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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

#71

Post by gpvos »

chirau wrote: post #60
PlasticTank wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, you can get pedantic about the cultural nuances of courtsey but I'd say that it generally boils down to don't be an inconsiderate a-hole. I live in a country where it's not illegal to take up-skirts I'd say it would be pretty universal to say it's common courtesy not to do that.

An example is not a definition. Like i said, what is common courtesy and where? What is an a-hole? You mention these terms as if they have a universal definition, they don't. Chewing gum in Singapore could be an a-hole move. Is it in the USA? So what gives? And thanks to all my know-better self-righteous downvoters. I didn't know questions were inappropriate.

Commenting about being downvoted is inappropriate.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#73

Post by rando444 »

djsumdog wrote: post #62

Hmm .. I had a friend recently who rented out a room on Airbnb and had guests that trashed it. Airbnb did pay damaged on his claim. He rented again and the girl asked if she could rent for a few more months. So they signed a standard city lease outside Airbnb and she hasn't left or paid. He's had to file eviction. That obviously isn't AirBNB's fault, but it's now 2 for 2 bad experiences that started with AirBNB. I wo…

Not only was the second incident not related to AirBnB, but in both incidents you describe, having cameras would not have provided any value.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#74

Post by TeMPOraL »

barrkel wrote: post #57
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…

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 rent by the room, and rooms are usually 1, 2, and 3-5 people-sized, and usually have kitchen and a bathroom in the room. They're not like dorms, they don't involve shared bunk beds. I don't know what the right term in the US is. Bed&Breakfast?

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#75

Post by sschueller »

tinus_hn wrote: post #72
sschueller wrote: post #9

I guess requiring a license to run a hotel or a cab company do have a reason after all. /s

The license in no way guarantees this can’t happen in a hotel.

No but a license requires a regulatory body and that body should be tasks to inspect such things. Of course if the system is corrupt and broken it won't make a difference.

Why have companies require FDA approval/inspections if it doesn't guarantee that there isn't some poison in your food?

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#76

Post by 52-6F-62 »

kurthr wrote: post #12
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…

These work if the camera manufacturer really doesn't care and puts the lens on the outside. However, if they do care and put a circular polarizer with an anti-reflective film on top... like your OLED phone has, then that will cut the reflection >100x. You probably won't see them and they'll only lose 50% of the light.

Would polarized sunglasses work in that case then? I regularly get a shimmer from any LCD or OLED phone when on the town

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#77

Post by TeMPOraL »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #64
pjc50 wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I have a right to do everything that's not actually illegal" is an attitude that directly results in all kinds of trivial things being banned. In this case, it's leading to cities trying to ban or restrict AirBNB.

Along those same lines "I find it reasonable to call the cops on every violation of the letter of the law" results in a really shitty society.

Except that generally doesn't happen, and illegal AirBnB sublets absolutely do deserve to be reported to police in every single instance, because they're instances of antisocial individual behavior coordinated by a multinational corporation that profits off it.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#78

Post by travisoneill1 »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #66
travisoneill1 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do have that right. Busybody losers who complain constantly about trivial things are the reason all kinds of trivial things are banned.

Your wording is a little over the top but I generally agree. You know how many fucks I give about my neighbor's power tools at odd hours or my other neighbor's loud birds or my other neighbor who's always smoking weed, or my other neighbor who's always getting loud and drunk with his buddies and all the other things people around me do that some find disagreeable? Zero. Those things are what a free society sounds and…

I have lived in probably 15 apartments and never ran into one neighbor I couldn't handle, and you somehow have 3 at once? I would say that the problem is probably you. If not, and you have just hit the bad neighbor lottery, you are free to do what I have done so many times and move.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#79

Post by C1sc0cat »

barrkel wrote: post #57
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…

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.

There are reputable serviced short term lets you can use I know one team I worked on moved from the Balmoral in Edinburgh to a flat.

Re: How to Find Hidden Cameras in Your Airbnb

#80

Post by kitd »

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.

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