TYLER, Texas — Airbnb, the popular online homestay marketplace, recently introduced a new rule prohibiting host properties from using any kind of indoor security cameras.
The Hygge House is just one of more than 700 Airbnb properties available for rent in and around Tyler, according to their website. Steve Pontius and his family have owned and operated this rental property since May, and he said their Airbnb experience has been totally positive.
"With our finances we were looking for a good way to have an income property. My son was very knowledgeable about how it all works. So they made the proposal, and it’s worked out wonderfully. Yeah, we’re very, very pleased with how it’s all worked out," Pontius said.
When it comes to the issue of cameras, Pontius said it’s never been an issue at all. He already didn’t have cameras inside the property, or anywhere else for that matter.
"People want to get away, they want privacy and intimacy you know and so it was counterproductive to consider having one inside. We haven’t even put one outside for that reason. Part of the appeal of our place is to get away, get in the woods and privacy," Pontius said.
He added that he lives close enough to the rental property that he can monitor it from a distance. But he’s never had any issues with security or vandalization or anything in that realm.
Craig Meunier, owner and president of Property Management Incorporated (a company that helps people manage their vacation homes in Tyler), said they were advising hosts not to utilize indoor cameras all along, claiming that they’ve always felt a bit “intrusive and unnecessary.”
So, for Pontius, it’ll be business as usual, just more opportunities to introduce folks to the good things going on in East Texas.
"We just had a guest from Germany two nights ago that was his first time in the United States. So there’s no way he would’ve found us without the Airbnb app and people looking that way," Pontius said.