Nude photo shoots without permission

Rhonda45
Level 6
Eminence, MO

Nude photo shoots without permission

I am an Airbnb host and my friend is also.  She had a booking for 2 people and 10 showed up.  They confronted her and told her that they had talked to her earlier about it.  I gave her Airbnb’s numbers and told her to call.  She learned that they are taking nude photos on her property and they won’t leave.

 

she lives 6 miles out on a rural country road.  Isn’t this against Airbnb policy to have nude photo shoots, especially without the hosts permission.  She only hosts stays, not events and her treehouse only accommodates 2 people.  

suggestions?  

18 Replies 18
Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Rhonda45 

 

She needs to tell everybody to vacate her premises NOW. She doesn’t need Airbnb’s permission to do this, and Airbnb can’t help her do it.

 

In Eminence I would guess that a resident could get support from the County Sheriff in a case like this.

 

These people are trespassing, or at least 8 of them are, until you tell the others that they are being evicted, and then they all are.

 

 The sheriff can and should demand and record ID from everyone. Possibly one or more of the “models” are underage… there may be contraband substances involved… public indecency laws may be violated…In any case I expect that they will develop a strong desire to leave when they see a cop car.

 

I would be there filming everything, with a shotgun visible in my truck, while I waited for the County Sheriff. 

That sort of thing would definitely not be tolerated here in Marion County, Arkansas.

Our sheriff is worthless here.  She called 911 and got a neighboring county as we don’t have a 911 dispatcher here.  They wouldn’t transfer her call to our sheriff here.  She did call her neighbors, one is also an Airbnb host, and they showed up (they all had loaded weapons but didn’t display them) and the “guests” were told to leave in 2 hours which they did.  My friend has a call into Airbnb and they are giving it priority.  It took 5 tries for the guest’s credit card to go through, there was no residence, and not sure there was even a photo.  Very sloppy work by Airbnb.  The last review on that guest was 2016.  

two of her neighbors are firemen and they had loaded weapons which was good.  This should never happen to anyone.  

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Rhonda45 

 

One more point: Airbnb doesn’t allow guests to use the property for business purposes.

 

That would include producing pornography or any other kind of photo documentary.

 

 

 

And she told them that she isn’t an event rental, only an overnight.  

@Brian2036  You might be surprised to learn that Airbnb actually doesn't have a policy on guests using a rental for commercial purposes. 

 

@Rhonda45  Also, Airbnb has no policy about photo shoots. And of course it isn't relevant whether the participants are wearing clothes - why would it be? It's really up to the host to communicate in the House Rules that unregistered guests aren't permitted on the property, and it's also up to the host to enforce that. What do you think Airbnb is going to do when a guest is breaking your House Rules? It's not like they're going to send a battalion out to your property to remove the guests for you. The most they can do is confirm the termination of a booking, and in doing so they will refund the remaining nights to the guest. But the host is obliged to do the dirty work of evicting the guests, and they shouldn't expect local law enforcement to act as their private bouncers just because they can't keep their own property under control.

 

Fortunately your friend is not a remote host; if she lives only 6 miles from the home, she can personally go there and take charge of it, and demand that the unpaid guests get the hell out of there. Hopefully they put their clothes on first - or if not, I hope your friend enjoys the view.

 

 

 

 


@Anonymous wrote:

@Brian2036  You might be surprised to learn that Airbnb actually doesn't have a policy on guests using a rental for commercial purposes. 

 

 

 


thank you for clarifying. I stayed in an abb in the USA in 2018 and there was a lot of info in the guest manual/house rules about using the space for commercial photography, and how it would incur extra fees and needed to be arranged beforehand. 

I have a line about it in my house rules (which of course, we know, few actually read), and i've been approached once by a couple wanting to do a "tasteful" photoshoot. (how "tasteful" is code for nude made me giggle) and I turned them down. then a week later we had another booking (for 2) and we saw 4 people going in and out, with camera and gear.  Better sometimes to agree and charge them more! 

there was a lot of info in the guest manual/house rules about using the space for commercial photography, and how it would incur extra fees and needed to be arranged beforehand.


Yes. I have something like this with the welcome info. Hosts must do these things to protect ourselves since Airbnb isn’t. 

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

@Anonymous @Rhonda45 

 

I thought I saw somewhere that guests are not allowed to operate businesses or conduct illegal activities out of the rental property.

 

Isn’t this what they use to prohibit use for the purpose of prostitution, even where it’s legal?

 

I assure you that it’s NOT legal in Eminence, Missouri, and public nudity is probably not legal either. 


There are all manner of puritanical laws, many of which are absurd in the extreme. In Marion County, Arkansas, it is illegal for two or more adults to be naked on the same property at the same time.

 

The law was used to shut down a nudist colony several years ago and has not been enforced since then, as far as I know, but it’s still there if a zealous prosecutor wants to use it.

 

It’s unfortunate that the Sheriff’s office is unwilling to do their job, but it’s often the case around here, and people are accustomed to providing their own law enforcement.

 

 I’m glad it worked out. 


@Brian2036 wrote:

@Anonymous @Rhonda45 

 

I thought I saw somewhere that guests are not allowed to operate businesses or conduct illegal activities out of the rental property.

 

Isn’t this what they use to prohibit use for the purpose of prostitution, even where it’s legal?

 

 


I'm pretty sure i've hosted at least 3 hookups at our place just this year. maybe an affair, maybe tinder, maybe prostitution. tbh they are trouble free types, they turn up late, and often leave very early (last week had a couple turn up at 8pm and leave at 3am, yesterday another couple were 9pm-5am). It could be anything, maybe they still live at home and just wanted a private space! 

of course filming a porno would be 100% PROHIBITED by me. 

One host in my town has paragraphs and paragraphs on trafficking and prostitution.  I thought it was a little over the top at first but admire her now.  

Brian2036
Level 10
Arkansas, United States

 

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/3064/prohibited-activities#article-section-navigation

@Rhonda45 @Anonymous 

 

Airbnb does prohibit both prostitution and the production of pornography in or on rental property.

 

Defining pornography could be a problem in some places, but in this part of the country, not so much.

 

People are still horrified by catching a glimpse of Janet Jackson’s tit.

 

Unfortunately it appears that a guest could operate a legal business out of my rental house, without permission or notification, and I’m sure I wouldn’t like that at all, particularly if it involved a stream of customers accessing my property.

 

 I have a rule against unregistered guests and/or visitors which should prevent someone from opening a fortune-teller salon, bakery or dog-grooming kennel, but I’m sure there are possibilities I haven’t thought of yet.

 

This is supposed to be a VACATION rental, not a commercial opportunity.

 

Another good reason not to accept long term bookings.

 

@Brian2036  The Terms of Service also one line about prostitution (12.1):

 

  • Do not offer or solicit prostitution or participate in or facilitate human trafficking.

Notably, it applies equally to hosts and guests. Same goes for the prohibition on "commercial pornography," which makes it sound like it's OK to shoot a porno in the rental as long as nobody gets paid. Funny stuff.

 

Anyway, that House Rule against unregistered guests is sufficient grounds to terminate a booking, so it's unnecessary to establish whether those extra people are in the property for commercial reasons. As long as the guests haven't been in the rental long enough to acquire right of tenancy, it's automatically trespassing once that booking is terminated. 

 

For what it's worth, the more local police have to deal with Airbnb businesses gone awry in residential zones, the more motivated your city government  and neighbors will be to restrict STRs.

My friend lives 15 miles out in the country so there is no city regulations.  She decided to not post a bad review because of her rural setting and fears retribution.  This is a first for her and all of the hosts in our area.  

@Rhonda45 I hear a lot about this fear of retribution for negatively reviewing guests, but not once have I ever heard of an incident of it actually happening. The thing is, these people couldn't care less about reviews on their profiles - there's just nothing at stake for them. They can always just burn it and start a new profile anyway. 

 

Even a vague non-recommendation with a thumbs down and 1-star ratings would at least help prevent these people from instant booking with hosts who apply appropriate filters. But it's more concerning that your friend seems fearful of defending her home against guests who abuse it. Renting a house to strangers from the internet is a risky business, and even though it turns out OK most of the time, it's good to have an action plan for how to take charge of the situation when it goes wrong. Being too afraid of retribution to do what's got to be done is a recipe for disaster.