When I was in Aspen (presumably with a family who didn’t need the money that desperately) I was in a basement with two girls under 10. That’s just insane.
Just to offer a different perspective…
I would have honestly said exactly the same thing as Zaphod prior to my wife starting our airbnb. In fact, it was really quite a leap of faith for me to even agree to it, but, after having it up and running for nearly a year now, it’s really a non-issue. It’s no different then living in an apartment building in terms of “risks” to your personal safety. Our house is large enough that we never hear or see the guests and they have zero access to our side of the building unless they were to try to break down the doors. If that were to happen it would be no different then someone trying to break in our front door or windows. I sleep with a loaded gun in our bedroom so we’d be fine. Plus we have a pitbull that sleeps next to our bed to alert us to any funny business like someone trying to break in.
To each his/her own, but the fear of bad things happening just because there are strangers in your home is really unwarranted in my opinion. I agree that I wouldn’t want to share my side of the building with strangers, but that’s because I’m an introvert and need my personal space. But, keep in mind that true “Bed and Breakfast” establishments have existed for hundreds of years and usually operate in such a manner where the owners sleep in the same house with strangers every night (often times just down the hall, but usually with individual locks on the doors). In fact, most older homes would have had locks on each door that could only be opened with keys for the purpose of sharing your home with travelers. When we traveled through Europe we stayed at many B&B’s like that. The owners would also get up in the morning and make us breakfast and chat with us a little. It was nice and really made for a memorable experience. We got so much more out of that kind of genuine interaction than we did on the nights we stayed in a big hotel. It’s kind of unfortunate that our society is so fear driven these days, especially in this country. It’s not like that everywhere else in the world. I understand that it’s not for everyone, but it’s not a “dangerous” situation as people here have suggested.
You actually see kids getting hurt by strangers sleeping down the hall on a weekly basis? Remind me not to take my family to wherever you live!
Just to offer a different perspective…
I would have honestly said exactly the same thing as Zaphod prior to my wife starting our airbnb. In fact, it was really quite a leap of faith for me to even agree to it, but, after having it up and running for nearly a year now, it’s really a non-issue. It’s no different then living in an apartment building in terms of “risks” to your personal safety. Our house is large enough that we never hear or see the guests and they have zero access to our side of the building unless they were to try to break down the doors. If that were to happen it would be no different then someone trying to break in our front door or windows. I sleep with a loaded gun in our bedroom so we’d be fine. Plus we have a pitbull that sleeps next to our bed to alert us to any funny business like someone trying to break in.
To each his/her own, but the fear of bad things happening just because there are strangers in your home is really unwarranted in my opinion. I agree that I wouldn’t want to share my side of the building with strangers, but that’s because I’m an introvert and need my personal space. But, keep in mind that true “Bed and Breakfast” establishments have existed for hundreds of years and usually operate in such a manner where the owners sleep in the same house with strangers every night (often times just down the hall, but usually with individual locks on the doors). In fact, most older homes would have had locks on each door that could only be opened with keys for the purpose of sharing your home with travelers. When we traveled through Europe we stayed at many B&B’s like that. The owners would also get up in the morning and make us breakfast and chat with us a little. It was nice and really made for a memorable experience. We got so much more out of that kind of genuine interaction than we did on the nights we stayed in a big hotel. It’s kind of unfortunate that our society is so fear driven these days, especially in this country. It’s not like that everywhere else in the world. I understand that it’s not for everyone, but it’s not a “dangerous” situation as people here have suggested.
You actually see kids getting hurt by strangers sleeping down the hall on a weekly basis? Remind me not to take my family to wherever you live!
I’ve taken care of plenty of kids hurt by “strangers” as well as family and friends who are in their home… that’s life working in the city I suppose.
But you’re seeing “plenty” of kids being hurt by strangers in their home. How many times a month is plenty? Also, can you share some details. Are the strangers intruders? AirBNB renters? Something else?
But you’re seeing “plenty” of kids being hurt by strangers in their home. How many times a month is plenty? Also, can you share some details. Are the strangers intruders? AirBNB renters? Something else?
I’m not trying to cast aspersions on AirBNB — I was making general commentary on the fact that kids are in fact hurt injured by strangers as well as friends and family. I don’t want to derail the conversation too much, but I’ll try to give an answer to the question.
I work in a pediatric emergency department in a children’s hospital in an urban environment, and victims of violence of varying types are something that comes through our door semi-regularly — sometimes we (or someone else) figure it out, and sometimes the child is old enough to tell us.
Most doctors, even most pediatricians, don’t routinely see patients who were abused or assaulted, but because of where I work and the type of work I do, I see an abnormal concentration of them.
Children are far more likely to be abused by someone known to the family than a complete stranger, however that’s also presupposing the more common exposures, which is “known” entities, such as family members, parents significant others, etc.
I also see children and teenagers who are assaulted without clear provocation on a semi-regular basis (sometimes with provocation too I’m sure).
I can’t say I’ve ever come cared for a child who was assaulted by an AirBNB renter. I’ve seen plenty who were assaulted by known entities who were allowed to be in the home as well as strangers who came to a house during a party or other gathering.
It’s hard for me to give a # because I don’t keep track, and I don’t work every shift in our own ER. I’ll tell you that there’s enough of it happening that just about every medium or large children’s hospital in the country has pediatric specialists dedicated to evaluating and treating children who are victims of abuse. There is an accredited 3-year fellowship for it with its own board exam.
We have two pediatricians who are a subgroup of my division who sub specialize in it. One of them actually gave us a CME talk today. And there aren’t enough of these specialists to go around — not many are in training at any given time.
Our house isn’t set up well for an AirBNB — no separate entrance to the basement that has the extra bed/bathroom and no way to separate it from the rest of the house. No way I would let random people over the internet book a chance to stay in our house with our 3 young children.
I’m not sure I’d describe people invited over for a party as strangers. But I guess it’s possible that people have different kinds of parties than I might. Or maybe if someone crashes the party and then goes on to assault a child, I guess it would count. If you’ve seen a lot of those, I’ll take your word for it, but it is pretty surprising. Even after all you’ve typed, I’m still not convinced that kids abused/assaulted by “strangers in the home” is a thing that happens on a frequent basis. Unless you have a very unorthodox definition of “stranger” and “frequent”.
Ergo, if you start increasing their exposure to strangers, they are more likely to be victimized by one at a higher rate than if you increase their exposure to people they DO know well. If you increase their stranger exposure from 2% to 15% (by having a rotating case of strangers in the house living with you all the time), their chance of assault by a stranger likely goes up more than 13%.
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