Tag Archives: airbnb party house

Living Next to an Illegal Airbnb in NOLA

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I live next to an illegal short-term rental Airbnb. In New Orleans you cannot have an Airbnb in a residential neighborhood unless the owner lives on the property permanently. Yet the city of New Orleans does not enforce these laws. Therefore there are many, many illegal Airbnb’s in our residential neighborhoods. I live next to one of these “party houses”. The owner lives in New York and has never lived on the property. He lost his short-term rental permit in 2019, and I have been trying to get the property closed ever since.

The pictures of the property are fake, and the reviews are fake. Attached is a real review of the property which the owner has taken down. When I contacted Airbnb they told me to speak to the owner. He has been very nasty to me. His guests throw beer cans at my house next door, broke my fence trying to climb over it to get a ball, and they have loud parties into the early morning hours.

When a real customer is disgusted with the property and does not want to stay because it is not clean, nor meets any of the description, he does not give them their money back. He has thrown guests out because he has others checking in. He has seven listings on Airbnb when there are only two properties. I live next to one and the other is in the French Quarter, which is totally illegal.

‘Last-Minute’ Reservation Cancelled and Future Reservations Blocked

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I tried to make a reservation nine days ahead of time. I got a message from Airbnb saying it was cancelled citing “last minute booking of large houses” and also restricted my account from making any reservations. I don’t know what system assumes nine days as last minute. I usually book the same day.

I believe it’s part of the new program at Airbnb to prevent parties. This is broken since I never party. I had a false bad review about my leaving a place dirty recently that Airbnb might have assumed to be a party, but I never party. The last host’s place was dirty when I checked in. My most recent review from a host of a big house is extremely positive, and so are all other reviews.

Airbnb is a way of life for me. I work remotely and book at the last minute. It is who I am. I have a history of reservations and history of great reviews. How does Airbnb just restrict such an account?

I would like this to be resolved and call on more attention how Airbnb is taking advantage of its monopoly. If there was another service with as many listings as Airbnb, Airbnb would be out of business simply because of terrible policies and customer service.

Get a Good Set of Headphones for your Airbnb Neighbors

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I’ve lived in my house for almost 20 years now. One by one, all of the neighboring properties were purchased by the same owner. All of them became Airbnb rentals, and because of the same owner and close proximity, frat parties are a frequent happening.

This has reliably happened for over two years now. They’ll bounce from house to house, the traveling jamboree. Trash scattered all out across the lawns, sometimes 12 cars rammed into the lawn, street, wherever they fit, other times a Greyhound-sized bus drops them off. The stereos blast well into the next morning, sometimes until 3:00 AM. Not just having fun loud: it’s rattle-the-toilet-seats-in-my-house loud.

The local community gets a $100 per night fee from the owners for any Airbnb in the town, so they’ll do nothing to stop it. The police will get things to stop for the night if they are called, usually when there’s illegal fireworks or some drunk guests start inconveniencing the golfers. It’s a neighborhood that is built around a golf course, and because each player pays over $10,000/year in membership fees, they actually have some sort of pull with the town’s “safety patrol,” but that’s about the only control there is.

Multiple times I’ve been late to work because overloaded driveways across the street would cause them to park across mine and block my car in. In addition to my daily driver, I have an old V-8 project car that has open exhaust, which happened to be the car that they didn’t block in. I retaliated by driving that to work instead of driving over my own lawn or pounding on a door for 20 minutes until someone answered. I gave it a few revs for the enjoyment of the sleeping hungover partiers. This was a 6:00 AM Saturday shift.

Sunday morning I woke up to find it pelted with eggs and my lawn had the night’s beer bottles thrown onto it. Lesson learned: I blame myself for that one and am glad that I wasn’t greeted by 24+ big angry guys half my age. The only way to combat this is to sit tight with a solid set of noise cancelling headphones. I’m really hoping the government decides that it could make money putting taxes and fees into this, that’ll hurt the profitability enough to discourage hosting six houses at once.

SuperHost and Five-Star Property Being Banned due to Airbnb’s Policy

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The guests I had the most problems with were from Airbnb. I was protecting my home, property, and neighborhood and there is no age discrimination where there is the potential for an increase to my risk and liability. I have rented to all races, ethnic groups, and religions. I would never discriminate in those case, but maturity and responsibility varies extremely in this age category and is a much different story. I’ve set a 30 year old minimum age for guests since I started four years ago and apparently even if state laws allow it I’m not permitted to do it any longer.

Message from Airbnb:

We received report of discrimination from a user about your listing. We wanted to let you know that after investigation, we have found claim to this report. As a company, we strive to exist to create a world where everyone can belong, we are reaching out to ensure that you are aware of both our nondiscrimination policy and your corresponding duties as a host. Our nondiscrimination policy states that hosts may not impose any different terms or conditions or decline a reservation based on the guest’s age or familial status, where prohibited by law.

After investigation, we, as Airbnb, have required that you go through two procedures: 1) we need your confirmation by reply to this email your acknowledgment of our NDP. 2) Remove the ‘Minimum age requirement: 30’ on your listing description. We have currently blocked you from making any reservations as we need to be assured that you understand our non-discrimination policies and have done the removal of age discrimination on your content.

We look forward to receiving your reply within the next 72 hours, as we will not be able to move forward without your reply. For more information related to the nondiscrimination policy, do not hesitate to familiarize yourself with some frequently asked questions.

My Response:

Good Afternoon. In response to your baseless age discrimination accusation, I am attaching Pennsylvania’s law where I am permitted to require a minimum age requirement at my home. I have been an outstanding host and have a five-star property. I will not permit Airbnb to determine that I may have “children rent my home.” This individual who filed the claim also claimed they lived in Vancouver, can yet claimed they were coming from DC and NY with six other friends. That was a huge red flag.

I will not allow Airbnb to tell me what age group I am permitted to rent my $400,000 home to which could potentially create an extraordinary amount of liability and risk to the property as well as my financial well-being. Please see PA’s laws because that is the law that I follow. A 28-year-old did not get their way and was extremely rude thereafter. I could only imagine how they would have treated my home had I allowed them to rent it. This is why I do not want parties in my home, I do not want underage (21 and under) drinking in my home, or college students throwing parties.

Airbnb needs to take a look at their policy and should be held responsible for all liability that comes along with renting to the majority within these age groups. It specifically states in PA laws that “you may not set age requirements or minimums over the age of 40.” My minimum age is 30 and I didn’t think protecting my home should be considered discrimination. I have never discriminated based on anything. I set a minimum age requirement to reduce risk and liability in my home — not your home — and am not comfortable permitting 18-year-olds rent my home nor college age kids in party mode. I refuse to destroy my home.

The Information on Fair Housing The Pennsylvania Human Relations Act prohibits discrimination in all housing transactions including but not limited to sales, rental, finance, providing reasonable accommodations or modifications to housing or commercial properties based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex, familial status, disability, and age (over 40 in housing Ancestry Pregnancy).

Damage Deposit and Support Ambassadors

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Support ambassadors are a joke. The only people they “support” is Airbnb, by inventing creative excuses for avoiding paying out money to aggrieved customers.

We had guests from hell. Four couples arrived when our villa was booked for two. They hosted a pool party for 20 and checked out on time but remained by the pool and then moved back in after our cleaner had finished cleaning. They damaged the furniture and forced her to return the following day to clean again.

After constant communication with Airbnb to elicit their support, none was forthcoming. They gave no compensation whatsoever for the extra nights, extra cleaning, extra guests, and damage to the property. The ambassadors are trained to feign concern but do absolutely nothing to help. How did they become such a global powerhouse? It’s quite unbelievable.

More than $10K in Damages, Airbnb Paid $510

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An Airbnb guest held an unauthorized party during the pandemic lockdown. We never allow parties, even before they became illegal.

This guest said she was coming alone. The police estimated that there were at least 100 people in the two-bedroom home when they arrived. The neighbors told us that there were several fights that spilled into the street before the police arrived. There was a stabbing. The damage to the unit was more than $10,000.

After three weeks of back and forth with Airbnb personnel who changed on a daily basis and would only communicate via email, they paid us $510 for painting and damaged walls and then they went dark. They refused to explain why all the other proof of damage and proof of value of the damages were being declined.

There was no explanation, just an email saying our case was closed and they would not reply again. They were very demanding about proving the value of items damaged and it was so difficult to comply that we did give up on certain items. We still were able to document more than $10,000 and supply the required proof of value. They simply said they would not discuss the reason for the low compensation.

Airbnb Party House Makes Resident Consider Moving

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I live in a relatively quiet, residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, the house next to me is a year-round property used for rentals that caters to groups of 15+. Oddly enough, this is illegal in D.C., and the absent owner advertises how they use a legal loophole to get past this. The owner proudly states that you can sleep in”peace and quiet” in their rental, and “no parties or events” are allowed.

I am so fed up with the constant parties: the blaring music at 3:00 AM, the fighting, the screaming, and the disgusting lack of respect guests have towards their neighbors. Just last night in the midst of stay at home orders, a group took the liberty of renting the unit for a party and turned the music up. I’ve had to call the police numerous times; they are always prompt, courteous, and handle the situation.

Last night’s group decided to retaliate and begin screaming that the police can’t quiet them down. I’ve had to go to the patio numerous times to politely ask guests to quiet down over the last year. I’ve been cursed at, had beer cans thrown at me, and told that I’m inconsiderate because it’s 2:00 AM on a Monday and their group paid “good money” to be there.

The owner doesn’t care whatsoever. I realize that it was probably of no use, but I called the phone number for Airbnb, and the rep had to ask me multiple times to either move away from people in the room or turn down my music. I was in my bedroom with the windows shut and white noise machine running; it was the partygoers next door. I’m sad that it’s come to this, but I will most likely have to move from the home and neighborhood I’ve loved so dearly.

Semiautomatic Shots Fired: Sounded Like A War Zone

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Shots rang out in very close proximity to my home at approximately 10:35 PM, on the evening of January 31st. My wife and I heard a series of around fifteen rapid-fire gun reports that sounded like semiautomatic weapons discharge occurring just outside of my home. These reports occurred in rapid succession and extremely loud.

Shortly after the shots were fired, we heard a vehicle drive off to the south. We immediately called 911 to report the incident and were placed on hold for approximately three to five minutes until an operator answered. We described the sound of the gunshots and relayed our location to the operator.

We remained inside our home for approximately ten minutes, and when we heard no more activity outside we went out to look for any evidence of the gunshots. We noticed that there were some young people loitering on the sidewalk opposite a house. We also saw several other people leaving the house and driving off.

The street had over thirty cars parked up and down from the house when it occurred; it appeared that a large party had been going on. A neighbor said she saw over fifty underage teens at that party, and that they were drinking liquor.

After about twenty to thirty minutes, police subsequently responded to the incident and determined that multiple shots were fired across the street from the party house. This home has a history of loud, disruptive parties.

Around ten armed police officers responded to the scene. Numerous young adults were observed leaving the house after the shots were fired. These people drove away from the neighborhood, but we also observed numerous cars and trucks driving by the house, for about another hour.

We spoke with the drivers of a few of the cars and asked them if they were staying as rental guests at the house. All of them replied that they were not. Altogether, we estimate that around fifty cars drove by or were parked in the immediate vicinity of the party house immediately following the gunfire.

I was able to take photographs of several of the passing vehicles’ license plates and all of the vehicles parked on the street. The line of cars ranged around a third of the way down the block from the house in both directions.

One of the drivers who stopped in front of the house said he was looking for “Derik”. He had a heavy accent and he kept pointing to his cell phone, which had the name Derik and what looked like a GPS map displayed with the local neighborhood and the house.

I spoke with several of the people exiting the house and asked them if they were staying at that house. Not a single person I spoke with was actually staying there as a rental guest. They were all apparently there for a party.

Shell casings were found on the ground and the police requested that everyone remain in their homes. The police officers discovered shell casings at the foot of the driveway of my next-door neighbor, whose home sits directly across from the party house. By the shape of these casings, they appeared to have come from an AR-15 or a similar sized rifle.

My wife and I were very disturbed that this type of activity was occurring so close to our home, literally next door. This house has been a source of continually occurring disruption in the neighborhood.

Back on Friday, October 25th, I had heard loud noises coming from the vicinity east of my home. After going outside to investigate on that October night after midnight, I discovered that the noise was coming from the backyard of the home. I had noticed earlier that day that there were numerous cars parked outside of the home, so many that they had impeded traffic on the same street.

After receiving a message from the neighborhood watch block captain whose home sits across from the home, we continued in a discussion that lasted several days, gathering information about the disruptions occurring at that home we dubbed the “party house” due to ongoing unsupervised parties. I had a meeting with officials from the City of Albuquerque following the incident on October 25th but no action was taken because the city coordinator said there were too few police reports.

After the gunshot incident, my wife and I spoke with the neighbors across the street and also with the neighbors further east of them. I telephoned the next-door neighbor of the party house who also hosts an Airbnb rental and asked him if he knew what was going on or if he had heard the shots, but he told me that he was currently out of town.

One of the residents close to the party house captured the weapons report on their doorbell camera. Apparently the sound was close enough and loud enough to activate the ring recorder in the doorbell of the resident who was across the street from where the incident occurred. There were about fifteen shots fired.

The report was extremely loud, rapid-fire shots from what sounded like a semiautomatic weapon. Several neighbors have confirmed this. My wife was in the kitchen of our home only about 30 feet away from where those shots were fired and she was terrified about it. It sounded like a war zone in our neighborhood.

After the police arrived, we found shell casings on the ground which looked like possibly AR-15 or AK-47 casings. The police told us that they would be taking photographs and making an official report about the casings found. We were also concerned that the police took nearly a half an hour to respond to this situation, which was also the case at the Orinda Airbnb slaughter.

As concerned residents of this Albuquerque neighborhood, we believe that the Albuquerque Police Department should have a plan in place to rapidly investigate and contain active shooter incidents more quickly, before many people can be harmed. Also, of additional concern to us as neighborhood residents is the fact that an online police report cannot be made regarding noise complaints or other serious disruptions of peace in the neighborhood or community.

We request that the Albuquerque Police Department create an additional category for online police reports that include incidents such as this. This house where the party was taking place is known as an Airbnb rental that has been a continuing source of irritation for our neighborhood with loud, unsupervised parties.

Despite complaints directly to Airbnb, this home is still listed as an Airbnb rental as of January 31st. We have been in contact with the City of Albuquerque regarding past noise complaints. But this situation is now much more severe. We are only grateful nobody got hurt, but the entire neighborhood got a wake-up call about the party house.

This gunfire incident is extremely disruptive to the peace and safety of our neighborhood, my wife and I request that the city terminate all rentals of the property, which has been the host for these kinds of disruptive parties. The owner of the home is not present to supervise such parties, and our concern is that such parties could get out of hand, as has occurred at other Airbnb parties that were unsupervised, resulting in fatalities.

There are some other neighbors who host guests in their homes as members of Airbnb, but their conduct is respectful, considerate, and non-disruptive. I believe that the party house needs to be closed down and no more rentals allowed.

Airbnb Cancelled my LA Accommodation with no Warning

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I have been planning a road trip around the US from Australia for several months now. There are five of us going: myself, my sister, my brother, and two friends who are a couple. Between us we are aged 27 to 43, one of us is pregnant, and we’re all nerdy. Hardly party people, right?

Due to the fact there are five adults needing four beds and we’re driving so we have a car, Airbnb is the cheapest and most convenient way for us to book accommodation. We booked all of our accommodation months in advance.

Last week, with no warning, I got an email from Airbnb stating our accommodation in LA had been cancelled. There was no explanation, no apology, just that it had been cancelled and I would get a refund. I messaged the host asking why he cancelled, and in the meantime searched for a new house.

What did I find? The house I’d booked, back online and available for the dates I had booked, but at an increase in price. Furious, I emailed Airbnb Support. According to their guidelines, if a host cancels the reservation “you won’t be able to accept another reservation for the same dates of a cancelled reservation”.

The host responds and assures me he has not cancelled the booking, but Airbnb has instead. Nowhere in my short email and text from Airbnb alerting me to this cancellation is it clear that Airbnb has made this cancellation. The host says it’s due to new laws in LA.

I Googled these “new laws” and found one news article saying Airbnb has cancelled a number of reservations in LA due to complaints of these houses being “party houses”, after a mass shooting at one in October last year. I sent Airbnb a follow up. The host has said that Airbnb is usually pretty good at assisting guests with rebooking after cancellations. This was not something they had offered to help with for me.

I finally get a response from Airbnb Support. They stated: “When we checked the host account, the reason why they cancelled the reservation is due to the new law in California regarding renting the place. Almost all the reservations were cancelled. Their local government is requiring them to do some stuff before hosting. Until the host settle this with their local government, that’s when they will start hosting again.”

I responded, asking why the house in question was still listed as available on Airbnb if the host has to “do some stuff” before being allowed to host again. I also requested advice on how to rebook in LA if this is a blanket law. Airbnb responded saying they do not have control if the reservation is cancelled by the host, which is why there are cancellation penalties in place.

Obviously the people at Airbnb were struggling to read English. This is not the case. Airbnb cancelled my reservation, not the host. I requested clarification, Airbnb responded with yet another weak excuse, blaming the host. I responded expressing my disappointment, asking why they hadn’t addressed my concerns or been able to give me an apology. They didn’t respond.

I’ve been sending them a message everyday, reminding them that I don’t believe my matter is resolved, and requesting to speak to a manager. I’m hesitant to rebook in LA, if the same thing is likely to happen (they won’t address this concern at all) and don’t want to risk my booking being cancelled too close to the trip, as LA is our first stop. Honestly, this has put me off using Airbnb because clearly customer service is not a priority for them. Does anyone know how you make a formal complaint against them?

Solution to Airbnb Guests Damaging Properties

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To hosts or those who are thinking of opening their own Airbnb. I have been hosting for over three years with 67 properties, and had over 50,000 guests stay with me. I met many other hosts and the biggest issues they all run into are with negligent guests. In my units alone I have had over 10% (5,000) of my guests violate my house rules.

Airbnb is based on trust. A guest, AKA a stranger, is entering your home and you have no idea who they are or their intentions. When violations occur, you must be able to prove them, and Airbnb always sides with guests. How do you prove smell over the phone? It’s rare, but few times, I was able to prove that a guest violated my house rules, threw a party, and thanks for my live notification system – AKA neighbors – I was able to keep the $250 damage deposit, remove the guest, and reopen my calendar for new bookings. I realized that I just made $600 of a violation.

Three major common and costly issues I face on daily basis along with other hosts:

Indoor cigarette and marijuana smoking – causes smoke to get into the walls and ventilation making it hard to remove. This cost me cancellations or horrible guest reviews.

Theft – There is new scam going around. Airbnb guests used fake IDs to book my unit for three days, and while you are gone they list all your valuables on Craigslist, etc., and basically have a garage sale in your unit without you being aware. By the time my cleaners got to the room, the only thing that was left was the lock and forks. It cost me about $5K to replace everything and a $500 cancellation. Airbnb ignored the claim.

Parties – Some of our properties are in Florida, AKA party towns. We have guests who threw parties, smoked, drank, caused major damages to the furniture and walls, and destroyed neighbors’ pools… the list is long. Which again, cost me time and money and many police reports.

I figured out a way to fix these issues, using technology, by building it myself. I want to protect all 680,000 hosts, and that’s why I have built and developed a patented, smart smoke detector designed to protect and prove violations. It is federally illegal to tamper with, and has a built-in tamper-proof sensor. But it does so much more: it has a real-time notification system that monitors your guests for violations, from the moment the guest enters to the moment they leave.

It’s able to detect and notify live:

• Indoor Smoking (Cigarette and Marijuana Detection)

• Fire and Carbon Monoxide

• Unauthorized Guests

• Break Ins

• Theft

• Excessive noise levels

• Humidity level (Mold Detection)

• Air Quality

• Bluetooth and Z-Wave Compatible with Smart Locks and Security Systems

• Guest Check-In Notification

As as bonus, it also comes with a built-in Property Management System that syncs with Airbnb, VRBO, Expedia, Booking.com, TripAdvisor and many others. This system is non invasive, has no cameras, and even mandatory in some cities. It’s plug and play, all you have to do is swap it with your existing smoke detector. I would love to hear your comments and questions.