I originally booked with this hostess for two weeks for a ballet summer intensive. My wife and I have booked with Airbnb before with no problems.
It first started when we approached the door. She told us to go through the purple door with a keypad, so I approached it. She yelled at us saying it was the wrong door (she has two purple doors, on the same porch, both with keypads). Then she let us in. I apologized for my mistake and introduced my wife and myself.
Then hell began. When we got to the room, we were exhausted so we fell asleep. As I did, I saw our first live roach come from out under the wall. During the night, the hostess turned off the AC. Even though she advertised her property as having central cooling, she doesn’t use it.
My wife threw up from heat exhaustion. We worked with Airbnb and the hostess and what she recommended was a small portable unit, but the door to our bedroom and bathroom had to be kept open. As we installed it, she told me my wife “looked like she would beat her up.” I’m not sure what my wife could’ve done besides being a woman of color who is queer. We laughed about it. Not much you can do about “small comments.”
Once it cooled down in the room, we left to get dinner. The hostess turned off our AC unit, which we wanted to run for an hour while out because it was July in Utah and it had been off. I asked her repeatedly about the rules with the AC, but she never told me a limit or her wants. Just kept turning it off when she knew we left.
The third night, around 8:00 PM, we were greeted by roaches. Eight total throughout the night, one baby the next morning. We sent in evidence to Airbnb, including videos, of finding the roaches under the bed. Airbnb cancelled the rest of our stay and refunded us for the nights we didn’t stay.
I’m not sure I can provide evidence for this, but my wife thinks we were being watched with cameras. She works in security and tech and feels as if we stayed we would’ve seen the hostess was watching us.
In addition to the roaches, a strange man came into the house, got something out of the kitchen (which we were told we could use in the listing but turns out we couldn’t) and left. He didn’t announce himself or say who he was. We met the other guest and she did not have a male friend with her.
After all of this, the hostess left me a bad review as a guest blaming the roaches on us leaving food out and our “dirtiness” (we didn’t). She insisted the other guests hadn’t seen any roaches.
I caution any guest wanting to reserve here. She’s dangerous but had good reviews and was a great gas lighter. I could tell in the process this wasn’t the first time she treated a guest like this. She was smart enough to not get texts or messages — always insisted we talk on the phone or in person, but claimed we were “unsafe” and she was the victim. Because I insisted on messaging.
It’s not her first time manipulating a guest and I fear this will happen to others. I hope there are not cameras inside the room… especially for people who fit demographics similar to my wife and I. I was fine with the roaches and it being cancelled but being told it was my fault and that my wife seemed aggressive… I can tell she has done this before.