For at least the third time this year, a guest at an Airbnb has found a hidden
camera in their rental's bedroom. Welcome back to What's Trending, I'm Martini
Beerman. Be sure to LIKE this video and SUBSCRIBE for more stories. Professional
archivist Jason Scott tweeted a disturbing story about one of his
colleague's Airbnb experiences. He wrote "In 'oh, that's
a thing now' news, a colleague of mine thought it odd that there was a single
'motion detector' in his Airbnb in the bedroom and voila, it's an IP camera
connected to the web. (He left at 3:00 a.m., reported, post is suspended, colleague
got refund.)" A spokesperson for Airbnb told BuzzFeed
News that this is "incredibly rare" and the dude is banned from Airbnb for life.
And for what it's worth and very good reason, Airbnb is supposed to disclose
any and all surveillance on their property and they're not allowed to
actually put any type of surveillance in a bedroom or a bathroom. I actually have
my own weird ... Airbnb story. My friends and I stayed in Palm Springs
for a weekend and when we were in the master bedroom we saw this weird
contraption attached to the TV with a green light on it. Now, I'm no detective,
but I... anytime I see a green light attached to a contraption I think well
hey maybe I'm being videotaped. It was like a small, rounded object that had a
reflective piece on it and a light on the side... what could have possibly been
up to/ We ended up throwing a hat on it and
just called it a day. Despite the rule, that hasn't stopped
hosts who are overly paranoid or just plain creepy trying to get around that
rule. A few months ago we told you about a couple who found a hidden camera
disguised as a smoke detector in their Airbnb in Longboat Key, Florida. That
home's owner, Wayne Natt, was arrested and charged with one count of video
voyeurism. The Independent talked to expert Keith Roberts, who gave us some
tips on what to look for if you're staying in an Airbnb and you think you
might just be under surveillance. He says, "with cameras you should look for tiny
holes, which is where the lens will be. Check common items: the back ends of
books, mirrors, light bulbs, house plants." Great! The first thing I want to do
anytime I go on vacation is a three-hour scavenger hunt to find out if I'm being video
taped. He also advises guests to turn all the lights off and shine a torch slowly
in every inch of the room. Any camera lenses will reflect back the light. I do
feel for people in that kind of situation though, because especially if
you've set aside time to go on vacation and now you're in a situation where you
don't know if you're being watched or not? Also, what are people doing with the
footage? Is this guy just randomly sitting in a bunker somewhere just
watching you creepily like the real, real world? Okay so what if your Airbnb host
isn't a creepy stalker? You can still encounter some weird
situations. Justin Miller and his friends got an Airbnb in Nashville, Tennessee to
celebrate his birthday, which is totally normal and awesome, and what they
discovered was less than pleasant. Miller said, "It was really nasty. Bathrooms,
toilet filled with fecal matter, condoms thrown in the home, food and drinks
everywhere, sheets everywhere..." Condoms thrown in the home? What does that even
mean? Miller complained to the host who told
them, "the cleaning people showed up and it was so dirty that they had to go get
more cleaning equipment, and when they left, they got in an accident and are now
in hospital, and no one else can clean it." Well, I'm sad for the cleaners, but that
sounds like a mighty convenient story. Cleanliness at an Airbnb would probably
be important to all guests, but no more important than to sex workers who are
apparently, according to the BBC, using Airbnb's as pop-up brothels. Though
prostitution is legal in the UK, it's against the law to operate a brothel, so
members of parliament have launched an inquiry. All members of parliament who
are not currently using Airbnb's for their own pleasure... Although, I would be
really livid if I knew that that was happening and I owned the Airbnb. Escort
Charlotte Rose says that it shouldn't be a problem and she's just like any other
guest... who, somehow, using the property to make money through sexual activity... yup.
That wasn't something my friends and I did on our vacation.
She said that she's just trying to keep sex workers together and
safe. Wouldn't you rather work in an Airbnb than a Best
Western? Sure. If you're a prostitute! But if you own the Airbnb, I'm sure you'd
wish that they were at at Best Western. When I sleep at an Airbnb, I like to
cover my entire body up from head to toe with a hoodie and gloves and socks
because I assume that countless people have had sex on that bed and I do not
take a black light to anything I go to. For more awesome stories go to whats-
trending.com!