My first and last experience with Airbnb pointed out a fundamental flaw in their business model: hotel, motel and even most B&B operators are professionals; Airbnb hosts are amateurs. Because of that, they may not understand they are in the hospitality business, and Airbnb guests can be the unfortunate guinea pigs. As soon as our family arrived at our condo, our host came around and seemed to be spying on us. That evening she chased down a group of us out for a stroll; she asked them how many were staying at the condo told them she suspected more were staying there than she permitted. Later that night she pounded on the door and loudly proclaimed the same accusation. We explained that we had only six staying there (the two-bedroom unit was advertised to sleep six) and two people visiting who were staying elsewhere. She demanded we leave. When we refused, she picked up her phone and dialed 911, claiming she was the victim of assault! When asked if she had been physically assaulted, she replied “no, but I have been verbally assaulted.” When that apparently didn’t impress the operator, she claimed she had “nine drunk tenants and I want them out.”
We told her if she wanted in the unit she would need a warrant. Eventually the police arrived, and she demanded through texting that we come out and meet with the officer. When we didn’t respond, she called Airbnb. To my shock, Airbnb texted me that they had a serious complaint against me and that they had cancelled the reservation and ruled that a refund was not permitted! The next morning, this obviously emotionally unstable host opened the front door and pounded on the wall, shouting: “Your reservation has been cancelled and you need to leave!” We knew she had no legal right to evict us, so we stayed; however, the stress ruined our vacation. And the fact that Airbnb supported her madness only added to the nightmare. Beware of Airbnb… you will be subject to the whims of your host and the company will not have your back!
The scariest thing this guest said was, “We knew she had no legal right to evict us…” Well, first you don’t even understand what eviction means. To evict means to engage in a legal process to remove a tenant from your property. But you didn’t sign a lease giving you any rights to live there, did you? You didn’t stay more than 30 days, did you? If not, then she did in fact have the right to kick you out. Especially after your reservation was cancelled.
You bring two extra people over, how does she know they’re not going to spend the night? Most hosts – and I’m sure she was no exception, say you cannot bring anyone over – for any amount of time – who is not on the reservation. You obviously violated that provision and tried to take advantage of her. And now you’re coming on here like you did nothing wrong and trying to blame her.
I too am glad you’re out of Airbnb.
It’s sad that all the comments above are so hostile towards the OP. Victim-shaming, anyone? Awful. Perhaps things could have been handled a bit differently by meeting with the police, I agree, but I also understand that in the heat of the moment and being harassed by a clearly unstable host made you go the other extreme.
I hate Airbnb SO much. They never have a customer’s back, even when they are involved in the mess created by hosts, and they will ALWAYS have the host’s back, never the consumers. Ultimately, consumers are disposable and hosts are their bread-butter with their listings, so you can 100% count on being screwed as a consumer, if it comes down to it.
HATE this business, they’ve screwed my holiday, too.
If the 2 extra people were truly “visiting”, the logical thing would have been for them to call it a night and go back where they were staying. Also agree hiding from police seems like an admission of guilt. I think the term you were looking for was not “amateur”, you wanted “apathetic”, as you may find with hotel staff.
You’re out of Airbnb? Good. You seem more unstable than she was. Good riddance.
This is a prime example of why I stopped renting my vacation home out. The additional people are always “just visiting”. The renter’s response to the owner’s inquiry are more telling than anything. My only hope is that you never rent another vacation home to spare owners of your entitled attitude.
If what you state is true, why didn’t you go out to the police and calmly explain yourself? By hiding behind closed doors you made things worse.
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Well, I guess that if you brought 2 extra people to the house whitout her consent she had the right to get them out (them, not you, unless you didn’t agree)