Would a Ring doorbell put you off a holiday let?

[LookWhosInsideAgain]

I became an accidental landlord a couple of years ago and rent out the house on Air BnB and a couple of other sites. The house is 6 bedroom and was originally two flats so I often get bookings from two family groups wanting to holiday together which is obviously great. Unfortunately a few weeks ago a booking that claimed to be a family group, and arrived as what seemed like a fairly normally family group, had actually decided to rent it for the weekend for a party. Luckily I live next door and soon realised as the day wore on that there were around 30 people in the house which I’m neither insured for and not what the group had agreed to.

I asked them to leave and after a bit of rudeness and a bit of help from my neighbours they did but they caused over £2k worth of damage and I had to cancel the following booking too as they’d smashed the oven. I know this is always a hazard with a holiday let but I’d hoped the fact that I make it very clear that I live next door would dissuade this kind of behaviour somewhat.

Anyway, I thought of maybe getting a Ring doorbell or similar, just so I can see who is actually going into the house. I don’t know if this would be something that would put people off though. It would only be pointed at the door itself and the driveway so they’d be no filming when guests are in the garden or house. I’m still not sure whether it seems a bit controlling though. Any thoughts?

I once had a creepy owner spying on me at a holiday let, and now I always have that feeling that I am being spied on by the owner. I would be put off by this as it suggests a spying mentality.

I agree that I would trust a hotel to follow gdpr. I would not trust a holiday let owner.

With accidental, people should get the knowledge required. You can't run a business and use a term to excuse your lack of knowledge of the law.

Don’t be so ridiculous. Talk about an over reaction.

Person wants to put up Ring doorbell for security, suddenly she’s psychotic, a voyeur, a weirdo and definitely spying on her guests for the whole stay.

Get a grip.

The reality is there is a lot of trust required when you book a holiday let. There have been cases of hidden cameras spying on guests.

A ring doorbell is sensible. Maybe update the description to let people know they can't have guests? You can have guests that don't stay overnight in your hotel room. It's not unreasonable for people to have daytime guests over. We often stay in an AirBnB near family. It wouldn't occur to me to not have my parents come over for lunch.

As someone who unwittingly rented an Airbnb that turned out to have (undeclared) internal cameras throughout, I would actively avoid booking anywhere that has cameras again.

Despite raising a complaint with Airbnb as soon as we realised, several days in, they did nothing other than request that the owner destroyed any footage that he had of us. We had to take his word that this had happened.

I confess when renting a holiday home I always have a quick check for any obvious internal cameras. I also turn off any alexis.

Have you tried claiming anything via Air BnB’s host damage protection? Despite having purchase receipts and photographs of all damage I managed to claim £600 from them despite replacement and repair costing over £2800. That’s without any of the additional cleaning or redecorating that they point blank refused.

I wouldn’t stay, a holiday is a get away to me not somewhere for a stranger to know what I am doing .

Its shocking what these people have done but maybe rentals isn’t for you .

All these people saying they wouldn't stay!

So you'd just walk away if you arrived to see a Ring doorbell or CCTV over the front door would you?

You'd give up your holiday and the money you paid???

No I didn't think so!

Rentals absolutely isn’t for me. Unfortunately it’s something I’m going to have to be doing for the foreseeable. I’d like that time to be as short as possible and if people keep smashing the house up I’ll be doing it for far longer than I’d hoped

I'm pretty sure that people saying they wouldn't stay mean they wouldn't book to stay. The facilities are listed on AirBNB. They would choose somewhere else to stay.

I wouldn't stay in Dubai but I don't need to go there and walk out to say that.

Those ads for camera doorbells always offer internal cameras too. I'd be paranoid about being watched inside secretly.

anyone would think op wanted to install cctv in the bog!

it’s a ring door bell. How much time do you spend by the front door anyway?!

It wouldn't bother me at all - provided it was just on the front door. If it was in the back garden too or other places then I wouldn't like it and I'd wonder if they had other camera around.

It wouldn’t bother me at all.

No I would hate it .

if I saw one after I arrived I would probably try cover it up

and I absolutely would not book something that stated they were watching my comings and goings .

I already have a mother for that , and one is more then enough.

If you have a Ring doorbell facing the street, e.g. on a terraced house that opens onto the street rather than having a front garden, could you set it to identify who is walking past like a Google one does? I mean does it have the capability to ID faces?

Definitely not. That's really intrusive. And you have to comply with GDPR if you record people beyond your boundary.Can you do that?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property/domestic-cctv-using-cctv-systems-on-your-property

Put a camera on your own house and ensure that it covers the path to next door. I don't understand why so many people would object to a ring doorbell. You don't know how many other houses on the street have recorded your comings and goings anyway. Loads of people use CCTV to watch their cars in case of vandalism. I understand that there is more CCTV coverage in England than in any other European country, including all town/city centres, pubs and clubs, shops and supermarkets, public transport, most if not all local and central government agencies etc, etc, etc,.

I've read the replies from naysayers and still have no idea why anybody reasonable would object. I don't plan to spend much time standing in front of the door of a holiday let so being "watched" wouldn't be an issue.

I've stayed somewhere that had one on the front AND the back door - didn't like the back one as it looked at you on the patio, I found I was speaking to dh in whispers!

OP specifically says it won't cover the garden, just the driveway.

RING doorbells would capture the garden. You can actually zoom and turn left and right on the camera. I have one for my own use only they are a little intrusive and I can see why people aren't a fan.