Young Women Evicted After Paying 3 Months’ Rent Upfront At Airbnb, Ask For Help Online
Someday this story will be filmed – when the writers’ strike in Hollywood is finally over and they all stop endlessly reshooting their own golden hits. On the other hand, we have already seen this somewhere… Wait, it’s almost the good old movie Terminal with the peerless Tom Hanks!
But seriously, the heroine of today’s story, TikToker @bevvvvvvyyyy, faced a situation that, to be honest, you would not wish upon even a sworn enemy. And over 117.7K views of the original video in response to her call to ‘blow this up’ is an ordinary human’s desperate attempt to get public attention against a big company. So, let’s figure everything out now.
More info: TikTok
The author of the video and her friend fell prey to a scammer Airbnb host who was running an illegal subrent in San Diego
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
“Okay, internet, like, we actually need your help”
“I am living with my best friend in San Diego, across the country from our family this summer. And our Airbnb guy was running an illegal sublet and didn’t tell us, so we got evicted. Like, literally, an eviction notice that was like, if you’re not out in 24 hours, we’ll change the locks. And this guy didn’t even tell us this wasn’t legal. We thought he owned the place he was renting. It was a whole thing.”
Image credits: bevvvvvvyyyy
Image credits: bevvvvvvyyyy
“Either way, we call Airbnb because they were like, ‘We’re going to pay for you to be in a new place. We’re going to help you, we’ll refund your whole trip.'”
“But once they found out our trip was three months they’re like, ‘no, we’re not going to refund that.’ But we’re like, ‘we did pay to stay somewhere illegal. We thought you guys vetted this person, like, did you not?'”
Image credits: bevvvvvvyyyy
Image credits: bevvvvvvyyyy
“And then they were like, ‘okay, we’ll pay for your next place.'”
“But because we’re in San Diego, the only places that are left today – like, we literally are evicted today – are super expensive, like $1,500 a night. And so Airbnb is like, “we won’t pay for that either. Like, we won’t pay for that. We can find you a place. We found you it. It’s $1,500 a night.”
Image credits: Skitterphoto (not the actual photo)
Image credits: bevvvvvvyyyy
“And so we’re like, please. Like, we’re two young girls with nowhere to live tonight”
“Because you guys didn’t like, vet this person. You guys told us this was safe. We booked through the whole time. Anyway, we need help.
Please, like, blow this up. Like, I don’t even know. Like, we’ve been on the phone with these people for 24 hours. They keep forwarding us to other people, hanging up on us. Literally being like, ‘okay, we’ll text you back.’ Then they’ll say ‘we’ll refund you the whole thing’ and they just go back on it. The internet has so much power and I need, like, we need your help. Like, we’re actually going to be f***ing homeless.”
Image credits: Open Grid Scheduler / Scalable Grid Engine (not the actual photo)
@bevvvvvvyyyy We have no where to go, our stuff is packed. Plz tag them in the comments idk what else to do. Airbnb plz help us we need a place to sleep tn #airbnb #airbnbexperience @airbnb ♬ original sound – 🤍
The women literally found themselves on the street and asked everyone to react just to ‘blow this up’
Well, the Original Poster (OP) and her best friend were planning to live in San Diego, away from their parents, but the trip didn’t go well from the very start. The friends rented with Airbnb, but it turned out that the host scammed them by simply running an illegal subrent. As a result, the OP was ordered to urgently, within 24 hours, evacuate the rental. Well, that’s not that bad – compared to the fact that the author of the video couldn’t get her money back either.
The woman claims that she and her friend requested a refund, and at first they were promised it, but then, when it turned out that the trip was quite long – actually three months – then the problems began. Also, according to the OP, Airbnb refused to pay for their next accommodation – probably because other listings were overly expensive.
As a result, the author of the video and her friend actually ended up on the street, without any money or accommodation options. Communication with Airbnb representatives goes on, but the original poster is already losing her nerves, and she sincerely asks people to react to her video – apparently hoping that the posting’s viral status will force the company to pay attention to this case. Well, this has happened more than once, and it would be great if public interest has an effect again.
People in the comments, of course, are outraged by the current situation and doing their best to help the two friends with advice or just words of support. “Someone give these girls a place to stay, she seems so sweet,” one of the commenters reacted. Folks also advise the OP to contact bank representatives to try to issue a refund on their end. And, of course, to get a lawyer involved. And besides, San Diego residents advise inexpensive and convenient accommodation options in the surrounding area. How’s that for public support?
Well, Airbnb once drastically changed the market; however, like any service on our planet, it is also not that flawless. In particular, with regard to interaction with hosts. For example, the hero of this post of ours generally believes that Airbnb hosts are ‘destroying’ the service, giving numerous illustrative examples. Be that as it may, the market will always make its own adjustments, but in the meantime we’re looking forward to your comments on this story, or maybe some ideas where the original poster and her friend could stay in San Diego to fit on a fairly small budget.
People in the comments are giving the author their advice and words of support, trying to boost the video as much as possible
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Literally I like can't like literally like read this like article. Literally 🙄
Air bnb suck and have completely ruined the rental market. I hope they eventually disappear.
Even trying to read between the likes, it's not clear what the outcome is. I would expect them to be reimbursed for the remaining period, for sure. The host will not have been paid by Airbnb yet - this normally takes place only once the stay is complete, so AirBnB will still be sitting on their money. Finding them somewhere to stay is another issue, and I don't see that there's any obligation here. As for vetting, I recall setting up our own rentals on AirBNB and Booking.com that at least one of them needed to verify that the listing was real, by virtue of a video call showing them the actual property, but I don't think there's any way they could have confirmed whether or not we were legally entitled to rent it out.
Not sure when you rented, but Airbnb implemented Aircover after people voiced concerns about fraudulent listings. So for that policy, they have to either find them a similar place or refund them, that's why they have an obligation to find them a place if they don't want to refund them 3months worth of money. Just on the surface, it's super sketchy to me that all you had to do to list your property on booking sites was to do a video call. Hypothetically, I could go to an open house for a house on the market and use that to list it online? It seems like the vetting process should be more thorough than that. There should be documentation you can send them to verify you either own the property or that subleasing without the owner's knowledge is ok per the lease, and I think Airbnb should do more than the bare minimum to vet properties it allows to be listed on its platform.
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Literally I like can't like literally like read this like article. Literally 🙄
Air bnb suck and have completely ruined the rental market. I hope they eventually disappear.
Even trying to read between the likes, it's not clear what the outcome is. I would expect them to be reimbursed for the remaining period, for sure. The host will not have been paid by Airbnb yet - this normally takes place only once the stay is complete, so AirBnB will still be sitting on their money. Finding them somewhere to stay is another issue, and I don't see that there's any obligation here. As for vetting, I recall setting up our own rentals on AirBNB and Booking.com that at least one of them needed to verify that the listing was real, by virtue of a video call showing them the actual property, but I don't think there's any way they could have confirmed whether or not we were legally entitled to rent it out.
Not sure when you rented, but Airbnb implemented Aircover after people voiced concerns about fraudulent listings. So for that policy, they have to either find them a similar place or refund them, that's why they have an obligation to find them a place if they don't want to refund them 3months worth of money. Just on the surface, it's super sketchy to me that all you had to do to list your property on booking sites was to do a video call. Hypothetically, I could go to an open house for a house on the market and use that to list it online? It seems like the vetting process should be more thorough than that. There should be documentation you can send them to verify you either own the property or that subleasing without the owner's knowledge is ok per the lease, and I think Airbnb should do more than the bare minimum to vet properties it allows to be listed on its platform.
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