We arrived at the flat in Palermo at the agreed time to be met by a co-host whose English was extremely poor and found it difficult to communicate with us. The host, whose name is on the listing and with whom we had been communicating, was too busy at work.

We were shown into the apartment and shown into the sitting room where there on the unit in bright red boxes were 30 hardcore porn tapes. Some of these were in the unit and some were on top where the picture could be seen by all. I was just grateful that my children were not with me. The co-host said they were not porn but one could hardly get away from the fact that they had titles such as ‘whore’.

In addition there was a review by a guest written in May 2019 that says “we just had a few small issues (some people may not find these problems relevant): there was a large amount of video pornography on display and within the lounge area. This was quite distasteful and could make some people feel uncomfortable.”

Despite this review, Airbnb does not seem to have taken any action with regards to this. We left the apartment and went to a local cafe where we contacted Airbnb as we did not want to stay or be associated with such material. They were less than helpful. They managed to get some money returned to us, but less than a third of what we paid for the apartment.

Airbnb help contacted me through Twitter with lip service. Despite many conversations, they say they are not responsible for what the host has in his apartment. Something I disagree with, especially as the issue had been flagged some four months earlier. In a nutshell, Airbnb has taken no moral responsibility for the business they are promoting even though in their T&C’s it says you must not bring the company into disrepute.