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The guest turned it off to avoid me being able to see activity on the cameras. She lied about it, of course.
How many of you have the WiFi router accessible to guests? Edit: Hosts, DO you have your WiFi router accessible to guests?
I guess I am going to have to add a House Rule that guests will be canceled without refund if they temper with it. I’m afraid that Airbnb will not support me on it though, as has been my experience with many similar things in the past.
No, I don’t think they will.
They make some tamper proof boxes.
Neither the router nor the Orbi are accessible to guests. The router is locked in my studio and the Orbi is in a locked under the stairs closet inside one of the apartments.
We put a note on the Orbi that says, “this is basically a wi-fi extender, it does not record nor monitor anything, please contact us with concerns” just in case someone breaks into the closet and finds it 
We didn’t want guests to have access so that they wouldn’t mess with it and mess up the wifi for the whole house.
So, your answer to my question is no. Thanx.
Lol. You didn’t ask a yes/no question 
Edit to add: Can’t you just lock it in a closet or something? It seems like a bad idea to have it accessible to guests.
Ya got me there a bit… 
Mine is locked in an antique dresser. I put a cute antique lock on it so guests may not even notice it. I also use a “guest” wifi network that is separate from my own, with its own password.
I would have to have the ISP come out and rewrite the room that has the live modem cable coming in. However, that would only be a temporary fix as I will eventually change the master suite from storage to part of the guest rental space and then will not have anywhere INSIDE the house that is not accessible to guests.
This was the same problem I had, they could only wire straight through the outside walls and my only two locking closets were in the center of the house (whole home rental). Hence the dresser.
It is actually an antique sugar chest that I purchased at a flea market and refinished, then drilled holes in the back for the wires and added the lock. It works great and looks cute in there.
Because it is at one end of the house, and there are solid walls, including brick walls, between it and the other end, I had to add an extender. Since I didn’t want people to unplug that, I bought one of those locking thermostat boxes to put over it and painted it to match the wall. It has worked fine so far.
Guests don’t have access to my router or my thermostat.
Install in the attic, a crawl space, or in a locked metal box firmly screwed to wall stud or a post.
Our router is locked in a closet and we have a guest WiFi network for them like georgiahost.
The house doesn’t have an attic.
It has a crawl space but would that be a good place given moisture and spider webs and sometimes mice and occasionally snakes? And then there are no electrical outlets under there…plus having to crawl under the house to reset it, if necessary? And so I guess I’d also need to put the modem down there too.
Quite a large box would be required to House the vertical modem and horizontal router with all its antennas. Wouldn’t a metal box around that interfere with the signal? Do you know what it would be called to be able to search, or maybe a link to one? Or to a plastic one?
Locked in a closet would also mean rewiring for the cable to be in the closet, and then, which bedroom is going to lose a closet in order to house them? Unfortunately there are no linen or coat closets to take advantage of.
I agree and have a Guest network but it doesn’t work when the guest turns the power off to the router and/or modem. In that case the WiFi is off altogether.
So I have done a search and found that none of the ones I see will work as they all leave the power plugs exposed so that the miscreant guest can still just unplug them instead of pressing the power button. I’ll keep looking for a viable lockable solution but I would still like to hear from hosts who actually DO have the same situation I do at the moment of guests being able to access the router and/or modem.
Also my modem looks like the router in the pic above and my router looks like the one below.
Mine is and I plan on building a cabinet for it that can be locked, although it has never been unplugged. If it were it would affect both cabins and my business so it would be a serious issue and I would go plug it in myself if I had to.
RR
EDited to ad that when I build my cabinet it will cover the plug as well so no unplugging.
Building a cabinet or retrofitting a piece of furniture is an excellent idea. @Militaryhorsegal I know you were trying to ask if anyone had this happen and everyone jumped in to say how you can prevent it happening. But we really advocate guest proofing your rentals. It’s like if we were a parenting forum. If someone asked for the antidote for poisoning or treatment for burns we would be focused on preventions, not cures or punishments.
Rules rules rules, I do not think anything can be accomplished by having a bunch of rules nobody reads.
Because…
So what is the point?
I sometimes wonder if some hosts, not you of course, just need to feel in control? I think hosting is good therapy for me, I am learning to let go.
When I was in the Navy I had no control, I hated it and once my 4 years was up I was out of there. I hated being told when to get up when to eat and if I could go out at the end of the day. I realize now that is was all about control, or my lack of it.
Hats off to you @Militaryhorsegal I could never have done 24 years!
RR
I’m out of hearts again…
I know and that was the plan until the guest lied about it and made it very clear that she didn’t want to get caught so didn’t want me there unless it was still an Internet problem when she got home later that night. Truth is she knowingly turned it off and then when she got back home she claimed to have reset it and it was all better…
I understand and am trying. Just very difficult when there is no space that is off limits to guests in a whole house rental with no attic or garage or coat closet or linen closet. Retrofitting a cabinet might work but then I imagine the guest would just go and flip the breakers to see which one worked for the WiFi. I guess I need to lock up the breaker box too then…but that also means if there is a breaker tripped I will need to personally go and attend to it. (I love about 20 minutes away so it is a bit of a hassle but may unfortunately be necessary.
I understand but if it deters even one person who would have otherwise done so…or if even one time Airbnb DOES support me on it…
I would not have a problem worth you saying even me…because yes, I do want to be in control of the Internet in my house so I can have camera evidence to support myself, whether Airbnb does support me with it or not. Yes, when I offer my amenities at a budget friendly price (yes, I know maybe many feel that is the issue…I have been slowly raising prices overall since I started Airbnb 3.5 years ago but I still get people doing this stuff) I would at least want to know that I am not being shut out of accessing and taking care of my own house/investment. It is just disrespect on most cases…
And this guest had many other issues so far in the first week of her 1 month booking…
Didn’t read House Rules before arrival, even when I asked her to since she was stating she didn’t know things that were in them.
Arrived more than a half hour late, knowing I was waiting on her, regardless of her never having to meet the host at other Airbnbs (she has 12 GLOWING 5 star reviews).
Drove on the lawn against House Rules
Brought two unauthorized persons (at two different times) in the house, against House Rules.
And I THINK the 19 year old son is caping in the house (my rules state no smoking so maybe I now need to add vaping to the rules, although you likely don’t think I should have that rule either).
Thanx. Lots of times it was more like just beating my head against a brick wall so I probably shouldn’t have stayed that long, even though I wanted to stay even longer…I’m a glutton for punishment.
And thank YOU for your service during that time as well!
Hide a key and give location to guests for that odd occurance. I have NEVER had a breaker trip for a guest.
Also I was thinking you could just buy a cabinet off the return shelf at Home Depot or lowes and put a hasp on it, I considered that but for my 1938 cabin I would rather build one to match, if I ever get time.
RR
