But this policy may struggle to address the camera problem at large, as the company has already required hosts to disclose the indoor cameras, and guests have sometimes reported hidden and undisclosed cameras.
The new rules also require hosts to disclose to guests whether they are using noise decibel monitors or outdoor cameras before guests book.
“This just emphasizes the fact that surveillance always gives a huge amount of power to whoever controls the camera system,” says Fox Cahn. “When it’s used in a property you’re renting, whether it’s a landlord or an Airbnb, it’s ripe for abuse.”
I’ve used that app to find longterm roommates for years. It’s pretty much been a nonstop positive experience for my roommates and I, but when I hear stories of the kind of abuse people put up with from other hosts I wonder what I’m missing.
Airbnb has always been a lightning rod for negative interpersonal anecdotes, it seems, more so than other *-share apps. For example, when I started using it to find roommates, friends warned me about scary home invader and Hostel-type scenarios they had heard about, but all that stranger-danger stuff turned out to be unfounded. My “guests” are just normal people who need a place to stay for a few months. Many have interesting stories and experiences. Quite a few are friends now that keep in touch and hit me up when they’re in the area. Overall it’s just been a fun way to meet people while helping me with rent in an expensive city.
So I’m not sure where all the negative experiences I’ve heard about are coming from. I suppose a home is one of the more intimate things people can share, and hospitality is certainly not a universal skill. There are also market tiers, the lowest of which have always had a greater prevalence of scammy/scummy behavior people once expected on zero-accountability sites like Craigslist, so I’d expect some negative press from bottom-feeders. But beyond that, I’m at a loss to explain why online I only hear about these terrible experiences. There must be wide-spread quality control issues. I hope they fix it before the whole idea of home sharing is scrapped, because it’s not all bad.
“Sharing your home”
Yea, I think no one is complaining about those types of airbnb hosts. It’s the ones who want to run them like a hotel with the guest themselves as staff.
I almost always hear complaints the other way around: guests complaining about bad hosts, not hosts complaining about bad guests, unless it’s the entitled ones whining their guest didn’t wash the linens and make the bed…
That’s fair. In my area I’ve seen a few that appear to be run that way. I’m not sure what that’s like. Also a few nearby listings give me the sense that the hosts actually dislike people, or don’t want evidence of other humans in their space. Why folks like that pick hospitality as a side hustle is beyond me.
Yeah how does that even work? How would they expect guests to know how to reset the room? Do they make the guests take pictures at move in? I’m really curious how that works. (But in my case, honestly it’s way easier if my roommates leave daily cleaning, linens, and other chores/maintenance to me, because I set this place up and have a system.)
I’ve heard lists of rules and all sorts of ways hosts track guests. Keep in mind the article is about them only now banning cameras. lol
Happy customers don’t write about their glorious experience with Airbnb. You only hear about the ones that make the news or the courts.
Then multiply the relatively small fraction of issues against 400 million nights per year booked with Airbnb and it’s easy to think that every booking is a nightmare.
Sorry for my delayed reply. I think you’re probably right. Hopefully it doesn’t kill off the idea altogether. It was a lot harder to find roommates before.
Wow what a totally not biased at all opinion lol
Do you mean my opinion that they need to fix the quality control problems?