468. Hosting Hotline: Should You Add a Security Camera to Your STR?
Thanks For Visiting
Airbnb Superhosts Annette Grant & Sarah Karakaian
4.9 • 589 Ratings
🗓️ 3 June 2025
⏱️ 9 minutes
🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you're a new host wondering whether a Ring camera is worth the investment—or how to manage your smart locks like a pro—you’re not alone.
On this Hosting Hotline episode, Sarah and Annette answer listener Winn’s questions about securing her very first short-term rental. They cover everything from guest privacy concerns to how often you should change your keypad code.
You’ll learn:
- What your insurance provider needs to know about outdoor cameras
- How to decide whether security devices are right for your listing
- Best practices for guest communication
- Manual vs. automated keypad code systems
- How to use SimplySafe or similar services for an extra layer of protection
Whether you’re managing one property or building a short-term rental portfolio, this episode will help you feel more confident about keeping your space—and your guests—safe.
Want to get your question answered on the show? Visit HostingHotline.com
RESOURCES:
- Hosting Handbook: Our on-demand course for new STR hosts
- SimplySafe: Affordable and easy-to-install home security systems
- Schlage Keypad Electronic Deadbolt
- Yale Assure Wi-Fi Connected Smart Lock
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're listening to the Thanks for Visiting Podcast. |
| 0:08.4 | We believe hosting with Heart is at the core of every short-term rental. |
| 0:12.5 | With Annette's background in business operation. |
| 0:15.1 | And Sarah's extensive hospitality management and interior design experience, |
| 0:19.1 | we have welcomed thousands of guests from over |
| 0:21.9 | 30 countries earning us over a million dollars and garnering us thousands of five-star reviews. |
| 0:28.4 | We love sharing creative ways for your listing to stand out, serve your guests, and be profitable. |
| 0:35.0 | Each episode, we will have knowledgeable guests who bring value to the short-term |
| 0:38.7 | rental industry. Or we will share our stories of our own experiences so you can implement |
| 0:43.7 | actual improvements to your rentals. Whether you're experienced, new, or nervous to start your own |
| 0:50.3 | short-term rental, we promise you'll feel right at home. |
| 1:04.0 | Thank you. your own short-term rental, we promise you'll feel right at home. Hello and welcome back to another great episode. My name is Sarah Caracan. I'm Annette |
| 1:09.2 | Grant and together we are. Thanks for visiting and this is the hosting hotline. |
| 1:13.6 | If you want to get your hosting questions answered here on the hotline, head on over to |
| 1:18.6 | hosting hotline.com. |
| 1:19.6 | Ask your question and we'll answer it here on the Tuesday episode each and every week. |
| 1:25.6 | Again, that's hosting hotline.com. And today we have a great question |
| 1:29.9 | from Wynn. Hi, Sarah and Annette. You've been keeping me company as I've been preparing my first |
| 1:36.4 | vacation rental. I'm learning so much and I'm actually signed up for the May boot camp. So thank you. |
| 1:43.1 | So my question with with enough detail, |
| 1:45.6 | like you ladies like to have high-level questions, I'll do my best here. It's a new listing, |
| 1:50.2 | and it's in a country setting, off the highway, two-story home, two-and-a-half acres, |
... |
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