Camera ban will affect shared spaces in "rooms for rent" where owner lives in home and rents out guest rooms, or invested and rents out all rooms separately.

[Sherri176]

On the recent indoor Camera ban March 2024: this is not good for hosts who share their home and rent out guest rooms. I rent my 2 guest rooms to mid term/long term renters (30+ day stays). I was able to prove a guy said he was going to punch my dog...they didn't even cancel his reservation until the following day, so he got to threaten violence and still stay with me while I live in the home and he rented the guest room...the cameras don't protect me from bodily injury obviously but they showed proof of acts of verbal aggression. Cameras are necessary to host who SHARE their home. These days you are not innocent of anything unless you can prove it. Yes, I will comply. Yes, it will affect my ability to prove unacceptable guest behaviors. Yes this ban should be for hosts renting out the entire dwelling.

....my indoor camera in my living room protected me as a host to keep my account active by proving things the guest said and did (Airbnb actually blocked my access to my account while they investigated) ....the cameras showed me to NOT be at fault.... so I could continue hosting. I do month to month fully furnished all bills paid rooms with mini kitchenettes, tall dorm fridges, 2 person breakfast table in each room and only have 3 cameras, the front door, the living room, and the kitchen. So crazy how after 4 years this indoor camera ban happens. Since I live in the home I should be allowed to keep my camera in the kitchen and the living room.

Further, There should be zero expectation of privacy in a shared living room and shared kitchen when the guest rents a room. Privacy is for the room the they rent and the bathroom. If you are living in my house with I should be allowed to have a camera in the living room and the kitchen. Great rule for hosts who rent out the whole house though. Interesting though....if you have a motel or hotel you can list the rooms for rent on airbnb and you get to keep the cameras in the lobby. Maybe consider my living room is my lobby. I rent out my 2 guest rooms to mid term and long terms renters. I live in the house in the master bedroom. Can't believe I have to take my 2 cameras down in my shared spaces.

[Richard-and-Debbie3]

We live in our home as well and rent a room. We have had guests try to enter our bedroom while we were sleeping. We have had them use are dishes and then put them back used. We have had guests doing drugs  right at the door. It is a saftey issue while we are in our home. We will be shutting down our listing on April 30th because of the new policy and it is a shame. 

[Johannes103]

The same, they can de list me. I get more bookings on other platforms. My life, security more important. 

Public Shared spaces like lounge. Patio. Hallways, dinningroom and my bar must be monitor. But private rooms I got no cameras.

Some one at Airbnb did not brainstorm it.

[Sherri176]

Please share with the class the platform you use that gets you more bookings!

[LucasandLaís0 · Accepted solution]

I’ve been hosting and managing 30+ listings on airbnb for 5 years. All private bedrooms on shared spaces. Here are some examples of how a common area security cameras helped me and my guests:

- money stolen registered by kitchen camera

- another guest’s bedroom invaded on purpose by another guest (registered by dining room camera)

- smoking inside registered by kitchen camera

- multiple situations of parties and unauthorized guests

- house rules being reinforced, such as kitchen cleaning after usage

- multiple situations of stuff being broken

- etc

I am really upset about this because I know it’s going to be an issue. Like stated by other hosts, our common areas should be treated as a lobby (privacy are not to be expected). I’ve had countless guests who thanked me for having cameras on the common areas, and how it made them feel safe.

Airbnb requires proof for rules being violated, are they just going to pay hosts for damages without evidence? 

The cameras help attract good guests with good behaviors and intimidate bad guests with bad behaviors.

[Suzanne302]

@Sherri176 

Agree with everyone else saying shared homes should be allowed cameras in the common areas. It is a completely different experience renting a room in someone's primary residence, than it is renting a whole house. Of course there's an expectation of privacy at a whole house rental because you have paid to rent the entire space and a camera in that case would be absolutely out of line.

But when renting a room in my home, a guest can fully expect to encounter me in my living room or kitchen and has no expectation of privacy in those shared spaces. How is me observing them any different from a camera?

Again, if a guest has no expectation of privacy in an area, a host has every right to install a camera.

[Sherri176]

I don’t know how we can do this, but for some reason I believe this posting, and others like it…especially with replies as solid and reasonable as yours, need to have thousands of likes and shares not 10 or 20 in order for Airbnb decision makers to notice.

[Andrey42]

I agree. This is ridiculous and very dangerous for hosts that have shared spaces. I think we should start commenting about this and complaining on all their social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, X, etc. If a good number of people do this they’ll start to reconsider. 

[Dottie9]

How can a security camera be banned in the home you own and live in?  I also have had guest thank me for the camera in my living room.  It is safety for all in the house!  This ban is wrong.

[Jim2326]

I am not happy about banning indoor cameras in shared spaces. I guess I can cancel my Ring subscription and sell the cameras since I can not use them anymore. It was nice knowing I had the extra security of indoor cameras.

[Sherri176]

You might be onto something there, I use Arlo cameras and Ring , possibly Ring and Arlo will see a decline in membership fees after April 30, which will be a direct correlation to the AirBnb camera rule for all listings. I’m just gonna move my cameras to the outdoors for now to have better exterior coverage

[Amamihe0]

I agree 100% with these sentiments that banning common area cameras of shared home listings will cause tremendous issues with assessing property damage and following of house rules (i.e. uncleanliness by a specific guest in the kitchen or living room).

What are some answers hosts have come up with to deal with this issue? The only thing I can think of is assuming that reminder signs for the house rules are being followed and reaching out to individual guests about who may be responsible for the uncleanliness issue. Of course this can create problems now that guests who are complete strangers are forced to self police one another and cause a sense of insecurity in the home for everyone. Perhaps color coding pots, pans, utensils, plates, cups by room? This creates added costs and possibly a peculiar house setup when it gets down to the utensils.

Any other ideas friends?

[Eunice196]

I been hosting for 1.5 years. And very disappointed by this new camera ban. I do the same rent out one of my rooms. I love hosting!

Of course it's our home and we are family of 5 with 2 small dogs and a permanent room that we rent to up stairs.

The room rented via Airbnb is downstairs. 

I have camers in all the common areas inside as well as smart devices like the Google hub with a camera. 

I had instances where having the cameras did there job to prove guest violated my house rules. 

I have kids and pets and for our safety we as host that rent shared spaces should be allowed the option to have indoor camera. Such as other people have commented hotels, motels, BnBs have cameras in the lobby hallways etc.

I also use my camera to check up on my pets and kids when I step out to the grocery store or other errands. 

So because I'm hosting I have to remove them! That's not right. "There is no privacy in my common areas, guest are in my home"

I'm fully respectful of guest privacy when it comes to there room and private bathroom.

I'm not risking mine and my families safety over this. And unfortunately will stop hosting once this bans goes into affect. 

I will miss meeting new people I've made a few friends through this experience.

I hope we can find a way to let Airbnb know our view and that they will listen. If anyone knows another platform to rent out our shared room space let me know.

If anyone know how to petition Airbnb regarding this issue I will sign or write my option about this.

Airbnb probably going to loss a lot of shared listings!!

[Jessica3398]

I completely agree with you @Sherri176. I also just rent rooms in my house and keep cameras in the shared spaces. I did message Airbnb and their reply was that if enough people complained about it, they might take it into consideration. Please massage them. **

**[Content removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines- Please note that it is not allowed to share Airbnb investigation and private conversations]

 

[Jason1262]

My wife and I have been hosts for the last 7 years. We are super hosts with a 4.94 star rating. We have bought a second home just to Airbnb and set it up so the various rooms can be rented by different guests or someone can choose to book the whole house. We installed cameras in the common areas as a protection for guests. We don't want a guest in Room A to break the TV or something and blame it on the guest in Room B. The cameras have allow us to say with coinfince that the couch was broke during a guests stay or that they were smoking inside the property. I understand that there are bad actors, but we have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars making this property into a nice Airbnb and banning us from security cameras to prove who did damage is just wrong.

The irony of the whole situation is it was Airbnb who drove me to have cameras. In 2018-2019 we had a guest show up with 3 on the reservation but showed up with 4-5 people. I didn't say anything at first becase I didn't remember how many they had listed. After checking them in, I looked at the reservation and saw that they had definitely brought more guest than they they said on the reservation. I tried to contact the guest to add the additional guests to their reservation but they refused to respond. When I contacted Airbnb they wanted photo/video proof of the extra guests. If Airbnb wouldn't stand behind me than I had to put up cameras to prove my side of a story.

I don't think Airbnb should be pro guests or pro hosts. They should be a neutral party because there are bad guests and bad hosts. It seems that the good guests and good hosts pay the price for bad actors.

I think if airbnb wanted to do this right, they would need to almost create a system where indoor cameras go through a verification process.

A host would

1) disclose there are cameras

2) submit to airbnb photos of the cameras in their location to prove they are not hidden, and

3) submit to airbnb a photo of what the camera could see.

This would ensure that cameras are not in bedrooms, bathrooms, or sleeping areas.

Interesting thought: What would happen if a guest brings their own camera and just sets it in the Airbnb. If they take a photo of it and claim it belongs to the host could they get a free stay because "The host was filming them" even though they framed the host? Or what if a guest connects a camera to the wifi and hide it an the host doesn't even know it is there?

[Marie8425]

@Sherri176 

I totally agree   It is my personal decision to have interior cameras.  I agree that I should disclose so Guests can decide if acceptable to them.  The ban though removes my right to chose when it hasn't been a problem for my Guests ever.

I think a more appropriate and fair issue.  Airbnb add a page where the Host is required to disclose cameras.

The Host can choose.

The Guest could easily find if its a concern and make a choice.

Airbnb could easily investigate any complaints of a Host not disclosing.

Just removing a right to choose not for safety reasons but because of someone's comfort level.  Just isn't a fair decision.