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 stayed in an air b&b a couple of years ago which had a ring doorbell, which I wasn't aware of when booking.
I just stuck a sticking plaster over it.
I wouldn't book a place that I knew had one.

"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"

@ItsNotRocketSalad the ring doorbells are attached to the door itself. They capture forwards and surrounding the garden area. When you open the front door you can clearly see into the hallway of your house. That's how my own works anyway I'm not sure about yours.

I don't have one. But the OP is pretty clear about what hers will capture, and she knows the layout of her own house and grounds!

Totally irrelevant. I'm telling you how the RING works the camera is facing forwards it would be impossible for it not to capture part of the garden. No offence to you or OP. Its the whole point of the camera so you can see the garden and the surrounds.

Yes, it would absolutely put me off

Totally irrelevant. I'm telling you how the RING works the camera is facing forwards it would be impossible for it not to capture part of the garden. No offence to you or OP. Its the whole point of the camera so you can see the garden and the surrounds.

Of course it's not irrelevant. Like many houses the garden is probably at the back of the property, behind the camera and through several walls.

@ItsNotRocketSalad the footage is captured at the front of the garden...... that is what people are not fond of. It also picks up sound you can hear everyone's personal conversations. Obviously OP would put the RING on her front door door. People have mentioned this already.

You've lost me, but this is quite a boring derail so let's leave it?

Nobody is forcing you to type back. Or do you just want to have the last word? You can hide the thread or simply ignore me but here you are engaging. You are actively choosing to respond and as a result you are being rude just because I've pointed out to you how RING works, not sure why you are so adamant when you don't even have one yourself/know how they actually work!

Yeesh, calm down! My message was to say let's drop it as you're not making any sense to me and we're derailing the thread. You have the last word as it's clearly important to you.

Why don't you give it a go, make it clear the property has a Ring and see what happens?
Can you not get a neighbour or someone to watch the house for you?

Also to answer the OP - probably not, but I'm very boring on holidays.

@Snowtrails I was just asking because my next door-but-one neighbour has one and I asked earlier in the thread if he could be recording me when I come out of my house, not because I'm planning on installing one :)

I was just wondering whether he gets alerted that it's me, if pass his house (but without coming out of my house), for example, would he get an alert that it's me even though I've not come out of my house?

BTW it might not be legal to record the street but tonnes of people do it in areas where there are terraced houses opening directly onto the street,

If he gets alerts every time someone walks past his house he’s going to end up with hundreds of video clips in a very short space of time and I would have thought highly unlikely to watch them all. We only get alerts on ours if someone rings the doorbell, it does record anyone coming up our drive but not if anyone comes up next doors drive, however if they happened to be coming out of their house at the same time as one of us it might catch them in the background whilst recording someone on our path. Even with just us coming and going (4 of us) plus delivery people etc we end up with about a dozen video clips a day which are deleted without ever watching them, we have it in case anyone tampers with our cars or house and to speak to delivery drivers when we’re out.

I have a Nest doorbell and it would only know it was you if you approached my front door. It wouldn't recognise you walking past on the street. It asks me now and again if the faces it has seen are familiar so it can say eg 'DD is at the front door' but it wouldn't recognise you walking past. I know this because the boy next door regularly walks past my door on the way to school but it only tells me it's him if he rings the doorbell to get his football back when he's kicked it over the fence.