AirBNB seems like a brilliant idea–you rent out your spare bedroom for a little extra cash. The catch is, no matter how much research you may do or how cautious you may be, you’re still inviting a stranger into your home. These AskReddit users shared some stories that might just make you rethink getting into bed with this business.
1. That’s Not How That Works…
“Everything was great until the last night. She called and said the house was very warm and she didn’t think she would be able to sleep that way. So I said just turn the AC on. I didn’t hear anything back from her until the next morning. She said she could barely get through the night and it was so hot because the AC was broken. So I get home and notice that the AC unit was on and blowing cool air but she had moved the unit close to the bed and detached the exhaust hose so all the warm air was blowing out the back and into the room.”
2. Video Evidence
“I’m not a host, but I will never be an Airbnb guest ever again because I was almost conned into paying for thousands of dollars in repairs and renovations that I had nothing to do with.
I stayed in a rented house in a popular tourist spot. Pretty average house. Nice common area, nice kitchen, bedrooms were a bit small with stiff beds, but overall not a bad rental for the week I was there. We cooked a lot, watched some movies on the nice TV that was there, knocked around town a bit, then left. I was happy with my first airbnb stay.
Then I get a call from the owner, screaming and raving that I trashed his place. He told me I had ripped up the carpet, there were gouges in all the walls, I had poured alcohol all over, that I had ruined the bed, the list went on and on. I asked him to text me pictures of the damage, because it sounded to me like maybe he had another property he rented out the same week and there’d been a mixup. Nope, it was the house we stayed at, and it was fucking obliterated.
I tell him it couldn’t have been us, we just left and it was in great shape. He says he’s 100% sure it was us and he’s going to have airbnb make us pay for all of it. He hangs up on me.
Now, what he didn’t know, is that I was recording video almost the whole time I was on vacation, so that I could cut together a video version to show to a friend who was stuck in the hospital. I did a lot of talking-into-the-camera bits while I did stuff, just walking and aiming the camera at my face and what I was doing. I did these for the arrival and the departure. This particular house had a key dropbox on the front near the mailbox where after the house was locked up, you dropped the keys in and left. I had videoed myself talking about how nice the stay hand been as I locked all the doors, walked to the front, dropped the keys in, and got into my car. I had video proof that I’d left the place spotless.
I slapped that shit on youtube as an unlisted video, and called up airbnb, shared the link with them, and never heard anything more about it.”
3. Asshole Jock
“I Airbnb’d out my $3k/month high-rise to some basketball player. Nothing special but on a college level he was avg/normal. Anyhow, upon him leaving, he left behind: 10 5ths of Jack, maybe 10gs of just MARIJUANA stems, cum stains all over my California King and another separate king size bed, jizz on the carpet, bathroom liner ripped off, pizza face-down on the carpet, and to top it off, he threw my 2 chairs on the balcony into the pool below. Airbnb charged his card for everything he had and reimbursed me for the whole ordeal. I stopped offering my spot on there after that.”
4. Looks Can Be Deceiving
“Well, the thing is, they appeared nice– charming, in fact. I waited for them so that I could give them the key to the cabin, and we chatted for a while about what to do, places to see, etc.
The next day, though, I came by at noon to see if they needed anything as the closest grocery store was 45 minutes away and my husband and I were going. The woman to whom I had spoken was with a different guy and the one I had met previously was nowhere to be found.
Now, this is mid August in California, so it’s pretty fucking hot. After asking how everything is, she slams the door in my face without answering. So, I knock again. The new guy opened the door. Again, I asked how everything was. From inside, the woman screams, “It’s too fucking hot! Why didn’t you tell us how hot it was? Did you think we’d want to come out here if it were like this?!”
After this, I let myself inside to see if they had issues with the AC… The Air Conditioning unit had been vandalized, the toilet was plugged and smelled horrific, and the bed sheets were strewn about the cabin. What. The. Actual. Fuck.
So, I started questioning them. First, I gave them the benefit of the doubt, and asked if they had been robbed. The woman shrugged and said, “Nope. This place is so shitty, I just wanted to add to it.”
Before I could muster up an answer out of my shocked stupor, the man I met the day earlier came in smelling of booze and cigarettes. He stumbled in, cursing out the woman for kicking him out and replacing him, and went immediately to the bathroom… Where the toilet was clogged. He opened up the seat, saw what was there, and immediately started vomiting EVERYWHERE, including on my sandal wearing feet.
Not knowing what else to do, I went outside to the hose and rinsed myself off. Meanwhile, my cabin became an arena for their screaming match. After it seemed to have cooled off, I went inside and snapped pictures of everything so that I could sue them for the damages.
Yeah. What a nightmare.”
5. He Seemed a Little…Off
“Got a last-minute booking from someone who lived in our same city, which was a little suspicious. However, he (let’s call him T) had a few good reviews so we decided to let him stay. The next day around check-out, I called to see if he was out of the apartment so we could come clean it. T responded by booking another night.
On the third day, he called with a long story about getting mugged on the beach, blacking out, and spending the night in the hospital. Pretty shady, but at least we were going to get him out of the unit and move on.
I let him into the apartment, and immediately saw a crack pipe on the counter. Then, things just seemed a little…off. I noticed that the electronics were unplugged and a few were missing. Then, I went into the bedroom, and saw his set up.
T had a television, laptop, and camera set up in front of the bed. He had most of the other electronics in the house sitting in a pile next to the bed. He had one duffel bag full of electronic cables, etc, and a few tools. He had another bag full of 20-25 brand new hats.
He was extremely apologetic and embarrassed, and hurriedly packed up his car and left. Super nice and polite otherwise.
We changed the locks.
Afterward, I saw his profile get updated with a new review saying he left blood and shit smeared all over a bathroom wall. So, uh, we got off pretty easy I guess.”
6. Cheeto Thief
“These posts make me not feel so bad for our stay after my friend drunkenly stole our hosts Cheetos off their kitchen table and devoured them all. I felt bad, so I gave them 2 boxes of Girl Scout cookies as compensation. It amazes me how little respect people have for others property.”
7. How Rude (AKA Free Coke #1)
“After no response since the day of the booking they showed up 8hrs late and were super pissy that I had left. Called me at 02.30 that night to say the key was not working. I went over and the key worked first time,
“Oh you turn the key that way!”
Night two, 03.30, they called because they are locked out, I go over to find they went to get food, back in an hour. In the mean time I discover they left the key in the lock so the door couldn’t be opened. Enter the locksmith.
On the day of the check out, they left before I got there, the front door was wide open as were the windows. Coke and weed everywhere. Rubbish on the floor and four full condoms on the floor around the bed. Bathroom looked like they stood in the toilet and shit and pissed out.”
8. The Power of Christ Compels You!
“Airbnb host since March here!
I had a guest who lives and runs an Airbnb on the east end of town who wanted to stay on the west side where we live (and it’s where all the beaches are).
She’s a Francophile, but in the same way DiCaprio was in Django Unchained. Her picture on Airbnb is her in a black and white striped shirt with a red bandana around her neck, a beret on her head, and a bottle of wine in hand. She greeted me with a butchered “Bon jour!” I took French for three years in high school, and though I’m nowhere near fluent, I’m definitely conversational, so I tried. She told me she didn’t understand “ca va” and I froze. She dropped “merci” and “au revoir” a few times over her stay, and at one point met our other guest, and when she introduced herself, shook the woman’s hand with both of her hands and said “enchantée.” It was awful.
After that whole mess, we sat down and talked. The first thing she did was ask me where I go to church, which was already kind of weird. I told her I’m Jewish and she contorted her face in a way where I could tell she was really uncomfortable, then through clenched teeth said, “that’s great.”
Then she told me about how the amount of chlorine in tap water can kill you if you take a steam shower.
I asked her what she does for a living. She said she goes into people’s homes and rearranges furniture to help with positive energy. I asked her “like Feng Shui?” “What’s that?”
I kind of avoided her the rest of the time she was there, but she did invite me to eat vegetables she brought from her garden. That was nice.
The next morning after she left I went to flip the room for the next guests. She had taken all the art off the walls and shoved it in the closet. She moved furniture around. She took the items off the top of the dresser and put them in the laundry basket, which she shoved under the bed, and in their place she left a pile of lavender that looked like it had been through an herb grinder.
On the bedside table was a bible, open to a specific passage and marked with the built-in bookmark ribbon. This was the worst part for me, because not only had she insulted my home and my art, but this felt pretty anti-Semitic.
I moved everything back and flipped the room for the next guest, then checked my messages. From her:
“Merci. Thanks for the stay.”
I responded, “Hey, you left your bible here! Do you want it back?”
“No, I left it for you.”
“Cool, I’ll toss it.””
9. Free Coke #2
“Everyone talks about hosts finding drug paraphernalia and whatnot in the house after guests leave. But I actually stayed in an Airbnb last year – my friend and I were in town for a music festival and we ended up just renting a single room in a house that the host also lived in. The first night was super chill, we just stayed in so the host brought out some wine and invited us to chill out with him in the living room. There were other rooms he was also renting out, but everyone else declined so it was just the three of us but it was all fun still. At the end of it he says “you guys are super cool, two of my favorite guests,” which was kind of odd but we figured he just wanted someone to hang out with for a couple hours and left it at that.
The next night though, my friend and I come home from our festival and we’re all tired from being out the whole day and we were just gonna sleep early. But then our host knocks on the door and tells us that he managed to get some cocaine and has lines set up in the living room of we wanted any. ????? We decline, but later on we peeked out of our room and sure enough he was out in the living room doing it all by himself.
The next morning was the morning we were set to leave, and on the way out our host apologizes for the night before and says that if we’re ever back in town we can stay at his place for no charge.”
10. Psychedelic Art Porn
“Rented to 2 well dressed and well spoken art students. At about 4am the neighbor called me asking what in the actual fuck is going on. I could hear this crazy music and loud sex in the background. Drove over. They have about 30 people in myb one bedroom. Naked. Covered in glitter, paint, wine. They’re all banging. One dude is sitting in the corner looking at them like he’s examining a painting, making suggestions to add to the “art piece”. There are naked people everywhere. A TON of alcohol. Piles of lsd, e, and mushrooms. Red wine, glitter, semen, blood and paint covered EVERYTHING. there was a random feral cat inside. There’s a dude screaming randomly in the middle of the road about nonsense. My apartment was used to film some weird psychedelic art porn.”
11. Easy Fix
“I’ve lucked out so far but I have a small apartment so it’s just small weekend stays usually. But my first guy baffled me a little. I come in after he’s left and my shower curtain is in my bedroom with half of the shower pole. The other half I’ve never seen again. It was a $10 fix I didn’t even report it. I was more confused than anything. But no note no sorry … If I did that to someone’s place I’d freak out real quick then scramble to fix it…”
12. Free Coke #3
“The bar I worked at had two appartments we’d rent out. They were great. Untill a group of Russians came in and had a drug and hooker filled party and caused about 10.000 euro of damages in one night. On the bright side, they left about 10 grams of coke for us.”
13. You’ve Been Hit by a Smooth(ish) Criminal
“My parents Airbnb a home. Recently a girl and her friends Airbnb’ed it out. When my parents went to check on it after their stay they saw that the computer and cable box was missing. Looked like they tried to steal the TV as well but since it was mounted on the wall they failed. They probably would’ve gotten away with stealing more but my grandma (who knows basically 0 English) went to go help clean the home but saw that they still haven’t left after the check out time and made a mess of the home. She proceeded to make a fuss of it in Korean and they freaked out and just left without taking a lot of their own stuff. My parents later found out that the girl was out on bail and used a stolen credit card to book the Airbnb.”
14. Freshly Cut Pubes
“Summer 2015. It’s a smaller, 3 bedroom apartment in Lakeview, Chicago. One of the rooms were being rented out.
I had a guy book for an entire month. SUPER excited because I didn’t have to worry about filling the that month AND I would be getting that money up front. Look at the guy’s profile. From Switzerland. Seems alright. No ratings. That worried me a little bit, but he was staying for a month. Whatever.
The day the guy is supposed to arrive, I’m calling him, texting him, messaging him. Nothing. It gets to be 10pm on a Friday. Fuck it. I’m going out. I’ve been waiting all day. Fast forward to 1am. My phone rings.
“Hello?” “Hey, it’s Peter. Where the fuck are you? I’ve been waiting for two hours.” “Hey, Peter. Sorry about that but I never got a call or text or anything from you. Be there in a minute.” “You should have been here. Why should I have had to call you?”
It’s at that point I knew I was in trouble.
I saw him. Dirty shirt, unwashed hair. I greet him. Kinda smells.
This guy was the WORST. Refused to do dishes. Left his shit EVERYWHERE. Hogged the TV at night. Tried to get me to smoke him out, but never wanted to contribute. But the worst? There were pubes. Not just a stray pube. Freshly cut pubes. On the toilet. In the shower. Just fucking disgusting. That was at two weeks in. We had to have a talk.
“Hey man. You’re completely disrespecting this space and myself/roommate. list of problems addressed earlier” “Yeah, well I already called AirBNB and told them this place is terrible. I’m outta here tomorrow. Your fucking bed sucks.” “cool.”
That was the last time I heard from him. But not the last time I had to deal with him.
I kid you not. This guy took a SHIT IN THE ROOM’S SMALL GARBAGE CAN AND LEFT IT.
Peter’s parting gift.
I had to call AirBNB and go through an entire ordeal to make sure I got all my money from that turd.”
15. Take Your Pick
“I host 100 to 200 people a month.
1 – Drunken nympho girl
2 – Drunken bed wetter.
3 – Creepy homeless dude smoking in my house after being told not to.
4 – Racist Latino couple who were afraid of the “dark people”. (edit quotes)
5 – Woman who screamed at us after waiting outside for a whole minute. I sent her to stepping.
6 – 2x different heroin users
7 – The orange juice from the bottle drinker.
8 – The guy who took a loaf of bread and bunch of oatmeal packets.
9 – The two or three people a month who don’t read the ad.”
16. Dead Bird
“My in laws used to air bnb their house while they were travelling. Once, the people staying there left the deck doors and windows open all night (despite the instructions being very clear that this should not be done) a bird got into the house and in its stupid attempt to escape bloodied itself all over the main floor and died in the living room.
The people staying there decided not to mention anything and just left it like that.
Two days later they get back and see the mess. What the fuck people!? I mean, I get that it was kind of a crazy situation, but staying quiet and leaving was not the best way to handle it.”
17. See You Never
“I am a cleaner for multiple airbnb’s in a popular tourist destination. The hosts have had tremendously respectful guests… except for that one family over the Christmas-New Years break.
I walked in post checkout, there was a fire ROARING in the fireplace. There was 3 religious candles (the big fat tall ones in glass) sitting on the metal lip of the fireplace boiling to a bubble. Every linen in the house had been used. The house had been smoked in (no smoking policy), there was bits of weed ALL OVER the coffee table, dishes overflowing out of the sink, garbage strewn about the entire house, cigarettes put out in liquid inside of glasses and cups. It took my 6 hours to clean up. The best part was the guestbook message, “Hi from your new friends! We can’t wait to come back again someday soon!” Haha – no chance.”
18. Just Delightful
“Not me but one of my friends came home after someone had stayed at her house and they’d left used diapers in the cupboard in her room.”
19. Condom Sandwich
“Oh man, there were these kids from Australia who were very polite and kind up until they left, they left at about 6am so I couldnt personally say bye but when I went over to clean they left 3 used condoms on a slice of bread on the kitchen counter :(“
20. Not the Best Hiding Place
“Had a guest rent my apartment for a music festival and my wife and I came by to check on the pace and found that the guests were storing their drugs in my child’s crib. We bought a new crib after we kicked them out.”
21. NOT Helpful
“Once my guests were asked (and reminded on the day) the put the keys in the letterbox when leaving. Instead they kicked the only set of keys under the door after locking it (my partner had been called away on business that afternoon with the second set). Now homeless, I called Air BnB’s emergency line with my suitcase in hand, they returned my call … the next afternoon.
Helpful.”
22. Hindsight 20/20
“We returned back to find the place a mess, makeup in carpet, glasses everywhere etc – fine, can deal with that. But they had spilled a bright orange drink on the light grey carpet and not cleaned it up. Called Air BnB, they said we could claim for damage. We got the carpet cleaned – the stain didn’t change, so we had to pay to replace the whole carpet – AirBnB said since a week had passed since the guest left – you know, that time we were getting it professionally cleaned, that we couldn’t claim for it. That £100 ended up costing us a LOT more than £100! If we’d just claimed to replace it straight off, seems that would have been fine.”
23. Both the Best AND the Worst
“I’ve been a host for about 6 months now. My second guests were a German couple who were super friendly. One night I took them out to show them some of the local bars. The guy ends up getting super drunk and getting kicked out of the bar. Fast forward to later that evening back at my place. I figured he might want to smoke some weed. I was hoping that would calm him down. It did not. He went bonkers and was just roaming through my apartment yelling gibberish and being obnoxious. I remember trying to calm him down and googling ‘how to get rid of Airbnb guests’ while being all fucked up at 3 AM. He apologized profusely the next day. They were the worst guests I’ve had but also the friendliest. Most people don’t socialize but they were very easy to talk to.”
24. Just Get a Hotel Next Time
“I usually get nice people, some more clean than others. This time a family of four with two kids book the aparment. I was really nice with them, show the place, list things to do or places to eat etc. So, the day before I call for set the checkout, now, I addmit my error, (IDK why but my check out time of 11 in the morning wasn’t set) so, I sincerly apologize and ask them if they can leave at noon, because I have other guest later, otherwise I would let them without problem. They want to leave at 5 but ok… Fastfoward next day… What a disaster. Sand, dirty, chocolat other things all over the floor. The kitchen… 4 pans, pots, etc with oil in the sink and countertop. Freshfish in the can… The rooms.. The kids ran wild, courtains dirty, beds covers dirty, walls… They even take with them towels and keys from the doors… I recognize my mistake with the checkout but still i think I don’t derserve that…”
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