The property exterior was really junky: some cats on the porch that I was allergic to. Airbnb was awesome, though, when I had to cancel the reservation. I didn’t say terrible things or write any review; I just went to a hotel and called Airbnb. Now, a week later, I’m getting texts in the middle of the night from the host, ranting long paragraphs about what a terrible person I am. I had to call Airbnb to be sure that the host didn’t get a copy of my driver’s license. I’m happy to know that hosts do not receive that information, because she is still sending the messages today.

The post Stalker Host Keeps up Messages for Weeks appeared first on Airbnb Hell.

I contacted Airbnb about this and asked politely if this was one of the individuals who had harassed me. Instead of clarifying this, Airbnb just closed my account leaving me stuck looking for accommodation during peak season with all affordable hotels and hostels fully booked. I had to buy a last minute flight and leave the country as I couldn’t find anywhere else to stay.

Recently I have been desperate to find a place to stay, and called Airbnb to see if they could reopen my account. They told me they deleted it permanently so I would lose all my hosts’ positive reviews. Since setting up another account, either the hosts and trolls or Airbnb began to post some extremely disturbing pictures for their properties which have been passed on to the police, USA Housing complaints commission, BBB and various other consumer rights advocacies. In one they had an illustration of a crucified woman naked that looked like me, in another had a room with wall paper that was tin foil with nothing else in the room but a hospital stand and a black condom hanging, and in another they were posting even images of women that resembled me. Another showed a tent in a public park charging $54 per night.

I have been cyberstalked since and left homeless. The police don’t want to help and these harassers have made it almost impossible for me to find a place to stay. There are social network trolls and then there are creeps posting photographs on rental sites the service should just get rid of. I had my account closed down for asking if an actor I detest had any contact with their agency, nothing else. They let creeps host with the most ridiculous rental offers but they often treat guests like crap.

The post Guests Don’t Have Much Respect For Hosts appeared first on Airbnb Hell.

I had reserved another place in advance through Airbnb. My account was reopened but after I asked them for clarification through a polite email if a third party had been behind what happened abroad, they canceled my reservation and closed my account permanently with no explanation. My solicitor tried to get them to provide a legal reason, and their response was: “We as Airbnb have the right to cancel anyone’s account without providing a valid explanation.” Since then, we haven’t had any further clarification. It’s been three years and I have been struggling to find another rental. My previous references from people I rented from were on Airbnb, so if I find a property they will ask me to provide a reference from a previous rental. I can’t do this since my account was closed down and I have no access to any of these hosts I rented from. They shouldn’t allow third party individuals or companies to manipulate their organization on whether I can or can’t use their service, or to spy on users. Support guests as much as hosts who are being troubled by online trolls or stalking problems that weren’t their fault.

The consequences of having my rentals closed had an extremely negative effect on my future travel plans in 2015. A guest’s personal possessions are not insured but of course, the host’s are. So if a friend of the host comes along and tries to steal your stuff, it’s gone. For a laugh, the corrupt company has even added a woman to their homepage that resembles me, as a piss take on me. This is how extremely arrogant they are; this wrecked three years of my life. Not only did they cause severe grievances that were a consequence of what happened thereafter, they have been arrogant to use a member as their “theme” on their site, instead of being professional and keeping quiet about what they participated in – discriminant and illegal. They are absolute hypocrites. They don’t seem to have any respect for users’ privacy so I most likely will never be able to use them again.

Somebody had told me a media production might have been stalking me through this rental service. I didn’t think that was possible until I noted recently they have even posted three film directors on their front page that have no relevance to renting. What are they doing? Hiding cameras in people’s bedrooms as part of a snuff film? They are the typical silicon valley “we’re nice hipsters but secretly we’re planing on using you, ruining your life and future plans, and closing all your rentals and accounts. We are millionaires and you’re an insignificant guest; we can do what we want.”

If you look at all the other rental providers, they have struggled to offer nice properties because Airbnb has been hogging all the best available short-term sublets. At least that’s what one rental company told me when I was struggling to find a place: they said they didn’t stand a chance in offering a lot of available places as Airbnb was taking all of them.

So if your account gets unfairly closed down, you need a flexible rental service that doesn’t ask for rental guarantors and other references, if you’re worried about your safety and are in need of finding a rental that shows exactly with whom you’re sharing and that they have been securely verified, there are very few platforms like Airbnb offering those. I tried Spareroom and Gumtree and got messed about by weirdos and trolling kids. I am desperate to find a nice home. The last time I tried to get in touch they refused to reply to my emails. Are there any other similar alternatives for rentals in the EU if not the USA, that show with whom you will be sharing the property, with profiles and verifications?

The post Paranoia: How Easy is it for Stalkers to use Airbnb? appeared first on Airbnb Hell.

They ruined my trip last year and my life in general, as I couldn’t find other accommodations and had to come back home. Then my second pre-booked rental was canceled by Airbnb and I struggled once again, which also affected me at university. I had some brilliant hosts but on other occasions I had to deal with: guests’ friends having violent sex in the other room; being bullied at a dorm where I dealt with disturbed staff; one host who only allowed me to sleep there at night and then leave; another host who tried to rip me off twice; and the last one ruined my life by causing Airbnb to cancel my reservations.

They used to be helpful up until these followers not affiliated with Airbnb got involved and wrecked my entire life. What happened as a consequence to them canceling my reservation last year is I’m still struggling to find a home now. Their customer support is terrible and an embarrassment. I found out later that several individuals had been stalking me through Airbnb and with the companies knowledge. They don’t care about their guests; it’s all about the hosts. If you have anything stolen, they won’t be held responsible. If you get stalked online, they won’t make your profile page private. They recently reopened my account, and when I asked about my password settings and who was behind all my cancelations last year, they closed my account again. I have shown their rules and regulations to my lawyer, and he has agreed I didn’t break any of them to the extent I should have my account closed. They’ve become so popular they just snub the people that built them up.

The post Airbnb Closed my Account without Cause appeared first on Airbnb Hell.