I was a host for five years and didn’t have a singe issue with tenants, but still, a guest from hell arrived to rent a room in my beautiful apartment. He violated all the rules of my home immediately. He smoked cigarettes and then weed day and night. He slammed the doors 24/7. He was extremely dirty and the apartment had a horrible smell.
Then he claimed he had a medical prescription to smoke weed. He informed me that he arrived in my city to see a psychiatrist, as he was ‘crazy’. He showed me other medicine he was taking. The man was very tall and huge, triple my size, and he was screaming and shouting. He was throwing his things against the wall.
I thought I was in a horror movie. I was absolutely terrified and scared for my life as a single female being in the house with him. I contacted Airbnb and they told me that they were cancelling this reservation. However, they couldn’t “reach” the tenant and it was I who had to inform him, evict him, and to involve police. They washed their hands of it, leaving me by myself with an aggressive man who was threatening me and refusing to leave.
That was not the end of it. Airbnb sent me two emails informing me about their Million Dollar Guarantee, probably expecting me to claim a lot (fortunately, nothing was damaged). At the same time, in a third email Airbnb immediately accused me – instead of apologizing for their total lack of help to evict this tenant from hell – by issuing me a warning that my email to the customer service was discriminating.
Just to clarity, in my email I simply asked them how they ensured the safety of hosts because people who have mental issues of such proportions get on the platform. What policy is there in place to protect the hosts? Apparently hosts cannot ask valid questions like that, or they are shut down immediately as it is deemed “discrimination” by Airbnb. They even sent me a link to anti-discrimination policy.
What a scam. They lie in all their communications. They abuse and effectively blackmail hosts – preemptively – to ensure no claims for damages are filed, and so they don’t pay. When I asked what action they did take against the tenant, they didn’t give me any details; as per their policy, it’s an “internal” matter. They do what they want and how they want, as long as these guests from hell pay them commissions.
Airbnb really scams hosts because they provide no guarantees for safety and security for our homes. Even if Airbnb covertly turns our homes effectively into asylums for mentally ill people, it’s okay because Airbnb can still make some money off it. They don’t care about hosts, just use and abuse us to make commissions. I really can’t wait till they file for IPO as then all their scams and abuses will explode right in their face, and the market will punish their abuse immediately. Airbnb won’t be able to avoid class action lawsuits at that point.
Unfortunately being a host means we have to take care of the safety and security aspect on our own.
I have been in a similar situation where Airbnb could not reach my guest who broke the house rules immediately. I live at the same property, and told him to leave on my own and there were no issues.
I get your guest may have been more of an issue and I get why you would not want to confront him, but unfortunately Airbnb does not have staff that will come to your house and remove a guest for you. They do their part and try to contact the guest, but if they can not get in contact, their hands are tied. As a host that is now your job to step in and ask them to leave. In your case, you were uncomfortable stepping in due to safety reasons (which I totally understand). The next best option would have been to contact police to have him removed.
Airbnb is not a safe place to Host. They promise they verify renters and cover them if they damage your property and they do not. BEWARE of opening up your home and renting on this platform. They do not offer insurance coverage for damages as they promise. They allow fake reviews to be left up as a form of extortion from fake renters. They are impossible to get a hold of. They transfer you from one person to another and never get back to you. Once you encounter a renter who damages your home, violates your rules, and steals from your property, AIRBNB block you as a Host. Never have I seen such practices. As a Host and user of AIRBNB for over 7 years, I now understand why the fellow Hosts I know no longer open up their homes to renters on this platform. Airbnb is notorious for this behavior and insurance companies have caught on to this and are no longer covering homes that are on this platform. BEWARE IF YOU THINK YOUR INSURANCE WILL COVER YOU IF YOU USE #AIRBNB, they probably will not and neither will Airbnb. So if you make a few thousand dollars but then a renter burns your home down because of careless behavior and not following your house rules, you are out of luck for millions.
RENTERS BEWARE!
As a host of 5 years and a member of an STR renters association, I have seen more and more of these type problems. Airbnb act like an employer when they decide who stays, who pays and who has rights! They get this power when we give away our rights on the “online terms and conditions”. There are very few laws controlling online commerce, so they just get better at this scam. The sad part is that many hosts started with “good” or better terms and conditions, and then airbnb changed them, after hosts made investments in furnished rentals, property improvements, loans for these items, and even lifestyle changes of maybe retiring or quitting other good jobs. It feels like blackmail when you have so much invested in a business, where the “claimed partner” changes all the conditions to make it hell. They can only pull this off online where it is literally a lawless world.
Many of us have a passion to support and be involved in the biggest housing transformation of our life into shared housing. This is the biggest green housing innovation to every happen. It uses resources more effectively way above any other green building/energy methods. Shared housing makes more usable space with no extra buildings of materials … it is magnitudes better environmentally.
Just remember the failures in Airbnb to gain short term profits and a better IPO valuation do not make all shared housing bad. Most of the issues happen when we count on airbnb to act responsible and assist in being a landlord. Yes, it is your property and you need to be a landlord or hire a real property manager to do things legally.
This persons comment was indeed discriminatory. As a landlord you have to learn about scammers and squatters like the tenant. She should have just said he yelled and threatened her and she felt very unsafe. She had the right to evict after he broke the smoking rule.
Another thing to never mention to airbnb is security cams. Even if you have a disclosure on your listing the typical “untrained agent” will not help you after you mention even a parking security cam. You have to say all your pics for evidence are taken with a phone. You just edit out the time stamps an such.
I recently did an eviction and the first agent on the case said we would lose payment for all of the days left on the booking. When I pointed out that any traveler could break a rule, and not have to pay on the airbnb site I got a different agent/supervisor. I was able to get extra payment on top of the original booking due to the extra 4 persons the sneaked in, over occupying the rental and having a party.
Remember that airbnb does NOT do valid verifications or valid reviews. Many of these scammer tenants share there scams and continue to increase in numbers on the platform. You as a host need to ask for IDs and check them for validity yourself. You should also follow your gut felling when it comes down to monitoring and letting someone into your house. You always have the right to refuse occupancy even if it is just for your own safety!
Here is a site which allows hosts to contact each other and take actions https://www.facebook.com/groups/242137293017289/
It helps to be able to cooperate and support each other with more than just stories.
Airbnb is the monopoly now, but it could change in the future. Many well abandon the platform when something better arrives, in a climate with less monopolistic government protections.