Last week, we discussed approaches that operators use to prevent parties at their properties. Often a human on or near the site can watch the property, but humans can be expensive, intrusive, and are limited in the geographic area they can monitor.
Video cameras are a common security monitoring solution and can also be used to monitor for parties. These cameras can provide a live view of your property so you can see activities as they happen. Video surveillance is broadly available, and several prominent vendors such as Nest and Ring provide cameras, making their availability plentiful. Cameras can also be used to view front door activities, such as package deliveries.
However, video surveillance requires operators to make tradeoffs. Cameras afford guests no privacy whatsoever. Coverage is limited to the field of view, leaving inevitable blindspots. Additionally, cameras come with certain legal concerns about privacy, and some OTAs place limitations on cameras—especially indoors and in private areas.
Monitoring cameras can be difficult, and the cost of monitoring is a hidden cost of cameras. There are also limited options for monitoring visitors or multiple properties simultaneously. Cameras do not proactively warn operators of issues, meaning trouble often has already been reported by the time you are alerted. Also, cameras can be easily found and tampered with by merely covering the camera with a piece of tape, a towel, etc. Finally, cameras can be expensive and run into the thousands of dollars to provide complete coverage, especially if you need to pay for a monitoring service or an employee to monitor the feed.
Party Squasher sensors afford privacy for guests, cover entire properties, and do not require proactive monitoring. The sensors are also tamper-proof and can be placed in a locked closet. Next, we will look at an alternative monitoring technology, sound monitoring.
