I am an owner of an apartment. Since I live in another country, somebody I knew – and I thought I could trust, as they rented my flat previously – suggested I rent my flat on Airbnb. I really didn’t want to do it as my flat was just renovated. However, she convinced me and I stupidly fell for it.
After a few months, I visited and had some issues with this girl whom I did not know. She was illegally renting several flats on Airbnb. On this visit she told me that she went to Israel where, before boarding a flight, she was arrested by the police. After a long search, it turned out that she was arrested as they found emails with a terrorist whom she hosted. I don’t know if this was in my flat or another.
I contacted Airbnb who did not want to give any information, who also don’t even have an office or email being an online/internet business, which is absolutely absurd. I had to turn to the authorities who did not help either. The girl refused to give me the contacts of the people who stayed in my flat. This very same girl also stole the money she got from rentals. Airbnb refused to give me the information of people who stayed in my flat and how much they paid. The girl stole the money.
Please do not use Airbnb. I didn’t use them even before the accident as I prefer authentic places. Airbnb is not that. Be careful. You never know when a terrorist visits and you put your life, the life of the people in the building in danger. Airbnb should be illegal.
It’s important to be careful next time and don’t trust easily. Trusting Airbnb is crucial.
You wrote: …”had some issues with this girl whom I did not know.” Yet you gave her full control over your apartment, allowed her to put it on Airbnb, believed her story that she hosted a terrorist and claim that this girl whom you did not know also stole your money. And now blame AirBnB. REALLY ???
None of this had anything to do with Airbnb. You let someone else that you barely knew manage renting your property and you had no oversight of it. The platform she rented it out on is irrelevant. She could’ve rented it to anyone through any listing service and you wouldn’t even know. She kept your money because you let her control it in the first place. You were naive and you can’t blame it on Airbnb.