An Edinburgh resident has been left aghast after discovering what appeared to be a key safe - traditionally associated with Airbnb - attached to the stone border of a public park.
The Dean Park resident, who wishes to remain anonymous, came across the key safe at the Dean Village playpark when walking in the local area.
The safe looks identical to the kind used by Airbnb hosts to leave keys for guests staying in their properties in the city centre.
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Airbnb’s have been controversial in the capital with many pointing at a housing crisis for residents as short term lets across the city become more popular.
On the “cheeky key safe” the resident said: “It was attached to the local playground in Dean Village and they’ve clearly drilled into the stone to do so, as you can see the dust underneath, thereby damaging public property.
“The streets in Dean Village are cobbled, so we are now back to being woken up by the rattle of suitcases on the cobbles in the very early morning. I thought the pandemic would have killed a lot of these short term lets off, so it's annoying to see it all start up again.
“Drilling those lockbox safes into the wall of a conservation area seems pretty cheeky. Looking online, it turns out there have been some other odd places where the Airbnb lock safes have been placed: in a cemetery, public railings amongst others.
"Apparently it's to get around the regulations where you need consent from every household in the block to put a lockbox up. So they get out of it by sneaking them elsewhere.”
Airbnb has been contacted for comment but did not respond at the time of publishing.
