About a year and a half ago now I stayed with Airbnb for the first time in Nashville. As soon as we arrived, my host poured shot upon shot of alcohol down my then underage friend’s throat. He offered to show us a good place to eat. That went well.
Later that night he invited himself out on the town with us. Up until this time he was cool so we didn’t really question it. We went out and he started getting grabby with my friend, who made it loud and clear she was not interested. He then abandoned us in the middle of Nashville, knowing both of our phones were dead. Finally I was able to hail a taxi with a phone charger so I could get the address and return to the house.
We made it back to his place and went inside. Since my friend was drunk, I had a few drinks myself. It was 2:00 AM, so we decided to hunker down for the night and leave that place first thing in the morning. We put his dog in the bedroom with us (which he previously had given us permission to do) and went to sleep. An hour passed and I heard him come home. I got up and let him know we made it back and we were leaving in the morning. At this point he apologized for his behavior and seemed fine. I went back into the room and locked the door. I know for sure because I showed my friend it was locked, as she was still unsure of him.
About an hour later I was asleep but awoke suddenly. I could sense someone was in the room. I sat up and saw his shadow crawling across the floor. I yelled “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” Along with a few other choice words. He told me he was looking for his dog (who was white and very clearly laying on the edge of my bed, very visible even in the dark). I told him to get out, along with a few other choice words. I then locked the door again and propped a chair up against it.
As I was trying to process what just happened I picked up my phone to see the time and noticed it wasn’t charging. Thinking maybe he unplugged it while crawling around, I saw it was still plugged into the wall. I then went to turn on the lamp; it didn’t work, and neither did the other two. It hit me this man literally turned the power off to our room to prevent us from turning on the light while he was in there.
Now I was in survival mode. I packed all of our belongings and got my friend out of bed in about five minutes. We made a plan, jetted out of the house and out to my car, and sped off.
We called the Airbnb emergency number and initially they were great. They paid for us to get a hotel for the night and refunded our money from the host. They also told us he was blocked from the website and gave me a $300 credit to use within the year. I tried three times to use the credit; it always said there was an error and to contact customer service. They always said they would figure it out and get back to me but never did.
After my $300 expired I swore to never use Airbnb again. Finally a friend convinced me to try one more time, so I made an attempt to book and found I still couldn’t, as if my account was locked or something. Again, I contacted customer service and again, I was told they would figure it out and get back to me. They never did. This company is garbage. They will cover their rear while an emergency is taking place but besides that the customer service is terrible. Do not stay with Airbnb.
The review I left on their page a week or so ago is attached. Conveniently I got an email today saying “after a routine review of my account I have violated the terms of service so I can no longer be a supported guest”… funny how they can ignore me for over a year until I go public with what happened.
This host forced alcohol down their throats and but then after the guests decided to go out and socialize with the host?
Mary, have you ever been sexually assaukted? I do t give a f*** of I’m butt naked, drink walki g down the street touching myself and some guy buys me dinner. I’m not obligated to do a damn thing for him. You, especially as a woman, should wake up and realize the perpetrator is at fault 100% of the time. NEVER the victim.. … dumb a$$
What a shame you allowed your under age friend to drink and the went back to the place of a man who was harassing her and decided to sleep there. I am sure you appreciate this was a very bad move on your behalf.
I don’t agree with Mary’s response to indulge in victim-blaming.
I don’t know what happened with Airbnb subsequently so can’t comment but I am sure you have become much more street wise about travelling and not allowing yourself and friends to be embroiled in compromising situations.
So they are obligated to sleep with this freak?? I would have reported him to tge poluce and in my experience airbnb tries to silence victims.
Accepting shots, a free ride, a meal and expecting nothing in return? Wake up to reality and don’t hang out with a total stranger in an unknown city. You were asking for trouble.