Imagine this: You’ve arrived at your Airbnb, unpack, undress and get into bed, then things get intimate with your partner — and hidden cameras are recording all of it. As it turns out, over the last decade, renters have submitted some 35,000 complaints over surveillance devices to the short-term rental company, according to a new CNN investigation. The company banned indoor cameras in April, but has stayed mum over how it would enforce the rule.
Cameras were found in bedrooms, bathrooms, phone chargers, smoke detectors, plants, even a coat hook — and the “aim was for perverted means, for lack of a better term,” says CNN Producer Isabelle Chapman.
Some Airbnb hosts have been criminally charged and served jail time, she notes. However, there’s no clear way to check whether a host has been convicted of a crime or has received guests’ complaints, since Airbnb has worked hard to keep the issue out of public view.
The company says hidden surveillance complaints are rare, but when they do surface, Airbnb quickly removes hosts and maybe goes to the police, Chapman reports. “But for some some Airbnb users who have experienced this, that effort really fall short.”
As for policies on video devices, the company has adopted a change. In the past, hosts had to tell guests if they had cameras set up, and bedrooms and bathrooms were barred. Then this spring, during CNN’s reporting, Airbnb banned all cameras inside rental properties. However, Chapman points out that enforcement is weak, no one is randomly checking rental units for hidden cameras, and now it’s plainly an honor system.
So what’s your best preventative measure against being recorded in an Airbnb? “There aren't great options. You can check every smoke detector, you can check every outlet, and hope for the best. But at this stage, I don't know of a way to properly sweep the property yourself and prevent this from happening,” she says.