How can I find out if a building has Airbnb units?

Whether you are apartment hunting, considering a property purchase, or simply curious about your current building, there are several ways to find out if short-term rental units are operating nearby. Each method has trade-offs in terms of effort, accuracy, and completeness.

Manual platform searches. You can browse Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com, and similar platforms and try to match listings to a specific building by cross-referencing photos, descriptions, and the approximate map location that platforms display. This approach is free but time-consuming and unreliable because platforms intentionally obscure exact addresses until a booking is confirmed, and a single building may have listings spread across multiple platforms.

Physical observation. Visiting the building in person can reveal telltale signs: key lockboxes near unit doors, a high volume of guests with luggage in the lobby, cleaning crews rotating through units multiple times per week, or a noticeable lack of personal touches (nameplates, doormats, plants) on certain floors. These clues are useful but only confirm what you can see and will not tell you about units on floors you cannot access.

Ask building management. If you are a current tenant or a prospective buyer, you can ask the property manager, doorman, or HOA board directly whether short-term rentals are permitted and how many are currently operating. Some will be forthcoming; others may not have accurate information or may be reluctant to share it.

The most efficient approach is to use BnBDetector. Enter any address and receive a full report within seconds, including a BnBIndex score that quantifies short-term rental concentration, the number of detected listings, and contextual insights about the area. It is faster than manual searching, more thorough than physical observation, and does not require you to ask anyone for information they may not want to share.