Airbnb is under fire following an initially tepid response after a family traveling through Europe found a hidden camera in a Cork, Ireland home they rented.
The camera, concealed in what the family said was either a smoke alarm or carbon monoxide detector, was live streaming.
If that wasn't shocking and unsettling enough, what happened next was-it took the family, who immediately moved to a nearby hotel, more than two weeks to resolve the issue and only after shaming Airbnb by posting about the encounter on Facebook.
"We felt a sense of shock and potential danger in the moment we discovered the camera. It felt like a huge invasion of our privacy," said Nealie Barker, who along with her husband Andrew, four children and a niece, was on an extended tour of Europe.
It was Andrew, an information technology security specialist in New Zealand, who found the camera and discovered the live feed. The Barkers initially called the owner of the property, who at first denied the existence of the camera and hung up.
However, in a subsequent call, when Andrew asked the homeowner "Then why am I looking at myself on a live feed?" did the owner admit he had installed the camera to "protect my investment."
Surveillance cameras are not allowed by Airbnb. When Mrs. Barker contacted Airbnb, she said "They had no advice for us over the phone," and declined to refund their money since the cancellation did not take place within 14 days of arrival. "They didn't seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation."
Airbnb said it would investigate and temporarily suspended the listing, and only after two weeks had passed did the company tell the Barkers that the homeowner had been exonerated and the listing reinstated-and only after the Barkers called Airbnb to inquire about an update.
And still no refund.
When the Barkers posted about the incident on their Facebook page, only then did Airbnb feel compelled to act. The company finally refunded the family and permanently banned the homeowner.
In a statement to CNN, Airbnb said "The safety and privacy of our community-both online and offline-is our priority. Airbnb policies strictly prohibit hidden cameras in listings and we take reports of any violations extremely seriously. We have permanently removed this bad actor from our platform. Our original handling of this incident did not meet the high standards we set for ourselves, and we have apologized to the family and fully refunded their stay. There have been over half a billion guest arrivals in Airbnb listings to date and negative incidents are incredibly rare."
Mrs. Barker is urging Airbnb to vet its homeowners more carefully.
"They should also be contacting previous guests from a property with a discovered camera to let them know that they may have been surveilled without their knowledge," she said.
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