4 Best Security Cameras for Your Airbnb (Plus the One I Actually Use)

Cameras at your short-term rental property do a lot more than help you just prevent damage. They can also help you recoup costs or charge guests that are maybe trying to get around your rules. But there are a lot of camera options out there. And so today I'm going to give you four that I think are worth taking a look at. The one that I actually use, the features that you must and all the things in between. Stay tuned as we dive into all the details. Welcome

back to the show. I'm happy you're here again. There are a lot of camera options out on the market today, more than there have ever been. And there's also a lot of features that come with those cameras. But the reality is most of those features don't really do that much. And so, let's talk about the ones that actually matter. Then I'll give you my camera recommendations. So, the first one is you need some way to have cloud storage, right? But we can't rely on a security

camera at our property that runs on an SD card that we need to manually download. That's just very old school, right? Fortunately, most options these days have that. But you also don't want it to be recording 24/7 because then you got a whole bunch of footage to go through. So, you want to make sure that your camera has a good motion activation feature in place where it only records when it needs to. You also want to double check how far that motion activation goes. One of

the cameras we installed recently on new property was just too far away from the front door. So even though the guests were showing up, it wasn't picking them up on the video. You also want a camera that's easy to connect to other cameras and has a nice online dashboard. When it comes to installation, wireless is always going to be better, but I know a lot of you have some tricky installation spots. And so the camera that we recommend does have a wireless option that can go

a long way. But again, make sure that it's not mounted too far away from where it's going to be picking up motion. Before we get into my top four camera picks, just a side note, if you have cameras at your property, which you 100% should make sure that they don't face on the interior of any of your property. This includes having one near your front door that looks in when the front door is actually open. That's a big no no. We of course have to mark

or disclose this when we create a listing on Airbnb or the different platforms these days, but just double check because that can get your property banned or delisted online. Okay, top four cameras. You've probably heard about most of these, but the one that we like to use is actually a little less common. So, we of course have the Ring camera. We of course have the Google Nest camera. And these are great because they probably connect to your existing Google account if you have one already. Most

people do. And so the actual setup is really easy and they do have various options these days, but I would say that their cloud storage online is quite expensive compared to some other options. The Arlo camera is also a good option. This is one you can find at places like Costco. It's one that can easily be expanded. So if you have a really large luxury property and you need five or six cameras to cover all the entry doors, which I highly recommend, you have a camera

covering every entry door at your property. If that's the case, well then the Arlo cameras can be a good option for you. What is the camera that my team and I refer to almost everyone? That is the Rio Link camera. What we like most about it is that it's easy to install and it's affordable and we've had good results with it. And so we've got literally dozens of these things connected all in one nice little simple dashboard where we can see them. It's got all the

things we talked about like the motion activation. It has infrared at night. It also can pick up sound and it has a really inexpensive online storage option. Just a few dollars per camera. And so if you got a whole bunch of these, you're not going to be racking up a big bill. I also like that there's the wireless option with the solar panel. That's the Rio Link Argus Pro model. You can put it around a tree. You can put it basically wherever you want, not have

to worry about all the wiring. Now, one caveat. If you are in a cold place where it's very seasonal and it's very dark, then you're going to want to find a wired option because it's probably not going to hold up that well. Luckily, the Real Link cameras also have the wired option. So, just grab the one that fits best for you. So, a lot of reasons for having the camera are obvious, right? We want to try to prevent any sort of party or unwanted guests or

unwanted pets. But what a lot of hosts are not doing is handling the backside of that. A lot of times guests show up with maybe one extra guest. Maybe they show up with their dog and they weren't supposed to. This is when your camera can truly shine and help you earn some additional revenue with your property. It's really quite simple. If your property accommodates six people and eight people show up, you can charge for those extra guests. If, and this is an important if, you have

it in your house rules or your rental agreement. If you want to just copy our house rules, which we have all of these things in place, well, you can grab a copy of that in the link down below. We also have a quick STR camera checklist, you can grab down below. It's got links to the cameras that we've mentioned, but also those really important reminders on camera placement, how to set it up for your team, all that good stuff. So, with the camera in place, there

are certain things that you want to check, right? You always want to verify your guest count. You always want to verify if guests are showing up with pets when they shouldn't be. There's some other benefits though. You get to know when your guests actually check in and you get to know when they're actually checking out. We always ask our guests what time they think they'll be leaving so we can help accommodate the cleaning schedules. Of course, they don't always tell us and a lot of times

they tell us, but it doesn't actually end up being the time that they're checking out. But when you see them walking out the front door with their luggage and getting in the car and driving away, well, it's a pretty good sign that they've just left your property. So, make sure you have your house rule set up properly. Make sure it accounts for pets if you don't allow pets. If you do allow pets, well, we highly encourage charging a pet fee. And not everyone always discloses they

have a pet. So, again, use the cameras to verify that. Use them to verify the guest count. And then if you do have some sort of issue at the property, well, you can handle it as soon as possible. You can also use the footage to send to the OTAAS like Airbnb or VBO to help your case. Let's recap just a couple quick tips. The more properties you have, the more likely people are going to be sneaking by and the more potential revenue you can recoup from

having these cameras. But you got to make sure you have a good system on the back end. If you've got a property up already and you've been letting some of these things just sort of slide because you don't want to do it yourself or you don't have the time, well, our team at Cory would love to help you with your property. We work with hundreds of properties in dozens of different markets. Can reach out to us. Just go to strriest.com. There's a little partner with us

button or you can check out our company website at cororsley zly.com. Okay, some last things. Remember, just to recap, make sure that your cameras cover every entry point. Make sure if it is a wireless camera that it's not too far from the entry points so that it still picks up the motion. Consider your region. If you're in a place that's very seasonal, dark, and cold, then you want to make sure you have a wired option. Actually, that's always the first option if you can, is make

sure that it's wired. Make sure that the recording starts when there's motion detected and it's not just recording 24/7. Make sure that your cameras are disclosed on all the rental platforms like Airbnb. That is a requirement. And lastly, don't put cameras in any place which invade privacy. Again, a big requirement and a reason that your listing can get taken down and deleted. I hope that gave you a couple tips. Remember, we've got our getting started checklist down below. We've also got a copy of our house

rules where you can just duplicate them and adjust them the way that works best for your property. Till next time, I hope that gave you some good insight and I hope you have a fabulous week.