AirBNB Search Map Showing Burglars Exactly Where Your Home - AriBNB Does Not Care! BEWARE

[Alan138]

That discussion title sounds outrageous but it is actually true! AirBNB is showing burglars exactly where our homes are without ever having to do the booking and in our listing photos we are showing burglars all the nice things in our homes to steal.

Go to AirBNB and search for a home or private room. DO NOT click to select a listing. On the right side click "Show Map" to turn on the map display. Now zoom in and zoom in and zoom in on the map .. until you see street names. Then slide the map around until you see a dollar sign icon for a listing.

The dollar sign marker for YOUR house is right on the exact street name where you live. Now AirBNB will tell you that it is not right on your house. But guess what? It is very close to your house and all a burglar has to do is go to that spot on that street and look for a house that matches the photo of the front of your house. And if you do not include a photo of the front of your house all they have to do is go and watch for someone coming out of the house that looks like the photo of the host. And we all have host profile photos that are close up head and shoulder photos that very clearly show what we look like. Burglars are of course stupid to be criminals but make no mistake they are crafty and smart enough to figure out what became obvious to me seeing the search map function.

Now go to Google search and type in "Burglars use AirBNB to target homes" and you will see about 200,000+ search results.

I have shown this dangerous and irresponsible flaw in the AirBNB search map system to managers at AirBNB no less than 10 times over the last year and they have not lifted one finger to fix it to protect us from being robbed. I even gave they the perfect and simply solution to fix it. Show a red shaded circle on the map that represents a certain number of mile radius. As you zoom in and out on the map it tells you the mile radius currently represented. Then below the map in rows and columns show all of the dollar sign icons that can be clicked to view homes within the represented mile radius on the map.

SO PROTECT YOURSELVES FROM AIRBNB - They obviously do not care one bit if we get robbed. AirBNB is NEVER GOING TO GET IT and never going to change their map function .. I have given up. Maybe if a thousand hosts comment on this discussion demanding they fix it, that might work. I doubt it though but maybe if 10,000 hosts comment on this discussion SCREAMING at them? If you are reading this and care please comment.

TO PROTECT YOURSELF

1) If you have a photo of the front of your house, remove it immediately.

2) Removing your profile photo or replacing it with one that is hard to tell what you look like may not be something that will prove heloful to your booking rate.

The only 100% safe solution is to delete your listing and rebuild a new listing using an address that is not your actual house address. Use an address that is several blocks away and in an obviously different neighborhood when looking at the street map for your area. Use a street address that is not actually a house address that exists. You can use Zillow to see what the house numbers are on a street and then use a street number between the numbers that do exist. This is so that you do not bother another resident with people knocking on their door in the rare event that a booked guest does not follow your instructions you provide with the correct house address.

Doing this of course will requre that you send a message to every guest that completes a booking to give them the correct house address. It is actually easy to do and has just become a simple step I now do. I just copy the message I sent to the last guest and send it to the new booked guest.

Below is exactly what I write to each guest after they book if you want to adopt the text for your own use. I felt it was important to explain to a guest the reason the address is different so that they are not concerned but actually relieved knowing that they do not have to worry about the possiblilty of a burglar breaking in while they are staying at the home. I tried several types of explanations and the one below that I now use produces 100% "no problem" responses from guests.

----

Hi John,

Please reply to confirm you got this message with the correct house address I am providing below in this message.

Please ignore the address to Airbnb gives you. It is a few blocks over in the same neighborhood. Burglars use the Airbnb search results map to find homes to rob and so far Airbnb has refused to fix it so we had to use a different address on our listing to protect ourselves.

The correct House address is XXX Street Name, City, State, Zip. The house address numbers are on a lighted sign above the garage doors on the right side

.... And then whatever else you want to say to welcome them to your home .....

[Kenneth12]

@Alan138:  your lack of brevity reminds me disturbingly of my years as a graduate student and professor.

As senior staff in the government-elect here,   the monitored security arrangements around the properties where I stay are quite extensive.   

The only truly sleepful and worryless nights I've had in a decade or so,  were with a Master Seargent who lead a SEAL team under the roof as well.  Else I'm still always looking around my back.

If you were listening,  the people here could help you.  You're not listening.  

[Alan138]

@Kenneth12   I did not post it for others to "help me". The issue is resolved for myself, I no longer use my actual house address on my listings. I use a non-existent address a few miles away.

I posted to make others aware in case they did not know that the exact address of their home can easily be figured out from the search results map by anyone on the internet and without ever booking. I obviously also posted for others that care and not for those that do not care.

[Judith650]

Thank you Alan!!

i replied to Martin further up the thread that seemed to missing the entire point, maybe it’s different in Europe but the app here works exactly the way you describe it. 

In case you missed my post here is my story:

I’ve been working from home since March, early one morning my teenage Daughter looked out the window and asked me why the new guest was there so early and using the back door to leave the unit. 

It was not a guest, we were being burgled at 9am in broad daylight Having watched my husband leave for the day. The guy was stuffing all our belonging into his suitcase and was heading right for our open back door towards me and my girls!!!

I confronted him and we struggled. My daughters had to run and hide while calling  the cops. They tracked the guy down a few blocks away due to the fact a Good Samaritan followed him at a distance. He had knives and property from other vacation rentals around us, it was petrifying!!!!

The cops said they’ve had plenty of calls because thieves check for rentals in a certain area, see what’s available. Look at exterior photos and then use the Airbnb map to locate the property by zooming in on the the map counting the houses and simply walking down the street, then break in and take what they can or simply sleep there until hosts notice or even worse new guests find them!!!

And while many on this thread claim ‘there’s nothing to take in an Airbnb’ I will tell you that we were scared for what could have happened. It cost $300 to change all the locks, I lost a days pay talking to cops and a 3 day booking because crime scene had to come out to take finger prints and I still have to go to court!

And we were the lucky ones I guess, at least we weren’t hurt, we got our stuff back and the guy was arrested. But it could have been far worse.

Airbnb need to scramble the maps until you actually book!!!!! 

Thank you @Alan138 for sharing, I’ve also tried calling Airbnb 3 times about this.

[Alan138]

@Kenneth12You proved my very point with your post.

"burglars aren't PhDs and they rarely plan" = They may be stupid people for committing crime but think again .... they are very crafty and will watch a home for days for the owners schedules to plan when to rob the house. Yuh they do plan and everybody knows that.

"They don't want to get caught" = What better resource that AirBNB to use to find a home to rob than one that has a calender showing when no one will be home. Not to mention interior photos that show them if there is an alarm system and photos they can use to plan their entry and exit for a fast in and out robbery so they don't get caught.

"The average burglar is in your home for six and a half minutes" = What better resource besides AirBNB to use to find a home to rob than one that show photos of everything inside the house so they can first see what is worth stealing before they take the risk to break into a home. They can also see exactly where in the house the easy to sell expensive guitar or jewelry box or whatever is located so they can go right to it, grab it and leave without having to search around the house.

AirBNB is an exceptional resource used by buglars to pick houses to consider robbing, Actually quite well know fact if you google search things like "burglars use AirBNB to rob homes" (Today that search produces 320,000 search results)

You obviously totally misunderstood the purpose of the discussion thread I started. It was for AirBNB hosts that DO CARE about the risk of being robbed NOT for those that do not care.

You spent all of your efforts trying to not help others that are not aware of the risk by discreditting my post rather than trying to contribute something helpful to the discussion ... Like encouraging everyone to start hounding AirBNB until they redsign the search results map function so it does not show our exact house address to someone who never books with us.

AirBNB actually promises that they will not give out our house address until the person books but with the way the search results map works any retard can figure out the exact house address without booking.

[Robin4]

@Alan138

Sorry Alan, I am a bit late on the scene here but I hope I can put in my tupence worth!

I have always advocated, and Airbnb supports this....do not put any property identifying material in your listing description!

You are right, potential burglars are opportunists, if a carrot is put in front of their face they will grab it. The map has been designed as a vague locality guide....and that is the way it should be treated. Too many listings include a street shot of the listing, many even with a street number included.....this is madness.

I have the opposite here! I do not show a picture of the front of the property although I have just recently taken to show a shot of the sign I put out front to welcome Airbnb guests. All my photos are of the rear of the property where the listing cottage is.

I have had the situation many times where a Guest couple will pull up out the front of the property, they will look for a while and I can see them studying information they have trying to work out where the discrepancy has come in! Some will drive off looking for another similar address, somewhere else that better matches the information they have been given. Eventually they will get out of the car and as they walk up the driveway I can see he is seething.....he has this look on his face that says..."I want a piece of you.....mate"!!

I politely introduce myself and walk them around to the rear of the property and as soon as they enter through the rear gate, their faces melt, they give a big sigh and realise this is exactly what was offered in the description and what they booked!

Potential theives can drive around here for hours, they won't get any information off the Airbnb listing that will identify this place!

Cheers......Rob

[Emily352]

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a sure way of mitigating your anguish,  keeping burglars away from your house. The thief must not be stopped: it’s better to discourage and advise him. He will thank you. Let me clarify. On the door of your house just put a sign saying:

"Dear thieves, before breaking into my house you saw on AIRBNB, I want you to know that there’s nothing of any value here, the only valuables here are the refrigerator and the cathode-ray tube TV, the ‘80s classic, but carrying them down the stairs is very hard for you. There are no cash in the house. You’re wasting your time. I carry my cash on me.

You guys better “visit” my next door neighbour. He’s also a Superhost, he’ll come back on February 5, he’s rich, the key is under the flowerpot, he keeps jewellery in his desk drawers and I’m pretty sure he has an old wall safe in the bedroom behind the painting. If this notice was helpful for you, make sure you get a comment on my guest book on the front doormat and join the debate we’re having on this page:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/AirBNB-Search-Map-Showing-Burglars-Exactly-Where-Your-Ho...

[Ann72]

The funny thing is that I put my house in Maine on Airbnb after an attempted break-in!  I live in New York and wasn't able to be there that often, so I thought if I had random comings and goings, no one could predict when the house would be empty.  So far so good, knock wood!  🙂

Naturally I have a security system, plus a team on the ground who check the house regularly.  In addition, Airbnb can't find my exact address, since so many roads in Maine are remote and privately owned, so I have to tell every guest what it is anyway.

It's not an unreasonable worry, of course.  But it's one of the risks we take.  Just as we have to largely assume or hope that the guests who come will take care of the house, not trash it, burn it down, or steal what's in it, we have to hope that most burglars aren't organized enough to pull this off.

[Inna22]

@Alan138  I can see how this would be a worry  for hosts who rent space in their home where they reside. They would have their personal belongings there. But then house is just as exposed to a burglar as it is by simply existing. Place a security system all throughout the house.  Just like you said – they will use the pictures to identify it. If they see that you have Simpli  Safe devices located in every window and the door,  this will hopefully stop them. You do not even have to activate them. 

I personally like to be on the map. My neighborhood is spotty and if I show my house just a couple blocks in the wrong direction, it might deter bookings. If I pick another address myself , I will be grossly misleading potential guests. A couple of blocks in one direction makes it a much nicer neighborhood than mine and a couple of blocks in another direction makes it much worse. Which is the nature of Chicago. 

Additionally,  I had a booking from a guest who used stolen credit card and he took everything there was to carry out of the house, including floor mattresses. So the risk for us is there just by being in this business. I feel that all I can do is insure myself and provide things that are nice enough to be enjoyed by guests  but cheap enough and easy replaceable in case something does happen. 

[Bee27]

I can understand why someone would put a different address because I am currently dealing with an issue of airbnb not caring that my listing is searchable on google by address. So if someone is walking down the street and googles my address it links them directly to my account.

A man did brake in while I had guests staying (luckily they had a big dog that stopped him at the door) when confronted he lied to them saying he was sent by the host (made possible by the google search)

I do not think it is safe or right that because I put my address on my listing, it is now searchable by address on google but airbnb has not been helpful at all in this matter.