Security camera caught male guest peeing in pool

[Ash3391]

I have external house security camera which we declared on our house rules and we have signs noting that there is recording. Our cameras normally auto arm after midnight. It caught one of the male guests going up to the pool, unzipping and peeing straight into the pool. 

Not sure what to do about it. It will certainly cost more cleaning fees as I have to shock the pool and leave it unused for at least two days.

Any suggestions on how to handle this? Approach the guest, or airbnb?

I am always afraid to alert the guest about our concerns because we manage this property remotely and don't want any retaliatory action. 

[Debra300]

@Huma0,

I personally will not swim in pools for this very reason.  There are some water treatments that turn the water blue when people relieves themselves.  I know that if I went in pools that form of pee-pee shaming would surely make me hold it until I got to the toilet.  Hey, maybe that's where the song, "Skip to my loo" came from.  Someone was trying to run/walk to the loo.

[Huma0]

@Debra300 

Lol, your response made me actually look this up. Skip to my lou (not to my loo), refers to a dance:

"Skip to My Lou" was a simple game of stealing partners (or swapping partners as in square dancing). It begins with any number of couples skipping hand in hand around in a ring. A lone boy in the center of the moving circle of couples sings, "Lost my partner, what'll I do?" as the girls whirl past him. The young man in the center hesitates while he decides which girl to choose, singing, “I'll get another one just like you.” When he grasps the hand of his chosen one, the latter's partner moves to the center of the ring the game. It is an ice-breaker, providing an opportunity for the participants to get acquainted with one another and to get into a good mood.[

But, I can see how your interpretation makes sense too!

[Melodie-And-John0]

So true @Debra300, Thats what I was thinking at the start!  Another reason I prefer swimming in a creek, self cleaning!   I would still try to tax them for an extra shocking just because I have them on video. 

Heres another thing I picked up on @Ash3391 , A camera near a pool really needs to be monitored at all times or a sign on it saying its not ever monitored so people don't feel they have any reason to believe they could be saved if they are drowning or injured.  A sign saying there is a recording probably does not remove liability of someone dying on your recorder without a responder being called.  Stay well, JR

[Anonymous]

@Ash3391  Usually when people pee in a pool, your security camera will never catch it because they're in the water at the time. The cleaning protocol you use for your pool between guests should always assume that this might have happened.

You might make a subtle mention in your review that the guests behaved irresponsibly in the pool area, but any direct mentions of bodily functions will probably get the review deleted. I can't imagine it would be worth the hassle to pursue any kind of claim, as this would not be considered "physical damage." 

[Sarah977]

@Ash3391   I agree with @Debra300 and @Anonymous- this is a non-issue. While this guest's behavior was certainly crude, children pee in the pool all the time, and even some adults might, you just wouldn't know about it. But you can safely assume that your pool has had urine in it before.

There is no reason the pool needs to have some special treatment, and if you are not aware, urine is actually sterile- it isn't a health hazard.

[Huma0]

Mmm, okay I get the point that some of the other posters are making RE people peeing in the pool, especially in regards to children. However, as someone who has never peed in a pool since very early childhood at least, I think it's more the disrespect involved. 

Yes, maybe @Ash3391 should be taking the same precautions/sanitary measures in between each stay regardless, as anyone could have done it without his knowledge, but, is that to say it's okay for an adult to walk up to the pool, unzip and urinate into it?

Children can accidentally pee in the bed. It happens. What do you do? Expect the host to deal with it, or do you as a guest deal with it, i.e. apologise and make some reparation? What happens when the intoxicated adult pees in the bed? Tell the host to 'deal' with it?

Where exactly does one draw the line?

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  IMO, calling out the guest or trying to charge him for pool cleaning because the host caught him on camera drunkenly peeing in the pool, would be like calling the guest out because you caught him on camera making rude gestures, or prancing around with one of your lampshades on his head. Nothing has been destroyed, he's just acting like a yahoo. 

As I mentioned, it isn't a sanitary issue, urine is sterile, and that's what pool chemicals are for anyway, to remove bacteria and balance the PH. We have no idea what our guests do that might not be sanitary, behind closed doors, anyway. For all we know, in an entire house listing, they might use our best cookware as a chamber pot because they don't like walking to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Or stick their finger in the sugar bowl, lick it, and then stick it in there again. Or blow their nose in a dishtowel.

Had she caught him on camera pissing on the bed, that would be another story.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

All very true. I have heard that peeing in the shower is a very common activity. I suppose it doesn't matter when that urine is all washed away anyway.

I guess this is one of the reasons why I don't think I would be that comfortable with renting out a whole unit holiday property. I'm not OCD about cleanliness at all, but I do think guests should have a modicum of respect when staying in an Airbnb. Who knows though what they do at home and what they think is 'normal'. Personally I would never blow my nose on a tea towel in my place, but maybe folk do that all the time in their own homes.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0 I pee in my own shower all the time. The water just washes it down the drain the same as flushing it in the toilet. Can't see the point in grabbing a towel, drying off, going to the toilet, and then back in the shower, if I get the urge while in there. 

But I promise if I came to stay with you, I wouldn't pee in your shower 🙂

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Lol, I actually have no problem with the idea of peeing in the shower cubicle. Leaving 'personal' hairs all over it is another matter...

I suppose, like @Ann72 suggests, what you don't know won't hurt you, but seeing it on camera I imagine could be a bit more disturbing. Maybe I am too intolerant...

I had a friend whose boyfriend was a sleepwalker. She woke up one night to find he had gotten out of bed, opened her wardrobe doors and was in the process of peeing all over her clothes. Not his fault I guess, but I am not sure how many times I would have put up with it.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0  I had a very short term boyfriend who had a drinking problem. One night I was woken by what sounded like running water to find him standing next to the bed peeing on the floor. He was so drunk I ended up dragging him into the living room and leaving him there passed out on the floor. I threw all his stuff out on the front lawn and told him to get out the next morning.

As far as calling a guest out for something you saw on camera that didn't result in any actual damages (or sneaking in extra guests or a pet) I guess it's a matter of separating what we might find personally gross from what a guest should be censured for. Even small damages, many hosts will let go because it's just not worth the hassle or a bad review.

[Huma0]

@Sarah977 

Yes, my friend's sleepwalking boyfriend was also drinking quite a bit (not sure if the two are related). He had to go in the end too!

[Sarah977]

@Huma0 I don't quite get it. I'm not a big drinker- I can go months without drinking any alcohol, but I've certainly been quite drunk a few times. Yet I didn't have any problem getting to the bathroom if I had to pee or puke.

[Debra300]

@Huma0,

Here's another English/American idiom contrasts.  I had to look up tea towel.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a tea towel as "a cloth for drying dishes."  In the US, we call them dish towels.  I wouldn't blow my nose in one, either.  No matter what it's called.

[Sarah977]

@Huma0 @Debra300  Hey gals, I was just trying to come up with possible gross things a guest could do that we might never know about. I've never used a dish towel to blow my nose either, nor seen anyone else do so. But we all know that guests will sometimes do things we couldn't even imagine 🙂