Tag Archives: airbnb creepy host

Shady Superhost Makes Airbnb Stay a Nightmare

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I booked a comfortable little apartment in Quebec for my family vacation this summer and it turned out to have a crazy owner and a crazy drunk neighbor with a dog who bit my child and who killed a hen in front of our eyes. The place was dirty, with an inch of dust and hairs on the floors, and strange stains on the upholstery of the chairs. It smelled like a medieval pub. The dishwasher was rusty with broken parts, the rust stayed on the presumably washed dishes afterwards.

The place was so small that once you got in the room there was no air; you had to keep the window open all the time and there was no mosquito netting in either bedroom. The host was crazy; he insisted on entering the premises while we were out, lying that the previous tenant forgot a coffee maker. One day he thought there was nobody home and tried to get in the house, but it was locked and as I shouted he ran off.

He found occasion to come every day. Once he walked with a chainsaw back and forth in the backyard, which was creepy enough for me. The neighbor is a crazy local drunk that drank wine and then got in her car with a friend of hers. There was a child with them as well. She assured me that her dog was very well behaved and I let my children play with him. At one point the dog started chewing my son’s shoes and at the end he attacked my son, knocked him to the ground, and bit him. The dog owner was drunk and didn’t even care enough to do something. Several days later the same dog killed one of the other neighbor’s hens in front of our eyes.

On top of everything, the host left an awful review on my Airbnb profile claiming that I broke his fan and the garden parasol, which was a complete lie. I was mislead by all the positive reviews on his profile and I wondered how someone can give five stars for a broken rusty dishwasher, dirty floors, non-working TV, dirty old magazines and broken kitchen table. The only explanation for me is that these are his friends.

On top of it, there were three spoons in the kitchen, three bowls and three tea cups for a family of four. I claimed a certain amount of the paid sum from Airbnb but they did nothing. The host also refused of course. The price was equal to a hotel stay and I regret not making a reservation in the nearby hotels. There were hotels much more close to the national park and way more beautiful and clean. The property is on a provincial road with a 90 km speed limit. The closest shop was 2 km away and there was nothing in it.

Illegal Airbnb Took Money That I Worked My Whole Life For

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My host was illegally listing a property. I moved across the country to take a prestigious research job and to study at a prestigious school, but when the town apartment inspector showed up, she told me it was illegal. Airbnb promised to refund me my hotel room, gas and toll money back to my former community, but did not. I then went into another Airbnb because I was basically without a home, and that guy was a pervert and I had to flee. I got a third of my promised hotel reimbursements, and none of my gas and toll money reimbursed.

I maxed out credit cards to pay for this (some with high APRs) trusting I would get my money back from Airbnb as promised, but no. I was out of work and home for a month, and Airbnb has not done what they have promised. No more prestigious job or school, and I am in debt for $4,000 because of this. I finally found a home, but Airbnb has still not given some of my money back. I cannot afford hangers for my clothes, let alone winter boots or food now. My life is ruined, and both the illegal listing and the pervert are still on the platform.

Nightmare Experience in Portugal Involving Creepy Host

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I’m going to preface this by saying I have stayed in countless Airbnbs in three different continents and have had nothing but positive experiences until I stayed at this place. My roommate and I faced one absurdity after another. Conveniently my review (and all other negative reviews) have been removed by Airbnb.

The apartment itself was borderline uninhabitable. To be frank, it seemed to be a storage locker that the host was trying to pass off as an apartment. There was no ventilation and just two windows the size of a laptop. Both had broken glass with a makeshift net covering them, allowing roaches to freely roam inside the apartment; the place was infested with them. In addition to the ventilation problem, the shower pressure was so low it only had a drizzle of water pressure that would not allow for anyone’s definition of a proper shower.

The highlight of this stay was our second night when a leak under the bathroom sink caused the entire apartment to flood. Instead of a proper response to the situation, like securing a pump, the host and his mother came over with brooms and mops, handed them to us, which resulted in us (the guests) sweeping water out of the apartment for several hours in the middle of the night. We then also helped sweep water out of his apartment next door.

Following this, the house was never properly cleaned which resulted in a sickening odor throughout the house for the remainder of our stay (my flatmate and I felt physically ill throughout our entire stay). She kept getting migraines following this and I was congested and sick. After this we had to ask for a change of sheets. What we were provided with was the consistency of sandpaper and was meant to last us for an entire month.

To add more discomfort to the situation, the host managed to find me and repeatedly liked me on different dating apps where I found some of his prompts about impregnating people truly disturbing. Knowing that this person not only shared a wall with us, but also had keys to our apartment made me incredibly uncomfortable and had us looking for new places while there. He would almost daily ask to enter the apartment for “supplies” or to “take care” of the multitude of issues the apartment had to deal with. We understand that hosts may need access from time to time but the frequency made it feel gratuitous and like we had no privacy.

Once I left my review, the host had the gall to ask for $2,000 of “cleaning” fees and had taken photos of our belongings without our consent. I repeatedly reported this to Airbnb. They even had the nerve to remove my review of the host but I am now stuck with a derogatory review on my account. To say that Airbnb only protects the interests of the hosts would be a gross understatement. I am so disgusted by their handling of this situation.

Airbnb Made My Move to Montreal Traumatic

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In January 2017, I moved to Montreal, Quebec for work. I was a single woman moving from the west coast of the U.S. and was fearful and looking for a secure place to live for my first month while I looked for a more permanent place. I saw a listing that seemed nice and paid ahead of time for it. I was very poor at the time and so it was a difficult gamble to make but I did it because I trusted that such a big company like Airbnb would protect my best interests. Boy was I wrong.

The day I was to move into my Airbnb rental I brought along a new friend to help me carry my luggage and make sure I felt safe. I am so glad she came with me — I would’ve been in a horrible situation if it wasn’t for her. When we showed up to the building there was a different person waiting for our arrival than the one listed as the owner on Airbnb’s site. It was a young male who gave off very creepy vibes. He walked us up a small/crammed stairwell to my “apartment” and stood in the doorway while we looked around.

Right away I noticed there wasn’t a bed but a futon couch, which wasn’t mentioned in the listing. I also hadn’t gotten a new cell phone number and was relying on wifi. Well, this apartment shared a router with the entire building and so the wifi was non existent. As my friend and I were making these observations out loud, we heard the aforementioned creepy guy muttering to himself about how wrong we were about the apartment.

Feeling uncomfortable and unsafe, I called Airbnb on my friend’s phone and they advised me to leave the Airbnb and go somewhere safe. We took a taxi back to my friend’s place and Airbnb called me back on my phone this time via the wifi from her apartment. They asked if we had taken video or photos of the apartment and we said “No, your Airbnb customer service rep told us to leave immediately.” This new rep insisted I had to go back and take photos.

Of course the Airbnb host wouldn’t permit us back into the building and refused to refund me. Airbnb insisted that because we had no photo evidence that my only option was to ask the Airbnb host for a refund which of course wasn’t given. I cried and panicked. I was in a new city with no money for an apartment or hotel and only my new friend’s couch to sleep on.

Thankfully my new friend’s brother in law is a lawyer and he advised me to call my credit card company instead and make a fraud claim with them. They could undermine Airbnb and get me my money so I could find an apartment. My bank was immediately helpful and believed me. They refunded me the money while they investigated and a few weeks later I was told they did find what Airbnb did was fraudulent. Take that Airbnb.

I’ve never used the site again to book anything. If you do, be sure to take photos and videos especially if there’s a creepy property manager. I’m including the listing to the Airbnb rental.

Three Hours at Airbnb Cost us $14000

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It is December 10th and Airbnb has yet to resolve this. It started on April 2nd. My company has used Airbnb to the tune of well over $60000, most of that within the last two years. This was going to be a four-month rental. We were there for three hours, tried to work things out with the host as Airbnb suggested, reported everything the next day, and we were still charged over $14,000. We’ve contacted Airbnb on numerous occasions in regard to this, always told this should have been taken care of some time ago.

The entire place reeked of cat urine. This in and of itself was intolerable. The host left all of his belongings in dressers, etc. The host asked three women (my two employees and client) if he could stay on the property. The host left Playboy magazines and condoms in view

We contacted Airbnb numerous times, and was told each time “Oh, this should have been taken care of some time ago”, promised a call back, then nothing happened. The host agreed to settle for $1000 and a good review, then his daughter looked at the terms and said “we can get more than $10000”. The host has had similar complaints and violated several other Airbnb policies.

Airbnb continued to charge our Amex when they knew we were no longer a guest (the second day), when they could have helped us resettle and let the host relist. Instead, Airbnb has now paid the host and infuriated a very good client. There are several other things I could mention, but you get the gist here.

I just saw Airbnb’s CEO on the news promising to clean things up. Here would be a good start. We’ve been in business 15 years and are an extremely moral and ethical company. We do not deserve to be treated in this manner. I hope to hear something soon from Airbnb’s department that is supposedly working on this again.

Creepy Host Harassing Airbnb Guests

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Attention everyone who finds this apartment attractive. We’ve just had a very creepy and shocking experience with the host of this place. As we (four adults) arrived to the apartment, we discovered that one of the two double beds did not have a mattress. Instead, there was a very thin pad covering a wooden surface of the bed’s carcass. We called the owner to find out if something could be done. He allowed us to combine some mattresses that were on two single beds.

The next day we decided to move from the place anyway (in addition, we realized that this apartment, crowded with old furniture and hundreds of objects, had a very bad smell). However we didn’t bother the owner with the smell issue; our major problem was the bedding that caused a lot of inconvenience to us. The host was pretty frustrated, but he gave us a refund as soon as we left. We left at about 9:15 AM and moved to a hotel.

The nightmare begins now. That evening, as we walked through some touristy places, we received a message from the host. He accused us of the crime of flipping over his whole apartment, stealing some jewelry from the drawers, breaking the bed, etc. As we read this, being speechless, he continued to add things that never happened and had never been done by us.

Imagine: four adults (I am an architect, my sister is a college teacher… we have grown-up kids) now have to deal with such a horrible scam. We then started to read carefully all the reviews on this apartment and we discovered something very similar and horrifying from a woman and little kid who rented this place a while ago (please find this one-star review and read).

We contacted Airbnb right away and told the assistant about the situation. In the meanwhile we contacted the host and suggested we come with the police and have them evaluate our fingerprints. He replied, “In Italy, there is no such thing.”

The next day, this manipulative person wrote us another message and asked, “Why didn’t you come with the police?” I probably should stop describing all the nonsense and wait for the update from Airbnb.

The owner demanded 450 Euros in compensation from us at first. After a few days he increased the amount to 661 Euros, enough for Airbnb to move the case to a different team. In addition, as we usually take pictures of every room in the apartment at the moment we leave, we did the same with this place. We provided Airbnb with everything we had to prove our decency. This host has no proof. He never called the police, and he continues to threaten my family.

Airbnb Host Tries to Assault Underage Drunk Guests

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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.

My Trip Motto: Expect to be Disappointed with Airbnb

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We went south of the U.S. for a once-in-a-lifetime trip. The host had good reviews but I had a different experience. It was so hot and humid, there were strange odors of mildew and urine, and the phone, wifi, and TV didn’t work. The fridge was moldy. I was afraid to touch anything. The worst part was when the owner came down and apologized if I saw him looking in my window: “I wanted to see if you were there.”

At the time I thought it was an honest mistake, though he could have knocked on the door. I was a little freaked out but figured he wouldn’t have said anything if he meant to be sneaky. Then I turned around and saw his friend, with a drink in one hand and a beer in the other and he was clearly drunk. There I was in a foreign country standing between a drunk guy and a peeping tom. I was told there’d be wifi but it never worked for me.

This was all happening on my birthday. I couldn’t call, text, or email anybody. It was the worst, loneliest birthday in all my 51 years of life. I left early. Kudos to Airbnb for cancelling my reservation for the rest of the week but now the hosts are upset that they were only paid for two nights instead of seven. It sucks for the hosts, too. I’m sure they don’t understand my consternation. I’m sure they’ll give me a bad review but I don’t care because Airbnb and I are never ever getting back together.