It was supposed to be a quiet weekend getaway. After weeks of non-stop work, my wife and I booked a charming little Airbnb tucked away on the outskirts of town. The listing promised “cozy rustic vibes,” and with its exposed brick walls, vintage furniture, and soft string lights, it seemed perfect. We unpacked, ordered takeout, and were just starting to settle in when my wife froze mid-sentence.
“There’s a blinking light on the smoke detector,” she whispered.
I looked up. Sure enough, a tiny red dot pulsed in the dim light above our bed. At first, I brushed it off—“probably just the battery or a Wi-Fi signal.” But something about the way it blinked—slow, deliberate—made my stomach tighten.
We got a chair and examined it closer. That’s when my wife noticed a faint lens inside the unit. It didn’t look like any ordinary smoke detector she’d seen before. We felt a wave of unease.
Then, as if on cue, my phone buzzed with a notification from the Airbnb app:
“Your host has sent you a message.”
I opened it immediately.
“Please do not tamper with the smoke detector. It’s a special system.”
No emojis. No explanation. Just that.
The room suddenly felt colder. Was it a hidden camera? A surveillance device? We quickly packed our things, took photos of the detector, and left the property. Later, after reporting it to Airbnb, we learned we weren’t the first guests to complain about suspicious devices in that listing.
That weekend taught us a hard lesson: always check your surroundings—especially in rentals. What looked like a simple blinking light turned out to be a warning sign we’ll never forget.