Airbnb host Matthew Page pleads guilty to recording intimate images of 16 guests

An Airbnb host who confessed to secretly recording his male and female guests in intimate moments will remain on bail over the festive period.

Matthew Page, 62, pictured outside Manly Local Court during a previous court appearance. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

A Northern Beaches man who confessed to secretly recording 16 people inside his Airbnb flat has been allowed to remain on bail in the community over the festive season.

Matthew Page, 63, pleaded guilty to a host of recording intimate images without consent charges and a single count of producing child abuse material after he admitted to setting up six secret cameras inside the Newport Airbnb and recording men, women and a child in various states of undress.

Page’s sick acts were uncovered when a guest found one of the hidden cameras on a garbage bin in the bathroom in January 2023 and contacted police.

Officers attended the home and seized electronic devices during their search but Page was not arrested until May 2023.

He spent a night behind bars on remand before being granted strict conditional bail the following which included conditions that he report to police daily, lodge a $5,000 surety and not contact any former Airbnb guests.

Page (left), pictured with his lawyer outside court during a previous appearance. Picture: Jim O'Rourke

Page subsequently pleaded guilty to the charges in the NSW District Court in October.

The Director of Public Prosecutions did not make an application at the time to revoke Page’s bail and it was formally continued by the duty judge, who set a sentencing date set for March next year.

According to agreed facts, Page operated the Airbnb with his wife, who the court heard had no knowledge of his depraved acts and is not accused of any wrongdoing.

The court documents state the guest who discovered the cameras had been staying at the premises with her partner when she noticed a little black tab on the foot pedal of a bin inside the bathroom.

She showed her partner, who agreed it looked like a camera.

The pair phoned police and the Airbnb support line as they packed their belongings, preparing to leave.

The court heard Page approached them and asked if everything was okay.

The man replied “no, we found a hidden camera in the bathroom.”

Page said “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have done that. That was me, I did it” before asking “did you call the cops?”

The man replied “yes, you should wait in the house. We’ll see you when the cops get here.”

Police arrived a short time later and extracted the camera, which had been fixed to the base of the bin with Blu Tack.

Page remains on bail and will face sentencing at Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court in February.

Page denied all knowledge of the camera when questioned by police, the agreed facts stated.Officers searched the home after obtaining a warrant, seizing a laptop, hard drives, USB sticks and iPhone and four pinhole cameras.

The camera discovered on the bin was found to be connected to a central processor device which contained a 64g SD card.

Police found more than 150 files on the card, each covering five minute increments.

The court heard an examination of the electronic devices showed edited videos gathered from the six cameras, which had been set up to cover every section of the internal parts of the Airbnb, leaving guests with no privacy. Police identified 16 victims in total including a 13-year-old girl who had stayed at the premises with her mother.

Under Airbnb’s policy for the use of cameras and recording devices, its host can only place cameras and noise monitoring devices in public spaces such as the driveway or front door.

These devices must be disclosed in the property’s listing description.

Cameras and recording devices are not allowed, as part of the policy, to be installed in private spaces such as “bedrooms, bathrooms or common areas being used as sleeping areas, like a living room with a sofa bed”.

Do you have a story for The Daily Telegraph? Message 0481 056 618 or email [e-mail]

Originally published as Airbnb host Matthew Page pleads guilty to recording intimate images of 16 guests