This forum is dedicated to connecting hosts with other hosts. Sign up to get the latest updates and news just for AirBnb hosts! Note that we are not affiliated with Airbnb - we are just passionate hosts!
The startup I work for is building a super smart AI camera that seems like it could be really valuable to airbnb hosts. I’d love to understand your perspective on this! If you have a camera in your airbnb, or are thinking about getting one, read on! Insightful comments may get you a special discount code.
About the Lighthouse camera: It’s powered by a new kind of sensing technology, advanced computer vision, and natural language understanding (like Alexa or Google Assistant), making it possible for you to ask questions like “Who did you see on Tuesday?” or “Tell me when you see someone in the garage while I’m not there.” or “Tell me if you don’t see anyone by 2pm this Sunday.”
We’re guessing this would be great for seeing how many renters showed up, how long the cleaners stayed, and if someone is there when the place should be empty (but unlike traditional home cameras, it won’t spam you with notifications about shadows moving around, cars driving by, etc).
But you tell me! What would you find most valuable in technology like this?
Wow really - a special discount code…in return for providing you with valuable market research insight…but only if we give you really insightful comments.
I bet we are all going to really fall over ourselves to get in line for this not to be missed opportunity aren’t we …
Don’t mind the warm welcome of @Helsi she also wants to show off her understanding in PR and marketing.
There are many products out there that are very good. Personally, I use ARLO which answers my needs but I feel that what you offer is more like a voice command function. I’d like it better if it was an app that connects to my existing ARLO system and know how to work with it.
Thanks guys. There’s a ton of potential with computer vision and AI, and the trick is finding where the technologically possible overlaps with what you all need but don’t currently have.
@Oded, I’d love to hear more about your use case. What do you use your camera system for the most? Is there anything about it that you wish worked better or faster? Is there anything about it that bugs you?
@theredlion, you can turn it off from the app quite easily. (Though, depending on the details, I’d also generally recommend telling renters to pull the power when they arrive and plug it back in when they leave.)
Down the line, we’re also looking at ways to have the camera turn off automatically when renters arrive (perhaps with a greeting when it sees them - “Welcome! I’m turning off now.”) and turn on automatically when they are expected to leave. This should be a thing you, as an airbnb property owner, don’t even have to think about.
Will your camera have face recognition? So it can see how many different people have entered the house. That would seem like something interesting for hosts with a standalone property.
@PitonView I’d assume that guests are generally not thrilled with 24/7 live cameras inside the rental property. But understood that different hosts have different use cases, and, especially in public spaces in the property, it could be just fine.
@GutHend, it sure does! But you don’t always see the face, so it’s generally better to use different computer vision techniques (more general person recognition with our 3D sensor) to achieve the goal of knowing how many people are on-site.
I could imagine something here like “Tell me if you see more than X people in the house.” - or, even better, having Lighthouse hook up to the airbnb backend and know how many people are supposed to show up on certain days, so you don’t have to think about it at all.
(To be clear, we haven’t built out this functionality yet, but if it’s something that would be of high value to lots of people, we’d consider it.)
It would be AMAZING if your camera can connect to my schedule and whenever the house is not rented and the camera will sense movement it will send me a notification.
Auto notifications exists now as well but it will send them anytime it detects it. That way, we will get way less alerts and more relevant ones.
@Oded, that’s really interesting. (A big part of why we’re deploying heavy-duty AI is to eliminate irrelevant alerts, so this is right up our alley.) I could totally see hooking this up to the airbnb system so you’d only get security alerts when renters aren’t expected, and wouldn’t have to manually configure anything.
And while at it, you could get automatic notifications for things like
guests arriving
guests not arriving when expected
more guests arriving than on that particular reservation
automatic timelapse summary of arrival, departure, what the cleaners did afterwards, etc.
… and all that could happen without any particular configuration or instruction from you, because the airbnb system provides the details of when & how many people are expected.
Seems interesting. But I’m not an airbnb host… you all should tell me what you think.
A little uncalled for @Oded, particularly when I have tried to provide you with lots of advice, including on PR & marketing issues, since you have joined.
Market research is actually is a separate discipline from marketing and PR.
I don’t have an issue with people coming on here and asking for feedback on their products, but I do have an issue with start ups, coming here and making out like they are doing us a huge favour by maybe offering us a discount, when they are getting valuable, free market research feedback.
Airbnb’s API wouldn’t give you a lot of data but the data they will give you would be more than enough for your purpose! Not sure how’d you pull counting of the guests because people go in n’ out all the time. You’ll need a unique session attached to each guest (or face recog).
timelapse would be cool instead of fast forwarding all the time.
