Thousands of homeowners trust us to keep their home and guests safe, and we take that responsibility seriously. Over the last decade, we’ve built out a robust safety and security program. Read on to learn how we keep your home safe.
The vast majority of vacation home renters are respectful and responsible—but we’ve invested in a guest screening process that identifies the outliers through a combination of automation, identity verification, and customer service training.
While we can’t divulge all the details of how our screening process works (because in order for our program to be effective, it has to be confidential), here’s a high-level overview:
Our technology team has built a reservation system that automatically flags bookings with specific risk factors related to occupancy, location, and dates. For certain reservations, we use a highly reputable third-party identity verification service that prompts potential guests to answer questions about their personal history before they’re permitted to book a 10 Stars.
Any flagged reservations are assigned to a customer experience team member for personal review. These team members have been trained to closely examine reservation details (such as payment history and past 10 Stars bookings) and personally contact guests for follow-up. Our agents will have a respectful conversation with the guest, asking questions about their stay to evaluate risk, and share reminders about the rental terms (specifically highlighting the minimum age requirements as well as our good neighbor and no-party policies) the guest has agreed to follow. We offer (and may encourage) free cancellation to any guests who show the slightest hesitation about our rental policies.
Note that we are only evaluating for potential violation of our rental terms—we do not discriminate or tolerate discrimination against potential guests on the basis of any legally protected status, including race, gender, or age (beyond compliance with our minimum age policies).
We don’t recommend adding security cameras for most properties, but we can accommodate cameras under specific circumstances.
In general, the law doesn’t allow video surveillance in places or at times where guests have a reasonable expectation of privacy. So, certain security devices that are perfectly legal in your full-time residence (like a video doorbell with audio recording features) can be problematic for vacation rentals, where guests have occupancy rights and can reasonably expect not to be recorded. Here are specific use cases for cameras:
Microphones and sound recording devices aren’t permitted in 10 Stars.
This is because, under federal and many state laws, it’s illegal to record or listen to a person who isn’t in a public place without the consent of at least one party to the conversation. A person listening in (e.g., you as the homeowner) does not count as someone who can consent, because you aren’t there, taking part in the conversation. The ban on eavesdropping and sound recording applies even in places where the guest is publicly visible, as long as they can’t expect to be heard. As noted below, this makes doorbell cameras and other cameras with audio capability potentially problematic.
Video doorbells (such as Ring or Nest) are also more complex, because many include features to record or transmit audio. If we can disable audio transmission, these cameras can be used according to the same guidelines as regular video cameras. If the doorbell’s audio can’t be disabled, we will need to disclose the audio recording feature.
To keep your home and guests safe, specific safety equipment is required for all 10 Stars, including smoke and carbon monoxide detectors, a fire extinguisher, a first aid kit, and flashlights.
Even with careful guest screening, the occasional accident does happen—and we’re prepared to handle it as quickly and painlessly as possible.