Despite being one of the best times of the year, summer vacations can also put us in a vulnerable situation. Not only for visiting cities or countries far away from our home. To the above we also add the need to sleep in rooms that we do not know. Although tourist apartment rental platforms prohibit the use of spying devices, not all of them adhere to the rules. For this, How can you detect hidden cameras in your hotel room or Airbnb? Here we leave you some tricks.
Fortunately, you have tools at hand that will allow you to detect hidden cameras in your Airbnb or hotel room. You just need to know how to use them and where to look when entering a new room.
The first step: search for devices connected to the Wi-Fi network
This is the easiest way to tell, at first glance, if there are hidden cameras in the hotel room or Airbnb where you are staying. All you have to do is take advantage of the Wi-Fi network in search of these video surveillance devices.
How is it done? There are applications that allow you to discover all the devices connected to the same network. This is the case of Fing, available for Android and iOS. When downloading it, the app will make a list of all the gadgets that are connectedas well as its nature.
Thus, You can quickly see if there is a camera connected to the same Wi-Fi network in the room. But not only that, but also the last time it was used. In case the application detects a hidden camera in the Airbnb or hotel room, contact the owner or the administration, respectively.
If you are still suspicious, you can take the route of disconnecting the router or modem from the room. Thus, if there are hidden cameras, they will not be able to connect to the network and send information to the Airbnb owner.
If you haven’t seen anything in the app mentioned above, there is still a way to investigate. This process is more analog, and will require you to search specific points for hidden cameras in your room hotel or Airbnb.
You will have to scan the entire room with your flashlight in search of any flash. This is a fairly rudimentary process and can be tedious if the Airbnb where you are trying to detect hidden cameras is too large. In case you came to see some strange shine in corners, towels or drawers, you can proceed to investigate it further.
Double bottom mirrors are one of those things that are widely used in the cinema, and that is that they allow the cameras to record from the back, directly to the protagonist’s face. However, this can also be used when hiding video surveillance cameras in hotel or Airbnb rooms. How can you detect it? As with the previous step, you only need the flashlight of your mobile.
These spy mirrors are apparently normal from the outside. To detect them is as simple as turn off the light in the room, turn on the flashlight of your mobile and check the surface of the mirror. In case there is something behind it, such as a hidden camera, it will be seen perfectly with this method.
On the other hand also you can use your fingertips to spot a fake mirror. Touch the surface of it. In normal mirrors there is usually a gap of a couple of millimeters, depending on the thickness of the mirror. If you don’t see any separation between the reflection and your finger, it may be a sign.
Fourth step: the most extreme measures
This last step is an emergency measure. If, despite all the negative results, you still do not trust, there is still something to do. It is, however, a bit extreme..
Some hidden cameras in Airbnb or hotel rooms are often positioned inside other devices. Among them, plugs, alarm clocks, multimedia equipment, smoke detectors and more. The idea is to unplug all the objects you canintroduce others in a drawer or cover with a garment those that you cannot move or disconnect.