I think the night lights in my space are being confused for cameras lol

[David3610]

Guests keep moving, unplugging, or covering the 2 plug-in night lights in our space and initially I was stumped. These things have little photo-cell sensors that only turn the lights on at night. At first, I thought maybe people just needed more outlets to plug in their phones and things. But people move them so often. after reading several articles about hosts putting cameras in their rentals, I got to thinking that guests might be suspecting our little night lights of being something that they're definitely not. They're not in the bedrooms, just in the common areas. They aren't really near tables/furniture either where you might expect someone would plug stuff in. I don't know what to do because I don't want to just remove them because they are really helpful (at least I think they would be) to navigate new surroundings in the middle of the night. But I most certainly don't want people even thinking that anything fishy is going on

[Suzanne302]

OMG we can't say d and a and m and n on here? They bleeped that?? Jesus.

They'll allow all kinds of awful behavior from guests, but we can say the "d" word in the forum. LOL!

[Susan1404]

@Suzanne302  - I can't believe they bleeped that LOL!  I rent out my guest cabin across a large field from me, so I can't go turn them out.  I just get to stare at them until I go to bed and then those shining lights greet me if I get up before daylight in the morning.  I laugh about it to alleviate the frustration.

[Mark1412]

We have night lights that are outlet and light switch covers. The night lights are made into the covers.

It makes it easy for the guest to find the light switches and provides a bit of safety to people who are in a strange place at night. They don't give off a lot of light, and generally just shines on the wall, but enough to help the guest find their way around in the dark. No one has removed the covers, or complained about them.

[Ben551]

@David3610 oh my god THAT’S why my guests keep dong this!!!

Thank you so much for solving this mystery! We have these dotted throughout our place to highlight tripping hazards in the dark, so people don’t trip on doorway tracks as they make their way to the bathroom at night. I found it so strange that people weren’t just turning them off, they were unplugging them, covering them, putting them in drawers.... my god, they must think the sensor on the front is a spy camera!!!

Thank you so much for pointing this out. I’m now going to label them with a sticker so people know what they are.... I never would have thought this was the reason, but it makes so much sense now that you’ve pointed this out.

[Emilia42]

@David3610

I don't know about this. 

I have nightlights too and they are usually unplugged. But I am one of those guests who would unplug/move them myself. I hate any sort of light while I am sleeping. If it is in the bedroom or the hallway I would unplug it as soon as I saw it. In the living room or bathroom, they would get unpluged so I could use the outlet. I would probably plug them back in when I left but I wouldn't necessarily remember where it went.

[Emilia42]

@David3610, @Ben551, @Suzanne302, and everyone else I cannot tag.

Despite my disbelief I just came across this article:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/03/what-happens-when-you-find-cameras-your-airbn...

[Ben551]

I saw that one @Emilia42 - scary isn’t it?

I have a Google alert setup for the word “Airbnb” so I get a daily email with new articles on the internet that have appeared with the word in them. I set it up a couple of weeks ago. The scary thing is, every... single... day.... there is a new “secret cameras” article mentioning Airbnb. It’s constant. I haven’t had a day yet where an article hasn’t been written about this problem.

[Emilia42]

@Ben551, it's starting to make me a little paranoid, honestly. I don't have cameras but I'm still waiting for that article where a guest accuses a host of a camera that they don't have and, sure enough, Airbnb shuts that listing down.

[Ben551]

@Emilia42 I don’t think you are being paranoid, I think that is a very real possibility. Look at what happened to that lady who kept a rubber training pistol in her dog toy basket!

[Emilia42]

@Ben551, ugh, my biggest fear!!

[Ben551]

Hi @Emilia42 - tagging you in case you are interested in this post:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Kill-Hidden-WiFi-Cameras-With-This-Script/m-p/981522#M24...

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

@David3610 

labels, labels...