Post by High Priestess on Aug 17, 2019 15:35:15 GMT
When setting up your listing on Airbnb or other platforms, I recommend that you don't have your actual exact location showing to the general public.
This is problematic on several levels. One is that, unless you operate as a regular hotel, you don't want people who have not booked with you, showing up at your door. Another is that if you are a home sharing host, it's frankly dangerous to have information about your house online, with interior photos, showing your possessions, and a calendar showing when you might be on vacation, along with info that can be used to find your exact location. Burglars can have a field day with this information.
In fact, I recommend that, when possible, you take your street number and/or your entire address off the listing, and only provide that information to booked guests.
Often there is a "pin" you can set for the location...this generally connects to Google maps. I recommend that you do not set the pin to your exact location, for similar reasons.
There are 2 issues with the pin location that I've heard of.
One is that, from posts in the host community groups, I've heard of at least one host who "got in trouble" with Airbnb for moving the pin location. This is silly -- if the host is able to move the pin location, they should not be getting in trouble for doing so. And it's well known to hosts, the kinds of problems that can occur when you provide too much info about your home's location to the general public. When guests book we are obviously going to be telling them where we really are, because we want them to be able to come to our home.
But also, it seems that government agents may be using pin locations to track down hosts, as described in this article:
www.khon2.com/news/local-news/hundreds-of-homeowners-surprised-to-receive-letters-from-city-accusing-them-or-short-term-renting/
and if you are in a city that has not yet developed STR regulations, and you would like to avoid scrutiny whilst those regulations are being developed, or if you would just prefer to stay "under the radar", then putting the pin in your exact location is not recommended as it's more likely to bring government agents to your door.
This is problematic on several levels. One is that, unless you operate as a regular hotel, you don't want people who have not booked with you, showing up at your door. Another is that if you are a home sharing host, it's frankly dangerous to have information about your house online, with interior photos, showing your possessions, and a calendar showing when you might be on vacation, along with info that can be used to find your exact location. Burglars can have a field day with this information.
In fact, I recommend that, when possible, you take your street number and/or your entire address off the listing, and only provide that information to booked guests.
Often there is a "pin" you can set for the location...this generally connects to Google maps. I recommend that you do not set the pin to your exact location, for similar reasons.
There are 2 issues with the pin location that I've heard of.
One is that, from posts in the host community groups, I've heard of at least one host who "got in trouble" with Airbnb for moving the pin location. This is silly -- if the host is able to move the pin location, they should not be getting in trouble for doing so. And it's well known to hosts, the kinds of problems that can occur when you provide too much info about your home's location to the general public. When guests book we are obviously going to be telling them where we really are, because we want them to be able to come to our home.
But also, it seems that government agents may be using pin locations to track down hosts, as described in this article:
www.khon2.com/news/local-news/hundreds-of-homeowners-surprised-to-receive-letters-from-city-accusing-them-or-short-term-renting/
and if you are in a city that has not yet developed STR regulations, and you would like to avoid scrutiny whilst those regulations are being developed, or if you would just prefer to stay "under the radar", then putting the pin in your exact location is not recommended as it's more likely to bring government agents to your door.