Travel Securely Securely Travel
Want to save money? Those shared and whole unit accommodations available on Airbnb, VRBO, and many others look mighty inticing and affordable when compared to hotels, motels and resorts.
And while no hotel or motel is immune from video voyeurism there is generally a path to recourse when something untoward occurs within your room. A California couple recently learned this was not the case with their accomodation obtained via Airbnb when they discovered that their bedroom had a video camera covertly installed over their bed.
The couple filed a police report and complained to Airbnb. Airbnb responded with:
“The safety and privacy of our community — both online and offline — is our priority. Airbnb’s policies prohibit hidden cameras in listings, and we take reports of any violations very seriously. We promptly removed this host from our platform and completely refunded [the member renting]…”
Read between the lines.
If you stay at an Airbnb, you will be secure in the knowledge that Airbnb told the “host” not to put in hidden video cameras.
Feel more secure?
The instances of video cameras being used in a voyeuristic fashion, continues to grow within hotels, motels, cruiseships and shared accomodations like Airbnb.
Is this a one off occurrence? Not by a long shot.
The Atlantic in a recent piece discussing this very issue, highlights numerous cases where individuals have found hidden video cameras in their rentals. They detail how a guest in an Airbnb in Florida, in this instance a shared accomodation (the owner with girlfriend was also residing within the unit) returned from dinner, and noted the host had retired. The gent prepared to also go to bed when he discovered “two small rectangular boxes which resembled phone chargers, but were actually video cameras. The guest pocketed the memory cards, collected his things, and departed.
In the above instance he called the Airbnb Safety Team - their response?
We’ll refund your money, and they removed the host from the site.
Interestingly, when the guest contacted the police, the initial reaction was that the host was the owner of the home and was within his rights to have video cameras within his property.
Who can argue with that? Airbnb’s policy (with about as much backbone as a Gummi Worm) isn’t going to supercede the rights of the homeowner.
Now, if the entity is a licensed lodging entity, then perhaps local laws pertaining to the assumption of privacy within the unit or bedroom would apply.
What to do about video voyeurism?
In a 2017 article crafted by Wired, a checklist of how to detect a device in one’s hotel room. Understand, however, that when using an RF (radio frequency) detector, that it detects all energy transmissions and may not detect a device which is not energized and may detect mundane devices (fire detection or carbon monoxide detection).
So, if you use a device to scan your hotel room or cruise stateroom, keep in mind that the possibility of false positives is very real. As real as the possibility of a micro-video camera being hidden in that Airbnb, hotel/motel, or cruise stateroom which you have escaped for some rest and recuperation or romantic getaway.
