I’ve rented Airbnb places before and it really blows my mind that people would treat another person’s property with anything but respect.
But, as you already know, people can be real jerks and they can be incredibly rude when it comes to other people and their property and possessions.
AskReddit users shared their stories about bad Airbnb guests. Let’s take a look.
1. A classy couple.
“A couple rented my home and did an obscene amount of drugs and flushed some left over down my toilet which clogged it.
Oh they also stole my prescription pain killers.”
2. So many good ones.
“There are almost too many to recall but among the top ones was a bridesmaid who got drunk at a wedding and proceeded to violently assault her boyfriend bc he wouldn’t propose.
She threw him into 3 walls (all requiring extensive repairs) which led to her arrest.
The quality of guests has declined sharply as Airbnb has grown.”
3. So messed up that people would actually do this.
“Hosted what we thought was a family of 4 for a long weekend.
Turned out to be couple of party planners who invited 280 people (according to the police report filed that night) and left nearly every room and fixture with some type of damage.
Also found several types of drug paraphernalia and broken glass all around the house. Worst part is that they had hired/invited? 3 huge dudes to literally prevent us (homeowners) or any neighbors from meeting with the people whose names were on the reservation or go in inside that night, leading neighbors and then us to call the cops later on.
This is in a generally quiet neighborhood with a ton of families and retirees.”
4. Ignorant.
“My parents recently had an incident.
The house was rented by someone using a false identity. They threw a huge banger at the house with underage guests and, according to neighbors, there were guests having s*x in the yard. We ended up finding out after several guests broke into the neighborhood pool and broke the fence and a window at the community building leading to the cops being called.
The house was trashed. Cigarettes and joints all over, alcohol spilled on the floors in nearly every room, broken cell phones, over $100 worth of food they bought left out. They broke into the locked cabinet that had cleaning surprise and extra linens in it.
We found all of the kitchen knives in the bedroom closet as well as cut up bars of soap. Luckily the damage to the house was fairly minimal; screens from the windows popped out, small hole in the wall, broke the locked cabinet, pulled washing machine out from the wall.
People are ignorant.”
5. Completely trashed.
“My parents rented our our second home to three families that were part of a soccer tournament. Six adults and five children.
When we came to the house after they left we discovered that they ruined the wood floor by having leaking coolers sit on it. The damage to the floors costed over $600+. Not to mention they left dirty diapers; just laying on the floor or on random shelves, not a single one in the many trashcans around the house.
And lastly they raided the pantry of wine and anything of food that was in there. The pantry was meant for if a guest needed something last minute to cook instead of running to the store.
The man who booked the house had left two days earlier then the other two family’s who completely trashed it. He was understandable and they never got the security deposit back.”
6. Great guys.
“Two guys from Wales came in for the night, we made it clear that we only offered a room with a double bed to sleep in, so no parties and no bad behavior.
Found them the next day passed out in the kitchen where they had puked in and over everything, even the plants, even in the cat’s litter box, it was awful. I kicked em’ out immediately.”
7. Coke and condoms.
“Tons of problems with guests. One opened up a water pipe under the sink when we refused to give a refund because he was disturbed by noise on the street (it’s a downtown rental).
We’ve had wall paintings, kitchenware, mirrors, and the thermostat stolen not to mention bedding and misc other items.
One time there was c*caine and condoms littering the entire condo.”
8. People are nuts.
“One woman complained that it was dusty underneath the furniture. She also left a scathing review calling me a devil worshiper, because she found Harry Potter books on the bookshelf.
Another man threw away all the decorations he didn’t like. He had booked 3 months, but that still doesn’t mean you get to throw my stuff away. I discovered them in the trash when he cancelled his 3-month reservation after 4 days, and then tried (and failed) to get a full refund.
Another couple decided to take a break from packing their car to leave, so they could have s*x one last time. The police knocked on my door because the car was illegally parked (due to the packing), so I had to go upstairs and interrupt them in the middle of f*cking to let them know the cops were looking for them.”
9. Water damage.
“We’ve had hundreds of guests and only one problem one. Couple came in for a festival and one of them leaned on the tub faucet drunkenly and snapped it off. Water started pouring full force into the tub.
It was late and night and they ‘didn’t want to bother me’ so they didn’t tell me until about 15 HOURS LATER. My water bill was hundreds of dollars and I had to call an emergency plumber.
Airbnb reimbursed me eventually but it was a huge hassle to get paid. They wanted photos of the damage but it was a pipe snapped off inside a wall. Note to other owners- get lots of pics and documentation before filing a repair claim.”
10. Disgusting.
“One guy that was staying with us was an alcoholic. Didn’t really figure it out until it was too late.
He sh*t and p*ssed all over the room. It looked like the sh*t demon from Dogma got ahold of the room. There were empty beer cans all over the floor. The Airbnb guest sleeping in the room next to him noticed the foul odor and let us know.
We threatened to call the cops and thus he left immediately. We had to rip up all the flooring and refloor the room.”
11. Idiots.
“Not me but a friend.
He rented his house to 8 adults and they left something burning on the stove and burnt down the front of his house.”
12. Holy moly!
“I’m not old enough to rent a home but this comes from my dad. Short and simple, when we came back home we found a lot of blood in the kitchen, and a cut off thumb.
And my dad’s bedroom smelt like “Someone had s*x for at least 2 hours”.”
13. Tales from Mexico City.
“I wasn’t directly renting my place, but I was a translator for a dude who rented like 30 apts. in México City.
The everyday problem came from Americans who looked to get free nights and discounts for the most ridiculous reasons, we had a Chinese grandma burn down the apartment because she left the dryer on for hours while she took her dog for a walk, BUT BY FAR the most disgusting experience came from a Chinese guy in his early twenties. He rented the apartment for 3 nights.
A few hours later after his check-in, he sent a photo of a bed, completely covered in cash, no context and no message. Then he sent a photo of him getting a black, Mercedes Benz SUV out of the Polanco concessionary, squatting next to it with him dangling the keys. The next photo is him squatting in the hood of the SUV.
He left without returning the keys to the doorman so a locksmith had to tear down the door.
The place was a mess. Food rotting in the little lounge. The bin was completely empty and the floor and furniture had trash all over them. Snacks, bottles, plastic bags, etc. Then the room… again, it was all littered up. Condoms and plastic bags lying on the floor.
The bed had a huge stain of sh*t, then the bedsheet was rolled up, and inside there was a trunk of sh*t. The towels had skid marks of his *ss and the toilet paper was left untouched. And he made all of this by himself IN THREE DAYS.
He happily paid all the extra charges and later that year he rented the place again. That last time he even did his bed and left a basket with gifts, so I guess he had at best, some conscience left in his brains.”
14. Some people…
“I used to travel a lot for work and I would put my apartment up on Airbnb while I was away.
My apartment has a bunch of closets and drawers which I used to leave empty and at my guests’ disposal. However there is ONE closet in the bedroom which I kept locked cause it is where I keep my personal belongings.
One time a guest left a bad review saying that the place had no storage space which I was very confused about until I got home and saw my closet.
Dude had tried to open it using brute force, the door was almost pulled off its hinges and the wood was chipped in some places. The door in question had TWO PADLOCKS, and the perfectly usable closet on the opposite wall was untouched.”
15. Girls trip!
“Rented out to a group of 4 girls. Turns out they were going partying every day during their stay.
I get called one day at 5am, Its the guard from my building telling me there’s a passed out girl in the lobby’s couch, puking and p*ssing herself. None of her friends had gone back to help her. Ruined the couch obviously.
The next day they send me a message again, another one of the girls had sprinted to the building stairs and ALSO p*ssed herself.”
16. Paranoid much?
“A friend of mine rented to a girl who was convinced that there were cameras hidden all around the unit. She dismantled the lighting fixtures, picture frames, medicine cabinets, remote controls, etc.
This occurred in 2015.
They were live-in hosts renting out the main part of their home. She also de-potted plants, removed smoke detectors, hid all of the refrigerator magnets, and destroyed her cell phone.
They were compensated by Airbnb.”
17. OH MY GOD.
“I worked in a call center that handles some of Airbnb’s customer service. So, one guest murdered 2 people in the host’s home and got arrested there.
Another guest was from a culture that eats iguanas and barbecued up a 7 year old girl’s pet iguana to serve to the family as thanks for hosting him. Another guest filled a mug with human SH*T and left it in the host’s microwave.
You really lose all faith in humanity working in customer service call centers.”
18. Two things…
“I have two.
One dude stole my trimmer.
This other guy took the cake though. When I took him the second key to the apartment that his mother needed, he opened the door slightly ajar and only extended his hand, palm facing up, to receive the key. Didn’t want to shake my hand. S
ent me messages complaining to me that drawers in the bathroom were full of personal stuff (one was full of items that we purposefully leave for guests to use, including new pads, soaps, toothbrushes).
He was annoyed by this and said I’ll just move this to one of the bedside tables in the master bedroom shall I, which is also full anyway (there, we leave blocks and pens for guests to use, as well as reading material like the Economist or guides to the city). This also annoyed him.
He also complained about food that we leave for guests to partake of and be welcomed by. Upon leaving, guy leaves a massive, scathing review including hot takes like the linens and pots being worn out and needing replacement (they’re not and they don’t — they’re also top of the line), says the apartment was dirty upon entering (it wasn’t, it was thoroughly cleaned before his arrival, as it is before every guest’s arrival).
He concludes by complaining the taxi ripped him off (I’m guessing the insinuation is that I was in cahoots with the taxi company? I don’t know). His mother was nice though.
I often wonder how parents who give birth to f*cking idiots feel about said f*cking idiots.”
19. Good Lord.
“My wife and I were hosts for about a year to make ends meet. We had just moved to a new town so she could attend grad school. Guests had full access to the second floor while we lived on the first. Met a lot of cool people and ended up getting super host status.
Last guests we ever had were an older couple that had traveled a lot. They seemed fine and we had a nice conversation and they seemed fine with the accommodations. Keep in mind up until this point we had never gotten less than 5 stars from dozens of guests.
Later that night I was at my job, bartending. Busy evening and home boy roles up saying he needs to talk with me outside. I hurry out trying to accommodate him and also get back to my busy shift.
He proceeds to lay into me at my place of work about how our space wasn’t up to Airbnb standards and they won’t be staying there and some friends found them another place to stay that night. I was confused but okay sure bud I’ll give you the full refund you’re asking for.
He goes on his way. We refund everything we had gotten from them. Airbnb did not refund the taxes and fees per their own terms and conditions.
I think his main complaint ended up being a spider web under the bed and that there wasn’t AC upstairs. Mountain town on the east coast of US in the summer. It was warm but there were fans and it wasn’t unbearable. I can understand why he’d want to stay somewhere else though.
Anyways we think it’s all behind us and my wife and I embark on a cross country road trip a few days later to check out the country and go see her family on the west coast. First day the guy starts blowing us up through Airbnb messaging saying he didn’t get all his money back and to send him the rest.
We had returned all the money we got. We told him to take up the rest with Airbnb and that we couldn’t help him. He was flipping out saying we were bad at business and there were other avenues to get him his money back like Venmo and some other crazy stuff to the point we had to contact Airbnb to take care of it so he would stop contacting us.
He basically wanted us to pay him for taking away our opportunity to make some money off other guests that weekend and for him to insult us and our home.
It was a crazy stressful situation at the beginning of a long trip and influenced us to find a roommate instead of continuing with Airbnb hosting.
We also had a dude and his girlfriend who were probably in their late 40s get absolutely hammered, come back around midnight and she was throwing up in the yard while he laid on our living room floor with our dog talking junk about his girlfriend and asking us for weed. They were alright but left about 40 empty cans up in the room for me to clean up.”
20. Messy people.
“My partner looks after an AirBnB for his friend..self catering only, the house is an 1800s big country house…it is used primarily for large get togethers and parties. Most guests are great and clean up well to get their deposit back.
A group stayed and left the place pretty messy. But we couldn’t figure out what the smell was. Turns out they left a full PIG in a rubbish bag under the kitchen table. They tried to cook a pig on a spit and basically left it’s mainly raw corpse under the table.
Every toilet was destroyed too. Must have eaten the semi charred meat on the outside of the pig when drinking without realizing that it was F*CKing RAaaw (sorry Gordon Ramsay).”
21. Foreign visitors.
“My mum did this. She had some people from out of country come stay.
They moved the furnature around, swapped and moced mattresses, left a massive pile of dishes in the kitchen, the bathroom was all buggered, and they must’ve been cooking and smashing clams or oysters shell in and around the bbq outside.
I went over to help my mum out a little after work for a bit, but it was a 2 day minimum cleanup job she had to do. Mum even had to bring in a cleaner lady to belp as well.
Needless to say, the people who stayed didnt get their deposit back and got a file reported on them.”
22. We need keys?
“These ladies got locked out because all three didn’t bring any of the spare keys.
I had to leave a meeting since they demanded I let them inside. Since I left them all spares and my original, had to climb up two stories by building a makeshift Marv from Home Alone style stack of boxes and break in my own apartment to open the door from the inside for them.
They gave me my only negative rating out of about 20.”
23. Bad guests.
“I know a girl that did it and guests broke her globe and glued it back together with all the wrong countries joined together. They also spilled a pint of water on the rug and just left it which made a big circle water mark on the wooden floor.
She was a bit fussy about hygiene so I was surprised that she didn’t mind loads of strangers doing all sorts in her bed.
It is baffling, clearly the lure of money is great for some people.”
24. Never again…
“I used Airbnb to rent out a military camper truck I built.
I only had one guest and one horrible experience, I will never be a host again. The first guest was on bnb for a couple years and had a few reviews from hosts that were good.
Anyways, the guest forced open my RV gate, parked his vehicle in my backyard and then three more guests (only one guest was booked) and a dog (I had a no pet policy) proceed into my motorhome. The next day comes and it’s time for them to leave, but they wont leave.
I had to sit outside the door and wait for them to get ready. They begged to stay but I had a very strong feeling something was wrong. Inside, I found very short straws with burnt ends and burned aluminum foil around the camper, I figured out that they were probably freebasing heroin. They also managed to completely fill up the gray water tank and black water tank.
Later, I found out that the rental car was most likely stolen and they were hiding it from the Police.
Airbnb was pathetic in the lack of customer support during the experience and after.”
25. Party time!
“First time we hosted some high schoolers threw a party. The wood floors were covered in a layer of dried beer. Someone jumped from the top of the stairs landing on the couch and breaking it in two. Glass in the pool. Who knows what else.
Another time someone completely dismantled the surround sound speaker system and left a huge mess of tangled wires….just why?!”
26. Stop talking, please.
“I hosted for a few years (as a “super host”), and frankly I had lovely guests – very cool, intelligent, well traveled, interesting people from all over the world. They were all pretty tidy too and considerate.
The only annoying thing was people who talked way too much. Normally, people would exchange pleasantries and we’d chit chat for a bit, which is totally fine & welcome. But, every once in a while, I’d get a guest who talked nonstop from the time they got in until they went to bed.
The rental suite was fantastic – like its own separate apartment – fully stocked with everything I would want if I were a guest.
And yet, there were a few people who had to hang out on my floor and talk talk talk talk…
When I got an over talker, sometimes I would hide when I heard them coming, so they’d go ahead to their floor. Bc I just could not stand someone talking at me from 7 pm until 11pm.
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If you’ve had a bad experience with Airbnb in some way, tell us about it in the comments.
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