To help us understand his loss, he also attached a photo of his mother. It was a sweet picture of an elderly woman with kind eyes and silver braids, sitting in the very same kitchen where we had made coffee just the day before.
At that point, I felt a wave of guilt. I had written a very scathing review, accusing him of privacy invasion. That review already had dozens of likes and comments from people piling on with anger and outrage. But how could I have known the true story behind the camera?
Namira was also conflicted. “What if he’s just trying to guilt us into deleting the review?” she wondered aloud.
“Maybe. But what if he’s not?” I replied.
We decided to pause our decision-making and reach out to Airbnb support for an impartial view. We needed to confirm Marten’s story. The support team confirmed that the host had indeed paused the listing for two months following a death in the family. It had only recently been reactivated by a different contact person—Marten’s sister—without his full knowledge.
The Crucial Detail
Then came the most important piece of information. Airbnb support mentioned a key detail: the camera in the smoke detector wasn’t a standard recording device. It was a specialized, motion-triggered alert cam connected to an emergency contact. It did not store footage; it only sent an alert to a phone when movement was detected, which was clearly set up for his mother’s safety.Continue reading…
