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“2 Different Hidden Cameras”: 20 Airbnb Horror Stories That Are Not For The Fainthearted
Article created by: Mindaugas Balčiauskas
If you are a frequent traveler, then chances are you've spent a night or rather countless ones in Airbnb. From a cabin in the woods to an apartment in a city center, there’s an accommodation for virtually every type of tourist.
While pretending like you own a whole place in an area you've never been to before sounds awesome on paper (and sometimes in reality!), the truth is, you may encounter something you were not ready for. After all, you’re staying in someone else’s home, so hey, it’s not you who decides the location, the decor, the vibe, the rules…
Or the spookiness! Turns out there are countless Airbnb horror stories surfing around on the internet, so just in time for Halloween, we wrapped up some of the most spine-chilling ones.
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#1
My host lied about having wifi and a king-sized bed. Then, I was woken up by her sneaking into the apartment in the middle of the night and snooping in my bag. I had to call the police... That was fun.
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#2
My hosts were friendly in the beginning and kept offering me drinks throughout the entire day. It was fun til it escalated to her yelling at me about not having gone through any pain my entire life and how her life was filled with it and then led her to trying to throw punches at me whilst her husband was trying to hold her back which led to me leaving the AirBnb at midnight in a foreign country and finding a hotel for the night.
#3
We woke up in Hawaii to a maggot hatch covering the floor. I had been up twice before it was light enough to see it, so tracked it back into the bed. It looked like the floor was covered in rice, but the rice was moving. Thousands of little wiggling maggots coming out of the door jamb.
#4
Had to book somewhere in a rundown town with zero notice. Found somewhere in an inconvenient location but there was nothing else. Ignored the red flags when the host / owner contacted us, before confirming the booking, about having a tiny baby and that our visit would have to fit around it’s feeding time. Said we just needed somewhere to crash for the night - we’d dump our bags and head straight to dinner, then leave early in the morning. We got held up in awful traffic (huge accident, roads blocked) which pushed our arrival time to 6pm. I kept in contact with the host the whole way but she got increasingly agitated. I said we’d make ourselves scarce and would head straight out. Arrived and were told we couldn’t use any other area of the house (due to said baby). Headed straight out. Started receiving texts at dinner asking what time we’d be back (we’d be given a set of keys to use, so as not to disturb them). Asked if we could be back by 11pm. Arrived back at their house to find a door chain lock on the door - even with keys we were locked out. We then met the husband who greeted us with a grunt before walking off. As we were confined to the bedroom, we had no idea where the kitchen was and didn’t want to explore in the dark so we lapped water from the bathroom tap like a dog. We were then awoken by a knock on the door at 6am - she was headed to work and we’d mention we’d be leaving early, didn’t we need to be off soon? The whole thing was so uncomfortable and a waste of $$
#5
While searching for an apartment in a new country I stayed in an Airbnb until I found a place. Explained this to the host and she was cool with it. Then one day as i was out apartment hunting i got a phone call from her. she had been in my room and seen that i had used her address on one of the forms i was filling out which had asked for the address of the place i was currently staying. had thought nothing of it, had to fill out loads of forms when trying to get an apartment. she flipped that i used her address without her permission. i got back and all my stuff was left out the front door. so i had to go to a hotel. so a week or two later i get a message from airbnb saying rate your stay so i obviously give 1 star. she then sends a request for a huge amount of money for 'loss of earnings, pyschological distress, abusive behaviour etc' and says if i dont pay she will pursue it in a court of law. absolute lunatic.
#6
Was woken up at 3 am to loud bangs & screaming. Someone yelled that the host was “on speed and assaulting them, and to please call the police”. Police came and settled the dispute. We never left our room because of how scared we were. The next day we cancelled our stay & checked in to a hotel, only to have to host message us & ask if we left because the shower was broken.....? Uh no lady the whole being woken up to a drug binge/assault thing would be it...lol.
#7
booked the coziest/cutest airbnb in Rome. A little 1 bedroom apartment in the heart of Trastevere in a beautiful old building. Apartment was stone/wood/classic roman. Everything was great until the apartment started to shake as the upstairs unit was being renovated. For hours after my arrival, the jackhammering didnt stop. Phone calls to the host went unanswered. When they finally answered, they let me know it was their other unit and they would ask the workers to stop. As one could guess, it did not stop. It would start and stop for the next few hours. When I finally contacted airbnb to relocate me, the owner showed up and was furious I was getting my money back. Credit to airbnb, they booked me into an even nicer apartment a few blocks away!
#8
Arrived and entered the house by way of the provided code for the electronic door lock. We had stopped to pick up groceries and some needed refrigeration so we carried those in first. Which is when I discovered the fridge filled with food. Looked around and saw more food and personal items in the kitchen. Called out to no answer so we walked around a bit. Imagine if you left your home for the day for work and a stranger walked in. This is exactly how it all appeared.
Hurried back to the car afraid we were going to get the cops called on us and called the company who reassured us and told us the house owner had said he was going to get things cleared up which apparently hadn't happened. This seemed like something the company should have checked, but they assured us it was fine to just push things aside.
In the process of clearing things away into a large closet we found half used bottles of cancer medications and some paperwork which indicated the owner had been being treated for a stage four cancer. Between these and other paperwork found in the house we are fairly certain the owner died and his children had the body transported back to where his wife was buried in a northern state. We guessed they arranged to rent the place out without ever coming to clear his belongings.
#9
One guy rented my place for a night. Showed up with 2 extra people but told me they weren't staying over, just showering and changing before they went to the wedding at the hotel nearby. Ok, no problem. 11pm, I heard screaming kids. There were only 2 of them but I thought there were 6 at first, judging from the noise they were making. The guy was back, but with 4 different people and the 2 kids. The kids refused to take their shoes off, even though it is an Asian country where everyone takes their shoes off indoors. The boy tried taking home my Captain America tsum tsum plushie. His parents asked him to return it, but he screamed, "NO!" and had tears in his eyes. Everyone was looking at me expectantly. I took the plushie out of his hands. It's mine. My husband and I had a talk that night and decided to delay having kids another year.
#10
I'm gonna try and share my AirBnB horrorstory, using just three words:
Bedbugs crawling everywhere
#11
Cuzco, Peru in high season (most places booked) . Lodging for 4 people. We find a great big place for a good price. Apparently it was too good to be true, it was a hostel who was happy to host us (in hostel dorms for a much higher than advertised price) , but denied having a reservation. When i showed him the reservation and called airbnb (whose staff was very helpful) he said he had to check something. After waiting for about an hour, I tracked him down hiding in is office. The look on his face was priceless, was obviously hoping if he hid for long enough that he would get the double payment out of us. I called airbnb again and they canceled the reservation and we left
#12
I stayed in exactly one AirBNB in Hollywood. It's the only time I ever stayed, and AirBNB's support was 100% unhelpful. I needed an AirBNB because I had some major cardiology appointments about a possible heart transplant. So I found someplace close to my hospital (Sunset). First one canceled, at last minute with like 12 hours to go. So that was fun, ended up having to pay way more to get a close room by the hospital. But, found one. The owner was racist, didn't like I had a black friend stayed with me, despite the fact I rented out the entire apartment. She claimed we stole lightbulbs, left feces everywhere, stole her parking passes, dishes, etc. We made sure we locked up. We cleaned the apartment before leaving, did all the dishes (despite the fact there were dirty dishes when we got the keys). I'm glad I took photographs right when we arrived and before we left. I never again stayed with AirBNB. The host kept trying to contact me off AirBNB so I blocked them. She kept trying to get me to PayPal her more money.
#13
The host was an avid flat earther who sat me down with his buddy to watch youtube videos about it while he condescendingly explained to me that outer space wasn't real.
Shower was so grimy and clogged it didn't drain so even showering for only two minutes left me standing in a 3 inch puddle of water and bathtub scum.
He told me I could store anything in his fridge if I wanted, so I put some leftovers in an opaque container in there. Another guest told me later that he complained to her that my leftovers had dairy in them (he was a frutitarian) which meant he had actually opened and gone through my leftovers.
All the same host from my very first ever solo travel lmao.
#14
Not even that bad but my family and I stayed in an airbnb in Bushwick, NY last Christmas. We’ve stayed in lots of airbnbs but never ones with fake cops trying to break in. They were super aggressive and started using racial slurs after we refused to let them in. We were pretty shaken considering my sister’s pretty young and I ended up calling 911 to double check nobody had been dispatched to our area at the time. Was a pretty memorable Christmas indeed!
#15
In Denver, I arrived at a house. The host showed me my room - it was an air mattress. No sheets, dirty clothes strewn across the bed. Dirty dishes, ashtray, dirty carpeting. Quite a gross place. "Sorry I haven't been downstairs recently." Took pics, left within 10 minutes and filed a complaint. ALWAYS make sure there are pictures of the sleeping area.
#16
Stayed in a ground floor flat in Paris with a few friends. On the first night there, we sat at the kitchen table having drinks, and I kept seeing movement in the corner of the room in my peripherals. I thought it was just the alcohol, so I ignored it.
Turns out, the flat was crawling with mice, which we realised when we opened a kitchen cupboard and saw a whole family making their home among the bowls.
We got in contact with the owner, who said "oh yeah, sometimes when it rains outside, the mice flock inside. You'll find this with every Airbnb in Paris". Uhhh no thanks
#17
While staying in Colombia, around 700usd cash were stolen from my airbnb. It was a private house, and after looking at a hotels camera across the street, a man came with keys, open the door, and took my stuff. The owners said it was a handyman that used to work for them. Neither owners nor airbnb did anything at all
#18
Staying in Spain heavy rainfall caused the ceiling the fall in meaning we had to run out of the building in the middle of the night after grabbing as much of our stuff as we could and alerting all the neighbours in the building.
#19
Was staying in a mini house in someone's backyard with my gf. Heard a helicopter a couple times fly overhead and just assumed a hospital was nearby. Was watching TV before bed and heard a loud knock on the door. It was a cop telling us there was a suicidal man running around the neighborhood with a gun that had already threatened multiple people and broken into a house. Thank god it was the cop and not the guy as the door was (stupidity) left unlocked. The helicopter was part of the search.
#20
Booked a houseboat in Belgrade. Looked amazing in the pictures, near the river clubs etc. When we got there we found it to be on a 30 degree slant since the river was lower and so was half beached. Also after waiting for several hours we found that the owner had lent it to their family instead that weekend and so wasn't even available. Hilarious now, back then was not impressed.
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