What are AirBnB guests up to…?

[Possiges]

We have a self contained annex on our property and have been running an AirBnB. Two youngish men checked into today. I’d say late twenties or early 30s.

We live centrally in a lively city so normally guests check in and are out for most of the evening at the theatre or having a meal or attending a concert etc.

Today’s young men checked into at around 3 pm and since then they’ve left the flat 5 times, each for around 20 minutes a time. I only know this as we have an external ring camera at the edge of the property. What could they possibly be doing..? I can understand popping out for a food run or beer run. But 5 times…?

Also why check into an Airbnb and pay a premium to stay in a central location and not go out…!?!

We have friends who sons do TikTok as content creators. They go out creating some content then come home to edit it and publish. They go round the country at weekends, exploring pubs etc but don’t actually spend much time as they make out on their videos.

We had drug dealers staying in one of our air bnbs.

They don’t deal out of their own homes. They rent an apartment for a night/weekend in a suitable location. They parcel up the drugs and when they get an order go out and drop it somewhere nearby.

Ours was raided by the cops, because they were driving a stolen car. Dealing only discovered as a consequence. They escaped out a back door but left all the drug paraphernalia (drugs, scales, baggies, list of sales) in the apartment. The police detectives filled us in on what happens during these ‘weekend sales events’.

Aside from the drug stuff everywhere, and some takeaway food remnants on the kitchen counter there was no damage done, and if they’d finished their business and left, we probably wouldn’t have known about it at all.

We have 3 apartments we manage in great locations in inner city Melbourne. It’s amazing the guests we have who don’t seem to have gone anywhere but have pulled out cords and leads to the tv, and used the sofa bed on the couch, obviously gaming all weekend.

I don’t think you are the right sort to be doing air bnb especially one on yr property. The way you monitor yr guest’s movements and then comment on them, is not at all nice.

I sometimes have to travel to big cities for work (I'm a lawyer), to be nearby if I'm urgently needed in court, which 4/5 times I'm not. I'm not on holiday while there so best case scenario I can go and have dinner and explore but often I'm using the TV as an extension of my laptop to look at documents really big. Your message made me realise I probably look like a gamer to my hosts on the ring doorbell! My suit is in, and often stays in, my case and I wear a tracksuit and trainers and get a few takeaways 😂

They’re almost certainly nipping out for a fag, but why on earth would you give a shit?

With respect, what your guests do is none of your business. How would you feel if you were in their position and your host was watching you all the time and posting about it on here? It would probably feel pretty unsettling, wouldn’t it? Maybe just live and let live.

Not so private with the OP spying on them and posting about it 😄

They're probably having a whale of a time checking in to MN and deliberately feeding OP's nosiness by randomly popping out for a few minutes at a time - and then coming back just to see what her reaction is on this thread each time

Maybe they're into exhibitionist urban free-running and they're involving OP, completely unaware, in their exciting pursuit that they like to refer to as 'nosey parkour'

They are two sets of quins. There are ten people in your house now.

Thanks for this thread though. A handy reminder to never use Airbnb.

It is creepy watching your guests op. It’s really none of your business.

I never use Airbnb for this reason now. They are never clean enough, they are pretty much unregulated and I guess easily could have internal cameras as well. How would you know.

Weird owners looking to make money without caring about their guest’s experience. They are also ruining the property prices in some areas for locals.

My friends cottage was used for live sex streaming. Apparently it’s a thing. She only noticed because they were heaving cameras and lighting out of the cottage and she asked if they needed help! They were planning to come back as they liked the ‘country vibe’ but she turned them down as she has 4 dc! I think you do expose yourself to all sorts. My friend was home alone with dc that weekend too.

I was thinking “Motorway Cops - Catching Britains Speeders”.

It features Dashcam. Right up OPs street.

I don't get how people walking jn and out of a property multiple times is weird. You're easily concerned OP.

MYOB

The most boringly boring answer is that they're popping out for a vape/ciggy off your property as its no smoking/vaping.

In fact I think they've gone out to fulfill their Orkan duties by contacting Orson to tell him all about the AirBnB concept.

I have a perfect rating on Airbnb, but one of my first stays was in a separate building operated by an old lady in Italy. Her review basically analysed my lifestyle choices, haha, even though I left her little place immaculate and fixed her leaky sink.
She was annoyed my partner and I didn't want to go and sit with her and spend time in her separate house, and that we mainly went out at night, and commented on how strange this all was. We'd already been travelling for a while, this was a last stop, I had a raging eye infection, was feeling a bit gross, exhausted, and wanted to relax more in the day in the garden, and we just preferred going out at night. Some people have anxiety, some are smokers, some are exhausted and want to veg out, some want to have sex all day. We're all different.

I can not believe you genuinely think it's ok to monitor the movements of people who are paying to stay in your annex. It's not acceptable actually at all and comparing yourself to a hotel while doing this is ridiculous. Hotels will be aware of the laws around monitoring, storing and using CCTV which you clearly are not.

Informing someone you have CCTV is not the issue here, you need to be aware of GDPR rules,, data protection and the law regarding storage of CCTV. At the very minimum you will need a mission statement as that camera isn't domestic if you are using it for business which you appear to be.

Read up on the law around this, you can't just use this without understanding what you are breaching. People have freedoms you do not even understand.

They could be writing books, making online content, writing music. My friends and I will be hiring a place as a writing retreat. People's motives for getting away from it all are not always tourism.

Interesting that people on here seem to have a higher expectation of privacy staying in someone else's property than they do at home when you are likely often appearing on your neighbour's video doorbell if you havve close neighbours. And people constantly publish their footage online when they think someone is acting "suspiciously". I have seen several which to me look like someone looking for a particular house and needing to walk up to the front door to see the number. Plus if you stay in a hotel, people will be watching you on CCTV as it's their job to.do that.

She's not doing that though or breaking any laws.

I’m also an AirBnB host with an annex on the grounds of our family home. It wouldn’t occur to me to spy on guests like this and I guess @Possiges thought you were behaving strangely. It’s not about running around with clipboard. It’s more about being 😮 about how uncomfortable I’d be if I went away and was watched like this. It’s not how I treat my guests. Your joke about being a bit bored doesn’t help. Do you also declare that you’ll post any movement that seems suspicious on a public forum?

My guess is smoking/vaping, or did they bring a dog.

Smoking is the obvious one to me

Probably just having a smoke, I wouldn't worry about it.