Renting an Airbnb Could Be Risky For Your Safety, a New Study Finds

Booking an Airbnb rental may come with safety concerns you probably haven’t considered, according to a new study. A survey published Monday in the journal Injury Prevention reveals that many Airbnb properties do not contain safety equipment including smoke detectors, carbon monoxide (CO) detectors, fire extinguishers and first aid kits, potentially putting guests at risk in the event of an emergency. Researchers used InsideAirbnb.com, a third-party website that compiles publicly available information about Airbnb properties, to assess the prevalence of these resources in nearly 120,700 rental properties spread across 16 U.S. cities. The data spanned October 2015 to December 2016. The researchers found that 80% of homes reported having a smoke detector. But only 58% reported having a carbon monoxide detector, 42% reported having a fire extinguisher and 36% reported having a first aid kit. The actual numbers may be even lower, since there was no way to verify that each listing actually contained the amenities it claimed to have, or that they were in good working order, the authors say. On the other hand, some apartments or condominiums may have building-wide safety features independent of those reported by individual residents, the authors note. “At Airbnb, safety is our priority,” said Nick Shapiro, Airbnb Global Head of Trust and Risk Management, in a statement to TIME. “All hosts must certify that they follow all local laws and regulations. We run h...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthytime onetime Research Source Type: news