Dear Tripped Up,
This past Memorial Day weekend, my boyfriend, two friends and I were just over one day into our three-day, $1,023 Airbnb stay at a house in Alton, N.H., near Lake Winnipesaukee, when my boyfriend noticed a flashing light coming from what turned out to be a camera disguised as an outlet extender in the bathroom. By that point, we had already taken showers, gotten undressed and used the toilet. We called the police, who took the camera as evidence and encouraged us to leave the property immediately. We also contacted Airbnb and were put in touch with Liviana, a member of the company’s safety team. We provided her with a photograph of the camera installed over the toilet, a screenshot of an online listing for a matching camera from Knowyournanny (a site that sells security cameras) and the police case number. We asked for a full refund and for the listing to be taken down, as it appeared to be booked for much of the summer, and we were especially concerned that previous reviews of the property mentioned children staying there. After several days of back and forth, Liviana wrote us back to close the case. “Based on the information provided,” she wrote, “we were not able to conclude that there was a violation of our policy.” Though we were refunded for one night of our stay, we want a full refund — and we want the house off the Airbnb platform to protect future renters, especially children. Savannah, Massachusetts
Dear Savannah,
Airbnb’s policy is clear as day: Security cameras inside homes are always prohibited, even if turned off or disclosed to guests.
The evidence you sent them and me is just as clear: a photograph of a device hanging above the toilet that is an exact match of a spy camera sold across the internet. “Monitor your property in real-time from your mobile device,” reads a description of the product on Amazon, offering purchasers “vibrant, high-resolution images that capture every detail.”
It’s hard to imagine why Airbnb wouldn’t give you a full refund, and unconscionable that the company continued to rent out the home, even as the police investigated a potential crime. (In New Hampshire, installing a camera “in any private place” is a misdemeanor that becomes a felony if “a reasonable person” would know children used the space.)
A little over two weeks after I got in touch with Airbnb, the company told you that you would receive a full refund, and that the house would be removed from the platform. But that was over three months after the incident.
Javier Hernandez, an Airbnb spokesman, confirmed you had been sent a refund. “In the very rare event a potential violation of our policies on security cameras is reported to us, we take that seriously and take action, which can include removing hosts and listings from the platform,” he wrote to me by email. He added the company stood “ready to assist law enforcement, who have not yet reached out to us.”
I’d really like to know the procedure that Airbnb staff members like Liviana would follow in such a case. What does such an investigation consist of? Whom, if anyone, did Airbnb contact — the host, the police, the property managers?
Those are not just rhetorical questions. It’s the exact wording of what I asked Mr. Hernandez via email. I got no specific answer.
It is unclear who installed the camera, and the property has been open to many short-term renters over time. The Alton Police Department would not provide details. “Currently this case is open, therefore, not releasable at this time,” wrote Tina Hashem, the senior dispatcher for the department. I also wrote to the sergeant whom you’ve been in regular touch with, Tyler Glidden, and he did not respond. The family that owns the home and the property management company on the Airbnb listing did not respond to requests for comment.
But Sergeant Glidden has been providing you with updates throughout, so we do know some details. You told me that the police had obtained a search warrant to look through the footage in the memory card and found thousands of hours of recordings, though none that included people. That is something of a relief, though it is possible that footage from days the house was occupied was removed, and of course anyone could have been monitoring the bathroom’s livestream at any point. You also said Sergeant Glidden told you the police were considering charges.
The fact that the police appear to be taking the investigation seriously is a good sign. But for travelers, the broader question here is: How did Airbnb get this so obviously wrong?
I’ll take a stab at explaining the inexplicable.
Airbnb is neither host nor guest but a $75 billion middleman overseeing upward of five million properties in more than 200 countries and territories.
That amounts to hundreds of millions of nights in which strangers are renting homes from strangers, often in strange lands. Such human-to-human interactions are inherently complex and inevitably generate disputes.
The cross section that shows up in my inbox ranges from more serious cases like yours (and other potential crimes) to more mundane but still gross things like stained linens, scampering mice and dirty hot tubs. (By far, the most common complaints stem from Airbnb’s removal of — or refusal to remove — negative reviews about properties.)
Being a global mediator of such hyperlocal issues is a vexing challenge that Airbnb has not mastered. Whether that is because its mediation system — a sort of international small-claims court where disputes take place mostly by direct message — faces an impossible task or its staff is underresourced or insufficiently trained is beyond my expertise.
But something is clearly wrong when, despite your convincing evidence and continuing pleas to remove the property, Airbnb dismissed an obvious danger.
Some travelers will read this account and swear never to use Airbnb again, but my guess is many of those pledges will be short-lived. Short-term rentals are an irresistible part of the travel landscape these days, and it’s not like Airbnb’s competitors (or hotels, for that matter) are flawless, either. So how can you at least reduce any risks?
Here’s an abbreviated list of guidelines that, admittedly, probably would not have helped in this case: Stay in places with at least dozens of reviews, and read through them carefully. (You can take one outlier complaint with a grain of salt, but believe any patterns.) Get your host on record by asking questions via the app before you reserve, focusing on specifics that matter to you — is this an elevator or a walk-up building, are certain appliances working, is there any noise at night? Photograph (or take video) of everything when you check in, and again when you check out. Document anything that happens and communicate problems immediately to your host via the Airbnb app and to Airbnb as well if you can’t work it out quickly.
Most of all, remember that in any rental, you are just one of Airbnb’s customers. The host is the other, and if anything goes wrong, one of you will very likely be disappointed by the outcome.
If you need advice about a best-laid travel plan that went awry, send an email to [email protected].
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Seth Kugel is the columnist for “Tripped Up,” an advice column that helps readers navigate the often confusing world of travel.
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