Category Archives: Airbnb Host Stories

These are real, uncensored stories from Airbnb Hosts.  We encourage our site visitors to read and share their Airbnb Host Stories to help warn others of the dangers of using Airbnb, and consider using alternative options in the sharing economy.

I was Robbed by My Guest and Airbnb

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I have been managing vacation rentals for over eight years. I’ve enjoyed welcoming people into my homes and take great pride in providing them with a clean, warm, and welcoming place to stay. I decided to try Airbnb in the hopes of increasing the number of rentals during my slow season (summers in Arizona don’t make it a wildly popular place to travel). My first guest booked a property for five nights. According to Airbnb, the payout for the reservation should have been in my account 24 hours after check-in. That did not happen. I went to my property after the guest checked out and was shocked and disturbed by what I walked into. My house was trashed and reeked of cigarette smoke, and I had been robbed. I called the police and followed up with a call to Airbnb.

I was told to use the Resolution Center to ask the guest that robbed me for the money to cover the cost of the items he stole. This didn’t really make much sense to me… but I did it. I was told he then had 72 hours to respond and if there had been no resolution Airbnb would get involved. Big surprise… the man that robbed me didn’t respond. That 72 hours passed a week ago. I have called and emailed Airbnb multiple times and received absolutely no explanation about what they are doing on their end to help resolve this matter. The customer service people just read from their script and tell me it’s being “investigated.”

Here’s the kicker: I never received payment from the reservation. The robbery and security deposit aside, I was never even paid by Airbnb for the five nights he stayed at my house. I’ve resorted to a negative post on their Facebook page to which they responded with a DM then on Twitter. Still there has been no response, explanation, or money in my account. I have been robbed by both the guest that stayed in my home and now by Airbnb. I feel totally violated and I can’t do a thing about it other than share my experience with as many people as possible in the hopes that no one else has to go through what I am going through.

The Last Straw: Tired of Being an Airbnb Host

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I’ve been a host for three years now and have stayed in Airbnbs around the world several times. After several years, I have finally had it: I am ending my relationship with Airbnb and moving on to long term renters. I have two listings; one is private room in my condo, and the other is an entire home (one-bedroom condo) that I purchased for the sole purpose of renting it out. This post is to discourage others from becoming involved with Airbnb. It’s been a rough ride these fast few years… In the early days, there were sweet guests who brought gifts, followed the rules and genuinely wanted to get to know the person they were living with or living under. Over time though, guests seem to be more driven by finding cheap accommodations and the demands are ever increasing. They expect deep cleans of the condo but argue with me over the cleaning fees, ask to borrow my car, and complain about the pillows being too soft or hard. They will empty out my mini bar and leave no monetary contribution, walk around in their underwear, be mean to my cat, etc.

The listing says the condo is not metro accessible but they didn’t want to pay the high rate to stay on the metro line and don’t have a car to get to the grocery store. If the condo doesn’t have something in stock like some flour, they simply knock on a neighbor’s door (which is terribly rude – they don’t have a rapport with that person and sometimes don’t return the item they borrowed). Airbnb requires guests to list a phone number but many times I’ve found that number is not the actual guest’s number or the guest doesn’t have an international plan and his phone is useless. There were some guests that had me constantly running back and forth: they needed more baking sheets, then a crock pot, vinegar, and sunscreen, and they didn’t even have the courtesy to leave a review.

The maximum occupancy is six guests but I charge an additional $5 after two guests; somehow, magically, no one ever has any party larger than two. I realize I could snoop around or try and check in and maybe I could see how many folks are staying there, but the minute I say “Hey, the listing requires an additional $5/person and you have six here so I will be adding $100 to your stay,” I am basically asking for a terrible review. I have seen the nicest people turn vicious and threaten to say I am prejudiced or discriminating. The accusation is already enough to ruin people nowadays. Airbnb touts this “trust community” but over 90% of my guests are first time renters and many of them rent infrequently.

Airbnb asks that I leave fresh flowers, breakfast foods, wine and beverages, games, and snacks. Less than 5% of guests have ever just left a few dollars. A Sam Adams beer might be $7 from a mini bar in a hotel, but you can’t leave $1 for the two you drank? Really? This is how you would treat a friend who was hosting you? Guests have broken things in front of me; I have taken diligent pictures, submitted my quote to Airbnb’s Resolution Center, where as always the guest refuses to pay, and even though I have a Security Deposit and have been a Super Host for three years I have to go through Airbnb’s insurance policy for a $12 plate. I have made a lot of money with Airbnb but I constantly check myself to make sure I am not being greedy and overcharging.

Sometimes, peoples’ personal stories do make me empathize. I’ve let pets stay on request, allowed early or late check outs when I can, picked up items from the grocery store, and given rides to the city center. Guests will ignore my calls for a day then expect me to pick up after two rings every time. As a host it just comes down to Airbnb as a company. I don’t believe they will take care of me if something bad happens. I’ve often wondered if convicted sex offenders can rent out rooms in homes (how would we know?). Airbnb puts all the tax strains on me and forces me to pay the occupancy tax (which I’m happy to do, but it would be nice if they took on the administrative burden).

Despite three years of loyalty I never get a thank you card or Airbnb travel credit, and in the hospitality industry usually employees are at least reminded how important they are. Last but not least, I feel really terrible for my neighbors. Over the years some have been kind while others have gone to the Condo Board and local county government. There was one gentleman who lived in the building who wrote his congressman, county officials, and attorneys. While he was a little over the top, I get it: he wanted actual neighbors and not a revolving door. Who would buy the condo next to the full time Airbnb? If I ever thought I was hosting individuals who were going to have a disruptive vacation I would never have accepted that reservation. It is so hard to screen guests because I only see a picture and a paragraph or two, and anyone can say they are in the area visiting family or friends. The review system is pretty hit or miss; sometimes it’s hard to leave a negative review because I have to question if I’m being too judgmental or expecting too much from the guests. Goodbye Airbnb. You just saw a little piece of your paycheck prance over to YourHomeSuite.

Legal Troubles with Airbnb: Is it Worth the Hassle?

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We are currently going through an ordeal with Airbnb where a recent guest party resulted in us having to cancel one month’s worth of rentals. We would go into more details about what the guest did and how Airbnb handled it but at this moment sharing more information publicly may make us easily identifiable by Airbnb. They may terminate our account to destroy evidence of message histories and emails, etc. It may also bias a future potential legal case. We filed a claim with Airbnb for theft, damages, and lost booking revenue under the Airbnb Host Guarantee and were sure that they would take responsibility and help us. After many emails and phone calls and not being called back, experiencing the exact same horrific lack of support for hosts as has been described over and over here, eventually Airbnb agreed to compensate us for only some of the stolen and damaged items. They have also agreed to compensate us for our lost revenue from the bookings we had to cancel.

However, Airbnb consistently refuses to compensate us for our lost booking revenue (nearly 10000 GBP) from our cancelled bookings from competing sites such as Home Away, Owners Direct, Holiday Lettings and FlipKey. This despite the fact that we have provided Airbnb with documentation which validates that these are bonafide bookings that we had to cancel in the aftermath of the Airbnb guest party. We have also provided a police report number and other relevant documentation to Airbnb. They are referring to their vaguely formulated Host Guarantee Terms, i.e. this paragraph:

“Booking Income Loss is the loss of booking income from the booked portion of a Covered Accommodation (according to bona fide Airbnb confirmed bookings, contracts or agreements in force prior to the established time of loss) by you, as a Host, resulting from a Covered Loss. Booking Income Loss does not include non-continuing charges and expenses or any loss of booking income during any period in which the Covered Accommodation would not have been tenantable for any reason other than a Covered Loss. The Booking Income Loss will be measured by Airbnb’s insurer starting from the time of occurrence of the Covered Loss and ending when the Covered Accommodation can be made ready for habitation under the same or equivalent physical and operating conditions that existed prior to the damage.”

From this paragraph it is not clear that Airbnb will not cover lost revenue from competing booking sites and Airbnb is clearly just trying their best to escape paying us. So far we have not accepted their offer of compensation as it does not cover our losses from accepting a booking from this verified Airbnb guest. We are now considering our options and we understand from reading various articles on Airbnbhell.com that the only two options available to us are to get media coverage or engage a lawyer.

Can any host on this forum please share with us if they know of any successful cases where a host has brought legal action against Airbnb? Is it worth our time, effort and money to try to fight such a big organization that has the legal backing and resources to win legal battles against entire cities? Do you have any recommendations as to what type of lawyer would be suitable? Is this property law? Contract law? Dispute law? Do you have any recommendations for lawyers in the UK who have had experience successfully running host cases against Airbnb? Or is it better to let the national newspapers run a story about this? If so – would Airbnb be more likely to compensate our losses then? All we want is to get our losses covered so we can keep up our financial obligations for our property and get back on track with our rental. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Elderly Airbnb Guest in Germany Kicks Cat, Steals Keys

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This is my story of hosting a Spanish woman; I offer tips on avoiding weird guests on Airbnb and alternatives to Airbnb:

1. Use Wimdu instead. It’s a German platform. I have switched to Wimdu and like it.

2. Don’ t ever assume Airbnb customer service will help. They are a bunch of useless employees.

Made no mistake, those two points are equally important.

3. Avoid taking bookings from this guest.

4. The guest asked to stay in my flat for a month. She told me she was visiting to improve her English, and used a picture of a lovely flower as her profile picture. I assumed (big mistake) that I was going to host a young, open minded student… never ever take bookings from people who are not verified and who hide their real photos using pictures of flowers, cats, dogs, etc. I did not know that I was going to host a narrow minded 70 year old from Spain who was expecting me to be her maid.

5. On the arrival day, I saw her: a 70-year-old lady who struggled to find my place, wearing heels, with her lovely toenails painted red. She was the kind of person who thinks “you are my maid because I am renting a room in your house.” She wanted me to take her to the shop (LIDL) to buy food. Because she was quite old I tried to be nice so I took her to LIDL in my car, she did her shopping, and she called me on the phone to pick her up when she was finished (like I was a taxi service)

6. The second day, she pushed us to have dinner together because she had to improve her English. I said, “Well, I am not starving; I will have dinner later.” She replied, “Okay, then I will wait and I will have dinner with you.”

7. On the third day, she woke up in the morning “fresh like a flower” after she had been snoring the whole night (I got no sleep…) and she asked me about breakfast. I simply said: “No, I’m not cooking breakfast for you.” I never offered breakfast in my listing; it was just the room with ensuite bathroom, fresh towels and linen, and free use of the kitchen.

8. Day 4: she realized she had no travel adapter. I told her that there is a shop close by that sells them, and she replied, “You have more than one so you have to give me one of yours.” I just said “No…”

9. Day 5: she started using the washing machines (I’m not talking about one but multiple washing machines and driers) at 7:00 AM… on a lovely Saturday morning… the fact that I was still in bed and the washing machine was bloody noisy did not even bother the “princess.”

10. Day 6: I went out, came back, and caught her hitting my poor kitty cat. Finally, this was too much. I called Airbnb, told them I wanted to her out of my flat. Airbnb contacted her, so the fresh flower came to me and said, “Okay, I can leave… but you have to find me some new accommodation.”

11. I gave her the phone number of a 4-star hotel where she could be treated like a real lady, a fresh flower. However, I doubt that even in a 4-star hotel someone would have given her a travel adapter.

12. Finally, when she checked out at 9:30 AM, I stopped her and asked for the keys. She replied: “I am going downstairs to the car and then I am coming back to get my second suitcase.” I waited and waited and waited…. but she did not come back. I called her and she hung up on me. I texted her and told her to come back, take her suitcase, and give me the keys. No reply. Basically, I had her suitcase and she had my keys. I didn’t know where she was, and she could enter my flat anytime she wanted. I contacted Airbnb immediately. They replied: “She can’t give you the keys because she is busy finding new accommodations.”

At 4:00 PM I went to a locksmith to change the locks at my flat (120 euros). I called Airbnb and they said the same thing again – “she is busy looking for a new place” – so I told them: “Okay, it seems that you are not helping at all. I do not know what’s in this suitcase so I am going to the police station to hand the suitcase to a police officer.” An Airbnb representative called me back after five minutes (the case manager of my original contact) and begged me not to involve the police. He asked me to go the the hotel where she was staying – I thought that she had been looking for accommodations…? – and to give her the suitcase. I told him to tell the fresh flower to go to the police station to collect her suitcase because I had no intention of going to her hotel. Finally at 5:00 PM I managed to get my keys back thanks to the police.

When the adventure with the fresh flower was finally over, I asked Airbnb for compensation because I had had to replace the locks in my flat. Obviously, there was no compensation and they have not paid me for the six nights the “fresh flower” stayed in my flat. I had never had a cancellation before and I won’t have cancellations again; I am not using Airbnb anymore.

New Discrimination Policy: Instant Book

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I’m happy to see Airbnb beginning to address this. However, as a former host, I hope that the ability of hosts to screen customers does not take a backseat to guest satisfaction. Keep in mind you are profiting from people hosting strangers in their personal space – that involves a great deal of trust from a host.  My husband and I found a number of new Airbnb users were approaching booking our home as a hotel rather than a private residence. This included property damage, leaving our home a pig pen, leaving kids unattended, and rendezvous putting us in awkward situations with unhappy spouses. These incidents caused us to hesitate when booking new Airbnb users who did not have any reviews. The increase in promotions on airlines and the number of first time travelers resulted in requests from people looking for a cheap place to stay rather than a home stay experience. I would find it imposing to restrict the ability to screen just for the sake of a few hurt feelings, especially when our booking history showed we welcomed all races, genders, and sexuality into our home.  The problem with “instant book” is that it removes the initial communication between hosts and guests.  Please do not penalize your hosts who are hesitant to allow just anyone into their homes. We are not prejudiced – we are protecting our family and our belongings from those who do not understand the culture of Airbnb. Thank you for your consideration to those who make your business possible.

Negative Airbnb Review in Middle of Investigation

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Airbnb customer support is horrific. Every time I have sought help, I found no help whatsoever. I have been cut off, told investigations have been opened which resulted in negative reviews, and they do not consider them in violation of Airbnb guidelines. They treat their customers with disgust. I will not be making money for their company any longer. When I unlisted my account I was told to send an email which brought me to a support page that purposely deters people from actually contacting customer support or leaving feedback. The pretense that they are here to help is false, and obvious. They do little to nothing to help, let their agents give horrific advice and support, and let their customers take the fallout for it, all while taking their money.

Their business practices are shameful. I was told to open an investigation with my guests about stolen headphones, which resulted in a negative review (a direct response to the investigation I was directed to open by Airbnb’s support team). The evidence that the review is negative due to this is written in the review. I do not see why that is acceptable. If somebody steals my things and I have to look into it, they are apparently allowed to write that as a negative for their stay. It violates Airbnb’s policy but they have no issue with it. They are making me do this despite the fact the headphones were not in a common area, and should be covered by their host guarantee, which you can never seem to avail yourself of. It is a lie. I do not see why once an investigation is opened, a review can still be left reflecting that. The only reason is simple: they do not want hosts (or guests) to open investigations because it causes them more trouble. They want you to accept your losses as your own and not start an investigation. “Be a good little customer, and there will be no bad reviews and no trouble.” It is that simple.

They deter you from using customer support and their guarantee as much as they can. I was directed to open investigations by their support team regarding my stolen headphones because they stated it was necessary to do so to reclaim the loss. I have now done so, and received negative reviews as a result. This is a direct result of their support team’s advice, and they do not consider it an issue that this is easily possible for reviews to be left in the wake of open investigations that they told me to open. The review does not directly state the entire issue, but does most certainly make reference to it. As Airbnb policy states, a review is disallowed when there is “content that refers to an Airbnb investigation.” It most definitely does refer to it. It is not hidden. And it is through their support that this has occurred. Contact with Airbnb has been meaningless at best. They will not honor their guarantee and they will not honor their own policies when their policies support you. However, they will take 20% of the total booking income, and do their best to make it look like they don’t. I think they need to seriously rethink their policies and staff training.

Resolution Center Useless after Guests Destroy Home

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A guest made a reservation for himself and his girlfriend to stay at our home for one night to attend a wedding. He had positive reviews so we booked him for one night, two guests. In our house rules and in our description we are adamant that we do not allow parties or gatherings at our home and that the maximum number of guests in our home is eight. We received a call at midnight from our neighbor saying there was a huge party at our home. Cars were everywhere – all over the lawn and in the creek – and there were hundreds of people on the property. We called the police and arrived with them. There really were hundreds of people at our house. The guest was charging “admission” to attend this raging party. There were over 300 people crammed into our home.

Music, marijuana, and alcohol was present, along with who knows what else. Our furniture was all over the yard. Over an inch of liquid and mud was on our hardwood floors. There was a billowing mass of marijuana smoke and cigarettes, alcohol, and tobacco all over our furniture. The floors, counters, bathrooms, toilets, and tubs were stuffed with paper and clogged; water was everywhere. Cars were stuck all over our lawn that made huge muddy track marks and destroyed our lawn. The result of this was horrific. There was tons of damage to our home. However, we were incredibly frugal and were hoping to fix things ourselves. We found some initial contractors who would do the immediate repairs at a low cost so our initial estimate for repairs was VERY low. This was incredibly generous of us as we could have hired large companies and looked at bills that were several thousands of dollars.

We have repeatedly phoned Airbnb. No one in the imaginary “resolution center” will ever speak to us. We can only get as far as someone who will basically do nothing for us but say we have to wait for the resolution center to respond. “I’m sorry, Lisa but they do not have phones and we cannot contact them directly.” My house was destroyed and yet all I have received are insipid responses from some clerk who is clearly too important to ever call me back. It has been three weeks and now I am not even getting a response via email. I have emailed “Jenn” every day and there has been no response. I supplied photos, invoices, videos, a police report, and statements and cannot get a response from Airbnb. The people who deceived us and had a raging party for profit at our home made more money than we did and Airbnb won’t even release our security deposit to us.

The resolution center is a joke. There is no way to reach anyone at this company that has a clue and can effectively help a host when their home is destroyed. If anyone has any advice on how to help us please let us know. We cannot get any response from Airbnb. There is a clear violation here backed up by a police report so I’m not sure what the issue is aside from the fact Airbnb deceived us and that there is no protection for hosts. The damage is clear yet Airbnb stands in the way of collecting the deposit that was put in place to protect us. There is no protection for Airbnb hosts.

Neither Host nor Guest, Neighbors of Airbnb Suffer

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Here lies the problem. Airbnb Hell has only has two categories for posting: guest or host. Airbnb also only has two categories for complaints: guest or host. There needs to be a third option: neighbors of Airbnb. One by one, every time a long-term tenant moves out of my block, his home is taken over by estate agents running Airbnb units. In a year’s time they have gone from running one flat to six. On multiple occasions, I’ve had entire families in my stairwell sitting there when I get home, unable to get into the Airbnb unit. I’ve had people come down and knock on my door asking for help while I’m on business calls and Skype. There have been parties of 30+ people who have brought their own sound systems. The audible noise of people vomiting and urinating off of an unregulated balcony with no railings out back was particularly disturbing, as is the thought of a guest unknowingly tossing a cigarette butt down the 5-meter empty space beside the unit and causing a fire, or even worse someone falling down and killing himself.

The particular unit above me was listed with the intention of becoming a sort of youth hostel in a residential area. They list the property as ‘sleeps up to 12’ and ‘suitable for events’. It is an open plan unit with one official bedroom. What often happens is a large group books the unit for a big night out in London. The person with the key comes home first and passes out. All the mates come back later after the clubs close and ring every buzzer not knowing how to get in.

There’s something strange going on in unit to my left. The same three lads stay there every couple of weeks, always on a Monday or Tuesday. Once I could not sleep and went outside to view the properties from the street. I saw two people come along and throw rocks at that unit until they were let in. Turns out the host will hang out in the unit if there are no bookings with his mates and party it up. My neighbor who has a business above this property has complained to the host about weed wafting up while he has clients during office hours on weekdays. The host spat at him. He didn’t even bother to lie. I don’t care what recreational activities people take part in. I am as open minded as it comes. However, when my home life (or my neighbor’s business) is in serious detriment because of Airbnb, we have a problem. I don’t live in a warehouse space. I don’t live in a squat. I live in a contained flat that somehow I’ve been able to maintain for ten years and I’m very proud of that fact. The sharing economy can be great. Sometimes though, the sharing economy = the sharing of one’s sanity with strangers getting a good deal.