post #183
lukan wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I'm worried this ban will only affect honest hosts." EMF meters(like in the airplane to spot mobiles) are quite cheap and if you find an active one, you can probably sue the host, but at least reporting should have some effect, even though no instaban. "If a guest reports the presence of an indoor camera after that, Airbnb says it will investigate and that it could remove the host’s listing or account as a result."…

> EMF meters(like in the airplane to spot mobiles) are quite cheap and if you find an active one, you can probably sue the host In a house with a bunch of smart meters/appliances, bluetooth devices, a router, indoor electrical wiring, nearby power lines, cell signals, AM/FM radio, etc wouldn't the house be constantly flooded with EMF radiation pretty much everywhere?

They all emmit on different frequencies. But I have not made a test yet, how well it works with a cheap one (I bought a simple one some weeks ago). The advanced ones can be tuned to find very specific bands.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#334

Post by linehedonist »

swatcoder wrote: post #203
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…

Your family was asked to do about 17 minutes of convenient, easy preparatory tidying that most considerate people would do even without being asked (as in a hotel or when visiting a friend). Yet you benefited from coming into a home that, presumably, had all of its floors vaccuumed, its kitchen and bathroom surfaces sanititized, its linens folded and/or readied, etc. Whether it was the host or a service, somebody fol…

You empty the trash from your hotel room? Really?

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#335

Post by vundercind »

SideburnsOfDoom wrote: post #32
vundercind wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 ha…

> Group get-aways where the point is being together at the place And how are the neighbours going to feel about your house party in their residential area? You can't call this model "amazing" for all concerned. Don't say that this doesn't happen, it really does. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39669347

There are lots of actual vacation properties on the service.

Agree that it sucks in denser housing outside tourist areas. I’m sympathetic when local governments outlaw short term rentals.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#336

Post by veunes »

notatoad wrote: post #54

Airbnb did previously allow indoor cameras?!

Yes, cameras were allowed to be installed, but host are required to notify about it. As I was explained, this allows, for example, placing one outside the entrance door, to know how many people actually were living there, because there are cases when people deceive. And the price depends on the number of people as I know

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#337

Post by downWidOutaFite »

bombcar wrote: post #211
adolph wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> people don't know how to price rentals And "helping" them is a lawsuit magnet: Big landlords are colluding to raise rents, D.C. lawsuit alleges https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38155840

If I had a group of graduate students at my beck and call I'd love to try to factor out what effect single-family rentals have had on the rental market in toto - because once you remove appreciation, they're often losing money each month, which means they're subsidizing the renters (and willing to do so because they're making it up on highly-leveraged appreciation).

Why would the math be different for apartment buildings? They also appreciate and they usually have better accountants to make sure no money is left on the table if it's available.

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#338

Post by bmicraft »

jupp0r wrote: post #188
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.

Unless somebody is making serious efforts and running hidden data wires, spy cams are pretty easy to find by the average nerd equipped with a cheapish spectrum analyzer by their RF signature.

Are they? Many are wifi connected, but record onto an sd card, which means they shouldn't be easily detectable, except when accessed, right?

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#339

Post by mrguyorama »

ipaddr wrote: post #325
EasyMark wrote: post #248

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've rented out a couple rooms in my house in the past for airbnb during special events in Austin to make some hobby money, shared my kitchen, they have a private bathroom. It doesn't cost $200 to clean. I can clean up after them typically in less than an hour.

It cost you nothing but time and some supplies. If you asked a random person to clean it, they would refuse. So you have to pay them. Minimums for cleaning would be 3 hours. At 50 an hour plus taxes and travel $200 doesn't sound unreasonable.

The people cleaning your hotel room who can barely speak english and get skiddish if you are wearing a law enforcement uniform definitely don't make $50 an hour.

If you can't efficiently get cleaning services for your rented out room, maybe you should get out of the hotel business!

Re: Airbnb is banning indoor security cameras

#340

Post by MissTake »

klinquist wrote: post #266
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…

I'm a host. I charge a $200 cleaning fee and my cleaners charge me $250, so I lose money on cleaning. I ask guests to: * Strip the beds (otherwise, I find that people re-make beds and it's hard to tell if they have been slept in), * Load and start the dishwasher (the dishwasher takes 4 hrs, and the cleaners travel to my remote house, and I want to make sure they can finish in about that time) * Take the trash down to…

I find that abhorrent myself.

What YOU pay for your cleaners is up to you.

Stop nickel and dimming your customers - if you charge a cleaning fee then there's zero moral rights in my mind that you have to ask customers to also clean.

Just up the nightly rates and build it in.

When's the last time you stayed at a Hotel and found you got hit with a 'Room Cleaning" fee?

What's next - a fee for allowing Heating to be used? A fee to allow water? Heavens above.

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