Tag Archives: airbnb violence

On My Way to Arbitration After Airbnb Assault

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I was an Airbnb host for several years. In December, I was assaulted by Airbnb guests from Canada overstaying at my rental home. I called 911, and police officers photographed my injuries at the station. My Airbnb account was closed, and the reservations were canceled.

The guest contacted me via text message about my account being closed before Airbnb sent me an email deactivating my account. I was coping with my husband’s loss and to be attacked inside of my own home was very difficult for me. Airbnb indicated that they would open a claim for my property damage loss. To this date, no such claim has been opened.

The sheriff’s investigator contacted Airbnb’s Law Enforcement Department, who refused her request for the guests’ identity. She indicated that she attempted to search for the guest’s name using department resources and did not get a return. She noted that the Airbnb guests used false information to make the booking.

Airbnb denied me the right to seek justice with my claim by refusing to provide the guests’ identity to law enforcement, who would have conducted a proper investigation. It seems Airbnb was afraid of an impartial third-party investigation. I am on my way to arbitration, and you will hear about this matter in the press very soon.

Airbnb Protects Neither the Hosts, Guests, nor Community

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Due to my experiences as a host, it is my opinion Airbnb is very derelict in creating a safe platform. I recently had a guest get booked without my usual radar. He arrived with four guests instead of two and lied about the extra people not actually staying. He broke rules about staying up later and partying outside until 5:00 AM.

On the day of checkout, he wouldn’t leave — he finally did 1.5 hours late. I called Airbnb about the checkout as my cleaning people needed to get in and clean. They didn’t respond to my call until three hours later. As I watched all four of them finally check out, the booking individual took a gun out of the trunk of the car and aimed it towards my property. I have pictures of him doing this.

When I finally spoke with Airbnb about this, their agent who handles misconduct cases like this took my information. I basically requested that the platform remove this individual from the platform so that other hosts would not have to deal with his dangerous antics. This employee assured me he would protect my identity in this situation and process my complaint. Bear in mind he had a picture of this individual with the gun. He did not need testimony from this person as he had a picture, dated and time stamped. This agent of Airbnb assured me he would protect my identity.

Within hours of expressing my concern about this experience I received an angry text from this guest stating he was angry I told Airbnb about his actions with the gun, an offense that is illegal on so many levels. In my opinion Airbnb has now created a direct grudge with this individual against me and my family. He knows where I live and the activities of this property. This agent assured me that he did not reveal my name when he questioned this individual, which is all he is required to do. Well, this person had only ever booked once with Airbnb and that was with me.

This has unnecessarily created a very dangerous situation for me and I have because of this, I left the platform. I do not recommend it.

Waking up to Violent Fighting at Paris Airbnb

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My experience with Airbnb isn’t long. I only used it once and it went relatively well. The host was good, abd the room too. That’s why when my friend suggested we rent an Airbnb for our stay in Paris to visit Disneyland, I didn’t object.

As all of you know, when you first look for a room, you make sure that all the comments are positive. When I found this room in Paris I was happy that everyone found that the host was very helpful and welcoming. That’s exactly what I thought when I first saw her; she even let us check in early in the afternoon so we could enjoy our time without having to worry about our luggage.

You are probably wondering by now: where did it all go wrong? Well it started with the host’s husband snoring. Since the insulation in the house is poor and there was no door to the room, it became strictly impossible for us to sleep. Then when I finally started drifting off, I woke up to the sound of the husband yelling and glass crashing.

Needless to say we were shocked and didn’t even know what to do. We stayed glued to the bed. Then the police came in and started questioning the couple. Apparently this wasn’t the first time that these kind of fights took place. For a minute there I actually thought that the guy would kill his wife and then us too.

To be honest, both the husband and the wife apologized afterwards and they were sorry for what happened and the inconvenience they caused. However, this doesn’t mean that the same situation couldn’t happen to someone else and might not end well. As I said the host was extremely dopey and she even offered to give us back our money, which we declined. That’s why I’m not gonna tag her.

I don’t think I will be using Airbnb after this incident. I would rather pay for a hotel where I will be able to sleep safely. I hope that no one will have the same nightmare as I did.

My Account was Deactivated After Guests Fought

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I rent a big apartment where I live with two permanent guests and rent another room on Airbnb. I left on a long trip, letting one of the guests co-host. After ten days, the permanent guest got in a fight with the Airbnb guest. Both guests ended up injured but one from Airbnb more so; he was in the hospital with a broken nose.

I lost sleep during the holidays talking with the two guests, my co-host, and Airbnb trying to see what had happened, who was more responsible, and how to act. The permanent guest was claiming that the Airbnb guest was disrespecting him, leaving common areas dirty, so he confronted him and got in a fight. The Airbnb guest was claiming he was overreacting and attacked him. We first announced the incident to Airbnb and as a result they cancelled the reservation of the Airbnb guest, refunding his money after he had stayed for more than a week.

I found this unfair and asked for a case manager who asked for more information. I provided photos of the permanent guest who was hit as well as the mess the Airbnb guest left. I tried to be objective saying to the Airbnb guest that he probably irritated the permanent guest enough to start the fight (I knew him; he was really quiet and respectful). Both have some responsibility. I also advised the permanent guest to be very careful in the future and let him stay.

The Airbnb guest was mad I didn’t support him and finally after a week without any explanation I received a message from Airbnb they deactivated my account due to violating the terms and conditions. Somehow the host is responsible for the actions of the guests, something that is not logical from my point of view. Nor could I find this in the user agreement.

I found the whole decision totally unfair to me with zero support from Airbnb. It’s a dispute between guests – how can I be responsible for their actions? No explanation about why they deactivated me, or why they believe the Airbnb guest. From my point of view, disputes and fights can occur and both parties should be responsible, but why the host?

Can Airbnb charge my account as a host for the expences the Airbnb guest had in the hospital? Can they do this legally? I can’t remember if I register with my credit card, IBAN number, or both. The bank told me if I cancelled my credit card I can dispute the matter otherwise they can do it. An attorney said they probably could charge me. Under what evidence or legal process can they do that? Who is responsible in a fight when there are no witnesses and if there is evidence the permanent guest started it, is he the only one responsible? I’d appreciate any answers.

Domestic Violence Nightmare at my Home

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I have been a host on Airbnb since 2009. I had guests stay at my place at the end of March 2018. During that visit, the police were called by a neighbor at 3:00 in the morning due to a domestic dispute. In fact, the police had to break down my front door to get in. The incident was pretty serious.

I received a copy of the police report. There were physical marks on her and apparently he had his foot to her throat to the point where she could not breathe. I had to have my entire front door and frame work replaced. Additionally, as a result I was forced to cancel all future Airbnb guests who were confirmed as my HOA was so freaked out by the entire incident that we can no longer do rentals under 30 days.

All in all I have approximately $10,000 in damages that has not yet been addressed by Airbnb, despite the fact I have submitted all invoices, photographs and police report. They are also aware that I had to cancel already existing reservations (which I relied upon as supplemental income.) Not one person from Airbnb has called me to let me know my case is being handled. What is really sad is that I went to the guests who destroyed my place and violated my living space to ask them to pay for the damage to my home and also the loss of income. They pretty much told me to F off and that they were “trying to heal” from the incident. Wow.