The rules changed in 2024 and most travel advice has not caught up. So start with what is actually permitted, because it tells you what you are looking for.
What Airbnb's rules say now
All indoor cameras are banned. Since 30 April 2024, Airbnb prohibits security cameras and recording devices that monitor any part of a home's interior. That includes hallways, bedrooms, bathrooms, living rooms and guest houses, and it applies to the shared spaces of private-room listings too.
The ban is unusually absolute, and this is the part people miss: it applies even if the device is disclosed, clearly visible, turned off, or unplugged. Before the change, cameras were permitted in common areas if disclosed and visible. That exception is gone.
Hidden cameras have always been prohibited. That was never allowed and has not changed.
What is still permitted:
- Outdoor cameras, including doorbell cameras, provided the host discloses them and their general location in the listing before you book
- Noise decibel monitors, with the same disclosure requirement
What outdoor cameras may not do:
- Monitor indoor spaces through windows or similar openings
- Cover outdoor areas with a greater expectation of privacy, such as enclosed outdoor showers, hot tubs and saunas
One narrow exception. For certain homes in Japan holding a Hotel Business License, hosts may be legally required to have a camera monitoring the interior entryway only. It must be disclosed, must not cover anything beyond the entryway, and must not record audio.
Airbnb defines a recording device broadly: anything that records or transmits video, images or audio, including baby monitors and doorbell cameras.
Official source: Airbnb Help Centre, Restrictions on security cameras and other devices in homes
Before you book
Two minutes here saves the rest of this article.
Check the listing's disclosure. Under Guest safety there is a section for security cameras and recording devices. Hosts are required to declare outdoor cameras and noise monitors there. Read it.
Look at the photos properly. Listing photos often show more than the host intended. Look for small dark circles, unexplained boxes on shelves, and devices that do not match the room.
Ask the host directly through Airbnb's messaging. Two reasons. First, you get an answer. Second, the answer is on the record inside the platform, which matters enormously if there is a dispute later. Never take this conversation to WhatsApp or email.
A reasonable question: are there any cameras or recording devices on the property, indoors or outdoors, and where exactly are they?
How to check the property
Do this when you arrive, before you unpack. It takes about ten minutes and it is not paranoid; it is the same instinct as checking where the fire exit is.
Walk the room and think about sightlines
Hidden cameras need a view of something. Stand where you would sleep, undress or shower, and ask what has a line of sight to you. That narrows the search dramatically. You are not searching the whole property; you are searching the few positions that would actually be useful to someone.
Look at the objects that shouldn't be there
Devices are concealed in things that plausibly belong in a room but do not need to be in that particular spot:
- Smoke and heat detectors, especially ones positioned oddly or duplicated
- USB chargers, plug adapters and power bricks left plugged in
- Clock radios and digital clocks facing a bed
- Air purifiers, speakers and Wi-Fi extenders
- Picture frames, mirrors, artificial plants, tissue boxes
- Anything with a small hole, seam or dark dot in it
- Anything pointed at the bed or the shower
The tell is usually placement rather than the object. A smoke detector on a ceiling is normal. A smoke detector on a wall at chest height facing the bed is not.
Turn the lights off
In a fully dark room, look for small steady LEDs. Many cameras have an indicator, and some infrared night-vision arrays emit a faint dull red glow that is visible in the dark and invisible in daylight.
Use your phone camera
Open the camera app and pan slowly around the room, particularly at anything suspicious. Some phone sensors pick up infrared illumination that your eyes cannot see, showing up as a pale purple or white dot. This is not reliable on every phone and a negative result proves nothing, but it costs nothing to try.
Use a torch
Shine a bright light at an angle across mirrors, vents, picture frames and anything glossy. A camera lens reflects light back distinctively, as a small bright point that stays fixed while you move.
Check the mirrors
Press the back of your hand or a fingertip against the glass. On a normal mirror there is a visible gap between your finger and its reflection. On two-way glass they meet. This is a rough test rather than proof, but it is quick.
Look at the Wi-Fi network
If you can see the network's connected devices, unfamiliar entries are worth noting. This has real limits: many cameras record locally to a card, run on their own network, or use mobile data, so absence is not evidence.
Dedicated detectors
RF detectors and lens finders exist and are inexpensive. They are more thorough than the methods above and they also produce false positives on ordinary electronics. Useful if you travel constantly; unnecessary for most people.
If you find something
Handle this carefully, because how you handle it affects both your safety and any case that follows.
1. Do not touch it, unplug it or dismantle it. It is potentially evidence, and tampering can weaken a criminal case.
2. Photograph it in place. Wide shot showing the room and its position, then close-ups. Capture what it is pointed at.
3. Do not confront the host. You are alone in a property they control and may have keys to. This is a safety matter, not a customer service matter.
4. Leave, if you can do so safely. Take your belongings.
5. Contact local police. In most jurisdictions, recording people in a private space without consent is a criminal offence, often prosecuted as voyeurism. This is the step that matters most, and it is the one guests most often skip.
Worth knowing: a CNN investigation published in July 2024 reported that Airbnb does not routinely notify law enforcement when guests report hidden cameras. The same reporting cited testimony from an Airbnb investigations employee that the company generated around 35,000 customer support tickets relating to surveillance devices between 2013 and 2023, though Airbnb declined to say how many of those were unique complaints rather than follow-ups on existing cases.
The practical implication is straightforward: reporting it to Airbnb is not the same as reporting it to the police. Do both, and do the police first.
6. Report it to Airbnb through the platform, in writing, with your photographs. Keep everything inside Airbnb's messaging so there is a record.
7. Keep your own copies of everything, including the original listing page and any messages about cameras.
A realistic note on enforcement
The rules are clear and the enforcement is not.
Airbnb's indoor camera ban depends almost entirely on guests finding and reporting violations. Nobody inspects properties. The disclosure requirement for outdoor cameras is similarly unverified: a host can state that a camera covers the front porch, and whether it also captures the hot tub or a bedroom window is something only a guest standing there would know.
That is not a reason to be anxious about every rental. Indoor cameras appear to be genuinely rare, and most listings never had them. It is a reason to spend ten minutes checking rather than assuming the policy is doing the work for you.
For hosts reading this
If you own a rental, three things follow from the current rules.
Remove anything indoors that records. Disclosed, visible, switched off and unplugged are all irrelevant. The ban is absolute.
Disclose your outdoor cameras precisely, including general location, and make sure none of them can see through a window or cover a hot tub, sauna or enclosed shower.
Solve the underlying problem differently. Most hosts who wanted indoor cameras wanted to know who was in the property and how many. That is an access control question rather than a surveillance question, and it has an answer that does not involve filming your guests: control who holds access, for what window, and keep a record of every entry.
That is what we build. Here is how it works.
This article is general information and not legal advice. Airbnb's policies are the company's own terms and change without notice. Laws on recording in private spaces vary considerably by country and by state. If you believe you have been recorded without consent, contact local law enforcement, and consider taking legal advice in that jurisdiction. Verify Airbnb's current camera policy in its Help Centre before relying on any summary, including this one.
