The Wi-Fi in your holiday let, and the devices in it

A holiday let is a network you do not control, in a house you do not control, with equipment that belongs to someone with a legitimate reason to be interested in it.

Most hosts are entirely ordinary. The point is that the defaults do not protect you, and a few minutes changes that.

What a host can see

Which sites you connect to. Every router logs it, and many consumer routers show it in a friendly list. They cannot read what you send — HTTPS covers that — but the list of names is available to whoever administers the network.

Which devices are connected, by name. "Sarah's iPhone" tells them who is in the property and how many of you there are.

How long you were in. Connection times are a rough record of when the property was occupied.

Nothing at all if you use mobile data. Which is the simple answer for anything you would mind.

What to do

Use your own data for anything that matters. Banking, work email, anything personal.

Use a VPN for the rest. This is the clearest case there is: one encrypted connection to a server you chose, and the property's router sees a single address instead of your browsing.

Rename your devices before you travel, so they do not announce your name to every network you join. iPhone: Settings, General, About, Name. Android: Settings, About phone, Device name.

Do not sign into the smart TV. This is the one people regret. Logging into Netflix, Amazon or Disney on a television in a rental leaves your account there, and "factory reset" is rarely done between guests. Cast from your phone instead, or sign out deliberately before you leave.

Forget the network when you leave. Otherwise your phone will cheerfully rejoin anything using that name, anywhere in the world.

Cameras

Outdoor cameras and video doorbells are permitted and should be disclosed in the listing. Cameras inside a property are not allowed by the major platforms, and cameras in a bedroom or bathroom are a criminal matter.

A reasonable check, which takes two minutes:

• Look at the obvious spots — smoke alarms, clock radios, plug-in air fresheners, anything

pointing at a bed with a small dark lens.

• Turn the lights off and sweep with a phone camera. Many infrared lenses show as a faint purple

dot on a phone screen.

• Look at the network. A free scanner app lists connected devices, and a camera usually announces

itself by manufacturer name. Not conclusive — plenty run on the host's separate network — but it is fast.

If you find one in a private space: do not touch it, photograph it in place, leave, and report it to the platform and the police.

Before you check out

Sign out of anything you signed into. Forget the Wi-Fi. Check the TV. Take the charger from behind the bedside table, which is where they all die.