A family visiting from New Zealand found a camera concealed in a smoke alarm in their Cork Airbnb.
Last month, a family visiting from New Zealand found a camera concealed in a smoke alarm in their Cork Airbnb accommodation.
Mother of five, Nealie Barker shared her ordeal on Facebook following the discovery in the house she was renting.
Her partner, Andrew Barker who is an IT Consultant discovered the concealed device when he tried to connect his mobile phone to the house's WiFi.
The family was able to see themselves through a live feed on Mr. Barker's mobile phone when he scanned the device's port.
The family left the accommodation opting to stay at a nearby hotel, later contacting the owner of the property. However, he refused to confirm whether the camera was recording or not.
"We just found a camera hidden in a smoke alarm case in the private living room of a listing. We were travelling with children," she wrote.
"The host admitted to the concealed camera over the phone, only after presented with our irrefutable proof."
Airbnb has apologised to the family, stating they strictly prohibit the use of hidden cameras while confirming they had permanently removed the host from their website.
They also stated the family was also offered a full refund, however, Ms. Barker has since confirmed she has yet to receive funds.
Earlier this week she told Radio One the family is currently on a 14-month trip around the world with a huge proportion of their accommodation based in Airbnb lettings.
"We're currently on a 14-month trip through the UK, through Ireland, we're now in Hungary, and we've booked a whole trip largely based around Airbnb accommodation, as much as 12 months out from today," she said.
"So we're in a bit of a precarious situation because we are relying on them for accommodation for the year."
"We love Airbnb and for the most part our experiences have been really, really positive, but we are certainly much more cautious now."
"When we enter an Airbnb property, we look through the listing carefully to see if there are cameras mentioned, my husband scans all the networks and I go on a hunt for potentially hidden cameras in all the homes."
Following their ordeal, the family, who are documenting their travels in their blog, Six For Twelve, wrote a post outlining tips on how you can spot a hidden camera.
From doing a physical check of the accommodation to thoroughly reading the house listing, Andrew and Nealie's advice is definitely something you take note of.
Thankfully, despite their shock over the intrusive camera, the family had a wonderful trip in Ireland.
Kellie Kearney is a Dublin mammy of 4 kids aged 2, 3, 5 and 9 (and she is expecting baby #5 in May). Described as a self-confessed procrastinator and picker-upper of things, Kellie would never turn down a coffee, loves to travel and shares her every day true to life moments on Instagram.
