Shalom Home? More Like Cold, Dark, Nightmarish Airbnb

Posted on April 13, 2021

We recently stayed in a very cool home in the mountains of Glenwood Springs, Colorado, but it turned out to be awful. I tried to post an honest respectful review on Airbnb, it was quickly removed. When I asked the customer service rep how many reviews the host had had removed, the representative went quiet.

First of all, the host seemed to be represent herself as Jewish. When I walked in, she had Christian music playing and there was Christian and Republican literature all over the house. Was she hoping to convert us? My friend mentioned how lucky she was to live somewhere so beautiful and she told us it wasn’t luck, it was Jesus.

When we came home the first night after skiing all day and swimming in the hot springs all evening, the lights didn’t work, but we were too exhausted to say anything. The next day, the sun was out and we forgot all about the lights. We tried to shower, but the water would not get hot. I asked the host about it and she said to let it run. We let it go for a half hour and it never heated up. My ten-year-old daughter tried to take a cold shower but came out crying hysterically because she was shivering to the bone. Five of us didn’t shower for four days.

When it got dark that night and we realized there were no lights, my friend was trying to turn on one lamp and a sharp edge of a decorative wrought iron leaf sliced her hand open. When the host came to figure out the lights, she dismissed the cut as nothing. We did get the lights working, but the TV was useless. We took a photo of the lamp and the cut and Airbnb did nothing.

The host also stated in her rules that we could only eat in the kitchen. There were two chairs and a tiny table so I told the kids to go ahead and eat in the living room because if she couldn’t provide electricity and a shower in the 21st century, then I don’t have to following her eating rules. That night we had bought firewood to build a fire and sit around and enjoy the great outdoors of Colorado. When we returned, the host told us that the fire pit was closed for the season, but there was no mention of this in her description. She sent us the rules after she decided it was closed.

I tried to post this all on my Airbnb review, less the Christian stuff because I wanted to keep it unbiased and stick to the facts even though her proselytizing made us very uncomfortable, but it is her house and those books wouldn’t cause a bacterial infection like open wounds and not bathing. Airbnb took down the review and said it was not in accordance with their policy. Not bathing during a pandemic is okay to Airbnb?

Atheist Airbnb Host Versus Religious Guest

Posted on December 10, 2019

I was renting my studio on Airbnb since 2016 and everything had gone fine. I did host people from all over the world of all ethnicities and they all did like the place a lot… until the day I received a reservation inquiry for a four-week stay of a certain guest. As this person had very few positive reviews, I decided to check his profile on Facebook and discovered lots of disturbing posts, especially for an atheist like me.

As my studio is located in in the same house where I live with my family, I decided to decline his inquiry. However, I also wanted to politely explain why I did it. So, in summary, I told him that being an atheist I had problem with his profile and I also added that that in my views religions (all of them) were toxic inventions that were made to divide us. I ended my message with a ‘salam’, meaning “peace”.

One hour later my account was deleted. The guest felt so offended that he claimed a file for “Islamophobia”. Airbnb didn’t even bother to contact me to see what the problem was. What counts is money and only money; they don’t care if you’re comfy or not with a given reservation. I’ve included some of the disturbing posts that motivated my refusal.

Host Nightmare: Religious Beliefs vs. Guest Rights

Posted on February 13, 2017

I have had the worst experience hosting in my house. The guest’s name is Fernando, staying from January 10th to February 14th, 2017. I’m really upset about his behavior – his irresponsible act of throwing a lot of tissues into my toilet until it was clogged. I spent 350,000 rupees to fix that and I decided to just let it be my burden. Second, he didn’t put any effort into keeping the house clean. Everything was always messed up: all his clothes were scattered around the floor, and his hair after shaving was everywhere on the floor. He left the house in a condition where all my appliances were on, which is very dangerous. Can you imagine if there was any short circuit that could cause a fire? I have always asked for his permission whenever there’s a regular checkup and he said I was snooping on him. It’s normal to have a regular checkup in my own house otherwise he would have broken all my belongings. I do respect him as a guest in my country, but I don’t think he does the same to me. He has known from the beginning that my neighborhoods are predominantly Muslim, and he didn’t seem to respect that.

Last thing, I just can’t tolerate the fact he brought a woman to my house for sex. Though there wasn’t any stated rule that prohibits adultery on my property, it is an obvious covenant for Muslims to never allow adultery in any way. This isn’t a hotel; this is my house and it is strictly prohibited for adultery to happen in my house and around the neighborhood. He should have known this because I told him in the very beginning that the neighborhoods are predominantly Muslim, and he definitely knows that Muslims are prohibited from allowing adultery. However, he just didn’t abide by the covenant. I have always tried to do my best to serve him as my guest: I’ve tried to fix anything he has complained about, I’ve tried to fulfill his requests, and I’ve definitely asked for his permission when my family visits to have a regular checkup of the property. We’ve always emptied his trash and cleaned the house. I apologize for this situation, but bringing a woman in the house is truly crossing the line.

I have a lot of friends from the US and all other parts in the worlds as my business partners, and this is truly the first disappointing experience for me. He is my first and my last guest because I’ve unlisted all my houses on Airbnb. Now he is requesting a refund because security chased that woman out of my house after his stay was almost finished. After all he has done to my house, it’s really challenging my sanity. I’ve tried to call Airbnb in the US, Malaysia and Singapore so many times. I’ve stayed on the phone for ten minutes and there isn’t any answer. It is so frustrating to have never reached Airbnb customer service for resolving such problems.