“2 Different Hidden Cameras”: 35 Airbnb Horror Stories That Are Not For The Fainthearted
Interview
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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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.
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.
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.
While many things can ruin the holiday when staying at Airbnb, there’s one that most travelers particularly dread. We have all heard stories about people spotting hidden cameras in Airbnbs they stayed in, and that may give you mixed feelings.
So to find out whether this common Airbnb scenario is something we should really be scared of, we reached out to Daniel Markuson, the cybersecurity expert at NordVPN who happily shared some insights about it. “There is no reason to be paranoid about finding a hidden camera in your Airbnb,” Markuson said and added: “especially if you are renting a place with numerous positive reviews in the past.”
We found 2 different hidden cameras with feeds going into the wall. 1 in the bedroom facing the bed/closet. 1 in the bathroom vent facing the mirror. I cut the cords and took the cameras with me as evidence and reported it to the police. They were unable/unwilling to do anything since it was his property, he had the right to record anything. They were unsure of the legal grey area and made an intimidating visit to him. We no longer use Air bnb and I always check for cameras in hotels now.
The worst part was that they had a playground in the back yard and advertised it as "kid friendly". I sometimes want to go back and burn it to the ground. I settled with notifying all of his neighbors of the cameras
Being morbidly obese, I think the best thing for me would be to sit in front of the camera nekkid. I'd scare the jerk so badly he'd never do it again!
My friends and I booked a big house for a weekend near Wrigley Field in Chicago for a Bachelorette party. We had decorated the whole house with uh... inappropriate banners and things like that - you know how bachelorette parties go.
We spent Saturday morning brunching and pre-gaming before the evening's festivities and by 1pm or so were all certainly well on our way to party town. While we were sitting there the bachelorette gets a call from the AirBnb owner saying he was "in the midst of listing the place" and that he "forgot to tell us he had scheduled showings all weekend". She told him that was absolutely not going to fly - there were women napping in rooms, women getting ready, alcohol bottles everywhere, not to mention the decor.
He replied by saying he was already outside with the first showing and was giving us a courtesy call to let us know he would be coming in. We look outside and he is standing on the sidewalk with a family including 3 little kids. He brought them inside to give them a showing and we just had to sit there awkwardly, drunk at 1pm, surrounded by blow up penises, while they walked around and viewed the house. He even went into the rooms where women were napping and turned on all of the lights to show them the bedrooms.
Luckily we left soon after for a cubs game but he proceeded to show the house for the rest of the day. We contacted AirBnB and they refunded half our money, but there weren't any other available houses in the area for them to move us to that weekend so we just had to deal.
The absolute cheek of this is jaw dropping and makes me never ever want to stay in an AirBnB
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 $$
Having said that, the cyber security expert argues that it is always better to be safe than sorry, “especially if you find your host somewhat suspicious.”
Markuson’s best advice is once you arrive at the property, take some time to check it for unwanted stalking devices. In fact, spotting a hidden camera in your room is not that difficult, and you don’t need any sophisticated spy gadgets — a phone with a camera is usually enough,” he explained.
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.
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.
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!
The first tip to spot a hidden camera is to try shining a light on the lens of the suspected hidden camera. “Camera lenses will reflect a red or blue color when hit by light. First, try shining a light on places where you suspect a camera might be hidden. Some of the popular hiding places include shower heads, smoke detectors, and alarm clocks. But we also recommend checking other electronic devices present in the room,” Markuson said.
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.
I'm currently solo traveling through Denmark and have been staying in different AirBnBs. Just yesterday, I arrived in one I'd booked near Copenhagen. All the others were great, very hyggelig. This one isn't great looking - which would be fine, it's cheap and I'm only here for sleeping.
When I went to bed, there was a spider on the ceiling (bedroom is right below the roof, ceiling is very low so you can't stand upright). I thought "one spider won't eat me" and went to sleep. Then, just as I was drifting off, I felt something crawling on me. Turned on the light, sure enough, a spider. I smacked it dead, turned on my back and the whole ceiling was covered in spiders. Some tiny, some bigger, they were everywhere.
I'm really scared of spiders, so I don't know if someone who doesn't mind spiders would've reacted differently, but the though of hundreds of spiders dropping from the ceiling and crawling over me was too much. Slept on the sofa downstairs, leaving for my next stop a day early to get away from the spiders.
I was staying in an Airbnb to celebrate a friend's birthday - it was actually nicer than the apartment my friend lived in, so we invited people there instead. Late afternoon comes along, and we're sitting around a table drinking. It's pouring outside. I hear a weird gurgling from the bathroom, so I go check it out, and find that the toilet's started to back up a bit. I call the landlord; he tells me that this happens from time to time when the rain is heavy (the apt is actually below ground level). I plunge and flush the toilet, and it goes down fine and I rejoin my friends in the common room. All is well.
About 15 minutes pass. I suddenly hear a much more aggressive gurgle coming from the bathroom; I run over to find that not only is the toilet backing up at a worrying rate, but that dirty water is also erupting up through the ground where the toilet is screwed into the floor. I turn off the water valve to the toilet, but it just keeps coming. I toss some towels in an attempt to slow this poop waterfall, and call the airbnb host who says he'll be over ASAP.
At this point, the shower/bath is filling with a rank, deep brown liquid, and the water from the toilet is spilling over the bathroom threshold into the hallway. Our host arrives with a shopvac and starts using it to suck up the mess with my help while my guests are huddled on the couch in fear, trying to find alternative lodging. I'm standing next to the host with towels when the shopvac lets out this ratchet mechanical noise which is also accompanied with a blast of raw sewage through the exhaust vent, covering me in aerosolized waste. Turns out that this shopvac isn't actually equipped to handle liquids, and doesn't now seem to be working. We then flee to my friend's place, where I take a very long, very hot shower. Not really the airbnb host's fault, but certainly my worst experience to date.
tl;dr - stayed in an airbnb, had toilet issues, end up covered in s**t.
Definitely the host's fault. He knew about the problem but rented to you anyway. He knew it was raining and rather than warning you, waited until you complained before bothering himself to come over. What a jerk.
Another way is to switch off the Wi-Fi router and see whether you get a call from the owner complaining that someone has disabled the Wi-Fi. “If you do, then there is a serious red flag that there are cameras hidden around,” Markuson said.
Moreover, you should also always check for one-way mirrors. “Try putting your finger up against the mirror. If there’s a gap between your actual finger and its reflection, then the mirror is real. If there’s no gap, you can also try shining your flashlight at it, and once you get the angle right, you should be able to see the camera behind the fake mirror.”
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.
I'm gonna try and share my AirBnB horrorstory, using just three words:
Bedbugs crawling everywhere
That’s the problem with Airbnb, they are not regulated like hotels re hygiene inspections etc. This is not to say hotels can’t be a disaster but most countries have regulations regarding standards for hotels.
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
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.
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.
The host was out of town on the day we were arriving, so he said he'd hide the key in the garden. Ok, no problem. We assumed that the key would be somewhere near the door, or hidden under a rock or something. But no, the host had buried the key in a random spot in the garden, and it took over an hour of searching and digging with help from random passerby to find the damned thing.
This is so much more convenient than going to a concierge at the front desk of my hotel. Not even an offer of a treasure hunt there.
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!
I was in the field researching human trafficking in one of the god forsaken districts of India. That day we had interacted with a few survivors of sex trafficking who were helping us track the route of trafficking in that area. Came back, my colleague and I were consolidating notes in my hotel room. Five women and men (traffickers) pushed in dressed as police threatening to arrest me for being a sex worker. I knew they were fraud because I was the guest of the police chief there. Having my male colleague around helped but I still get chills thinking how threatening it was. Thankfully, They were arrested next day.
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.
I was staying in an Airbnb apartment in Paris looking for a room to rent somewhere in the city.
The apartment wasn't very good; creaky floors, cr**py bathroom etc. What made it worse was the apartment next door was being renovated throughout the day from 7AM to 6:30PM. Non stop drilling and hammering all day, everyday. On top of that was the couple upstairs had a newborn baby, and the ceiling was paper thin so during the early hours of the morning I would hear this screaming child hour after hour.
So the worst part was after I'd returned to the Airbnb from interviewing for a room to rent that afternoon, I'd noticed that my clothing in my suitcase had been rifled through. Immediately I check my secret compartment where I'd kept my extra cash and of course everything was gone!
300€ Stolen from my belongings
But here's the thing; my $2000 laptop was on the table right next to it as well as other expensive belongings and nothing else was touched in the apartment. I'd also made sure I locked the apartment everytime I left and it was locked when I returned.
I'm sure by now you've put it together that someone with a key let themselves in.
Immediately I call the host to discuss the problem and her response arranged from "That's not possible" to "Maybe you put the money somewhere else". Naturally I was furious but I restrained myself and didn't accuse. She said she'd come in the morning to inspect the apartment because I'd decided to rent the room I'd found in the city.
All she did was look around, checked the lock on the door and never said she was sorry or offered to refund my money for the stay.
I left that place so angry I still think about it and clench my fists. At least the people I moved in with after weren't total d**ks.
One danger of an Airbnb is any past renter could have made a key. Really Airbnb is a security nightmare.
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
My family and I were on a road trip to San Francisco. On the way we booked this cute little cottage in a very historic town. It was perfect, white picket fence and all.
The second day I was eating breakfast in the kitchen and noticed a weird smell. I couldn’t place it and figured it was just something in the garbage.
After breakfast I showered and got myself ready for the day. Once I was out of the bathroom my husband hopped in the shower and a few minutes into it all I heard was some jumbled words and “OH S**T”.
Apparently the place had a septic problem and there was literally human waste coming up through the drain in the shower.
My husband jumped out and turned on the sinks faucet, it was brown. I can’t remember how it all unfolded exactly but if I remember correctly the toilet started overflowing at this point as well. It felt like we were in a movie or something.
We got out of there as fast as possible and later I realized that’s what I was smelling when I was eating my breakfast!!
All in all it was a pretty sh**ty experience.
"Pls no anal sex on the bed" is the title of my worst AirBnB experience. There were these lovely notes from the host all around the property, about their life struggles and how they didn't want us to have anal sex or period sex on the bed.
The wall to the bedroom (booked as a "private room") was paper thin and didn't go all the way up to the ceiling - and there were several bunk beds in the living room and another bedroom, and we all got to share 1 bathroom. The bedroom itself was a small space with two thin mattresses (smaller than normal single beds in size). The room was so small the door could only open when the mattresses were on top of each other. My partner at the time was unable to lie down fully stretched. The AC was so loud we had to choose between lack of sleep due to heat or due to noise.
It was in DC a couple of years ago. Since they had a rule of not leaving reviews (and thus also not getting reviews) they managed to stay on AirBnB for about half a year before they were removed.
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
I hate to be cynical, but I’m thinking they were probably in on it. The owners - although I almost wouldn’t be surprised if AirBnB were in on it too.
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.
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.
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.
a place in ikebukuro, tokyo was advertised as an apartment. Photos looked pretty decent. Small, but just enough for one person.
Arrived there on the day of, realised it was a love hotel (charged rooms by the hour), room was smaller than I thought with absolutely no floor space (you walk in and the bed and sink were right there, no space to put any luggage), and a musky stench. The wallpaper had stains from god knows what. Read some reviews that weren't on Airbnb and people mentioned having dried up bodily fluids on their mattresses and blankets.
Final straw was the fact that they had no hot water in the middle of a winter night.
Left there pretty fast, contacted the owner, and she was nice enough to give me a refund.
Host lied and tried to get my friends and I to pay a $250 cleaning fee, even though we did everything he asked before we left. I declined the payment, reported him to AirBnB, and never contacted him after that. We rented his house for spring break (we're in college) and did not throw any parties or trash the place, cleaned it pretty well before we left. I have a feeling he pulls that s**t every time he rents to college students and just pockets the extra cash because most groups are probably afraid of getting in trouble
Host lied about air conditioning. It was August in Barcelona. Also the ceiling, which was purposely not pictured, was covered in dry mold.
My work wanted to go cheap so instead of putting me up somewhere in new york city they got me an airbnb in east Rutherford, NJ. It was some guys art studio, the walls were paper thin, so I heard the host yelling at possible art dealers or whatever all night while trying to sleep on a cot which had one dirty pillow on it (also for some reason it had a single rose on it).
Staying in New Orleans in July with no AC probably tops my list. There were roaches everywhere as well. The worst thing we found was some super faulty wiring. One day it rained and water was leaking out of the electrical socket. Staying at this place totally ruined New Orleans for me.
And it could’ve been worse! Be thankful you didn’t get shot through the wall by a stray bullet.
Stayed with a dude and his wife when I went to Singapore. The guy was super friendly, he took me around town, and even let me hang with his dogs. I got home and decided to send him a friend request on Facebook. The picture on Facebook was with his wife and two dogs. I was planning on returning to Singapore that summer and wanted to stay with him again because of his hospitality. When I tried to message him I saw that he no longer had Facebook. I typed his name in on google to try to find him again and was met with a news article that the guy was currently wanted for sexually abusing two minors and used roofies to sedate them while he attacked them. The article said he was on the run from the authorities. I have never been so disgusted and frightened in my life. I haven’t used Airbnb since especially because they refused to refund me and didn’t conduct a background check on that monster.
Tl;dr: Nice guy I stayed with turned out to be a sexual predator. Airbnb sucks because they refused to refund me and did not do a background check.
I had a great stay and was planning to return, but AirBnB failed to predict the future and refused to refund me for no reason, so now I'm mad at them
Rented a cabin in the middle of nowhere for my birthday a couple of years back.
Everything is going fine, until the creepy neighbor showed up and started to hit on the ladies we brought. When I say creepy, I am talking Hills Have Eyes creepy.
Had to finally tell him to go f**k off after we caught him stealing beer and cigarettes and bringing them back to his house.
Sad that you allowed the women to be harassed by the creepy guy but didn't tell him to f**k off until he started taking your stuff...
I was working away and my girlfriend had come to visit. She checked into the place while I was still working and I was going to meet her at around 1am when I finished.
According to her the room was actually the host's own bedroom, and he was going to sleep on the couch which was weird enough.
She called me at about 12am saying she checked into a hotel because she found a bedbug while she was sat on the bed. Apparently when she told the host he begged her to stay and tried to force money into her hands.
Air BnB were actually really good about it. We put in a complaint about it in the morning and within an hour were contacted by phone. They refunded us in full, removed the host from the site and paid for our hotel.
some of these posts must have been after AirBnB's first mug of coffee
Stayed at an AirBnB in Paris. Didn’t get clear checkout instructions and didn’t think about it. Messaged when I was leaving and said something along the lines of “Hey I’m not sure how to checkout so i’ll lock the door and leave the key under the mat.” Never got a response till a week later when I was notified by AirBnB that a case had been opened against me.
The host had claimed that due to what I did during checkout, someone had entered and “stole 500 Euros worth of airsoft guns”.
I ended up winning the case but it was very stressful. So make sure you ask for checkout instructions.
It happened two days ago. After having had great experiences with airbnb, I finally came across a bad egg. I had booked what was presented in the ad as a full appartment. Looked really nice from the photos. Booked it and all was well...for about a week. Then the red flags started showing. First thing was the owner did not give me any details as to how to get to the appartment despite the trip being two days away. When she finally answered my messages she was extremely vague and her answer to everything was it's alright. You'll get all the details once you get here. Once I got there I was welcomed by this woman who basically showed me to a damp, stinky and cold bedroom in which I could barely fit my luggage. It was clear by that point that I would not be getting the entire appartment. I thought that only for one night I could stick it out, as I was leaving early in the morning and I had errands to run during that day which would have me rather busy. Boy, was that a mistake. As I discovered the entire place smelled of cat pee, shower was littered with these people's stuff, I only received a small hand towel, the entire place was freezing cold and, as I had discovered, the bedroom I was in was facing a highway and was not isolated at all. I had tried everything. Putting the heater to the max (didn't work, that thing was as cold as ice) folding the thin blanket to get more heat, sleeping straight on the mattress and putting the pillow over my head to muffle the sounds....nothing. I spent the night awake from the atrocious constant car noise, struggling and freezing my butt off. Worst 60 euros ever spent. 10/10 would not recommend
First and only time I used AirBnB. Booked house for 5 people in San Diego for SDCC, 8 months in advance. House has 4 rooms and is 2 miles from the convention. Host is fine the whole time and communicative leading up to the trip. 2 days before we're supposed to leave, host cancels citing plumbing emergency.
Called AirBnB, they offer to help rebook us plus an additional $150 rebooking credit. Problem is San Diego is filled to the brim during SDCC. The only options anywhere near the con were about $1k per night. The closest option with multiple rooms was about 1 hour away. We escalated the issue multiple times and each supervisor told us the most they could do was offer the additional $150, but refused to do more than that to help us. They said the only other option was to reserve us a single hotel room at the rate we booked, without the additional $150 rebooking credit. It was about 30 mins from the convention, but it was the best option we had so we did that. Luckily, we're very close friends, so we shared the single room with 2 beds and a cot, but it definitely wasn't the trip we'd been planning for.
The worst part is that we saw the same house with the "plumbing problem" listed on other similar sites when we were looking for alternatives. The house was triple the price and said it had last-minute availability for SDCC. AirBnB's response? "We're not responsible for what our hosts do outside of AirBnB."
I'm sure AirBnB is great and I've heard a lot of great things about it, but I'll never try to use it again.
I lived in SD for years and this is my take if anyone cares for advice about visiting for SDCC. SDCC makes downtown a he!!scape. AirBandBs will price gouge you into bankruptcy. Your best bet is to stay in a hotel outside of the DT area (any of the places in hotel circle off of the 8 work just fine since they are much less expensive than in DT or directly on the coast) and then take the trolley into DT. You'll save money, avoid the crazy traffic, and you won't have to deal with the parking situation (which isn't great on the best of days but much, much worse for big events like SDCC.) I pretty much tell any tourist to take advantage of the trolley system as it will get you nearly anywhere you want to go in south county without having to navigate all of the freeways. It also keeps the extra traffic from increasing nearly every local's commute time so it's much appreciated. :)
This was my very first let's give it a go AirBnb moment. The host seemed super nice and caring at our late check in. Place was ok, dirty dirty microwave and bathroom sink didn't drain (probably a clogged trap) but we let it go because we weren't there for long. Well after a long day at the l beach I go to make dinner and find dead cockroaches. I tried to get ahold of the host and finally called Airbnb all shades of grossed out. They tried contacting and after no response put us in a hotel, all paid.
Well she gets back to us the next day saying it's typical for the area and that she just sprayed. Lucky for me I'm the type to take pictures and notice things. Things like the fact that all her reviews were from friends (pictures of them all over the house) and the little dead critters and their nests plus the dirty microwave. Plus my SIL and BIL live just down the block and say you must pay for it every month not when you see them during the summer.
So when she got nasty with me through text and the review I was given a full refund, her review was taken down, exterminator and someone to review with a surprise visit were sent over.
But overall I've never had another bad experience. Super hosts for the win.
At least clean up the bugs? Cockroaches are normal where I live and I don't just leave the dead ones on the floor. You have to flush them because they can still give birth if you just throw them in the trash.
Was halfway across the country, it's the beginning of July in San Diego and it's a blistering hot summer. Arrive at the airbnb after landing - the room I was staying in was in the middle construction, dry wall, plaster, dust all over. The host lied about there being AC and didn't offer an alternative like a fan AND told Airbnb I stole from him. Had to contact Airbnb with photos and was then left ultimately stranded without a place to stay on vacation (Airbnb did not offer to pay for a hotel) + a review on my account that I was a horrible tenant because I had high standards and should've just booked a hotel. Like dude what?!
Remember you are not responsible for this! TIP: Check for sketchy things in the reviews and pictures, they can't hide everything.
Unfortunately, life circumstances have led to me living out of an airbnb in a less than reputable neighborhood in a major city on the east coast. I stay in a SHARED room (notice the emphasis on shared) because it's cheap and I don't mind sharing a room.
Well last night my roommates turned out to be a couple. I don't know what these people thought a "shared room" was but they were very pissed at finding this out, as was I. But they made it way more awkward than it had to be. They would "whisper" about me and the guy would suggest his wife/gf leave the room every time he does as if I were a creep. I'm a 22 year old who looks 18 and they were in their 30s. Heard the guy say he went through my stuff to "get a feel for me to make sure I'm not a psycho." Thank f**k they were only here for one night and I hope my 6 AM alarm annoyed them more than they did me.
He went through YOUR STUFF!? Dude report him to the police if possible and make sure he didn't take anything.
A friend’s family stayed at this nice place an hour from where I live, they were in town and we went up to visit. They stayed in this actually really nice place, kind of out in the middle of nowhere. It was essentially a converted two-story garage: air conditioning, hot tub, pool table, it was pretty nice for ~6 people (they had another family with them). After we left we get this phone call that basically the owner, either super drunk or super drugged or whatever, came and yelled at them for having uninvited guests. Now, there was nowhere that said no to this, for clarification. I wasn’t there, but I believe it was something like, “You invited people over that I didn’t say could come”, all the while leaning on his wife/girlfriend/whoever she was for support. Because we used their ping pong table. Needless to say they came to bunk with us and the other family stayed at a hotel nearby.
How ridiculous 🙄, sounds like he might be jealous because he doesn't have anyone to play ping pong with. 😕.
Went to visit sister but they didn't have a spare bed in their apartment. We booked a place a block away from them.
Arriving late at 2 AM, we had been emailed the code to unlock the door. It didn't work. Maybe we punched it wrong? Nope. After 30 minutes of trying different things, called the owner, who didn't answer. Woke up my sister and went to their place, slept on the floor while my gf slept on the couch.
The next day we went and tried again, it didn't work. The owner insisted he gave us the right code, but was not available to come and try it himself, so we just cancelled the whole thing and i slept on the floor again the 2nd night.
First and last time I'm using airbnb.
No communication before check in. No code given for the front door keypad. Didn't tell me about the private parking lot he had. And this is even with the host having a designated AirBNB manager. like bruh...what are you doing
Luckily he was there, so he was able to give me the information I needed. There were 3 somewhat sketchy dudes sitting on the front stoop of the house for a few hours. The host himself was nice, but some things seemed off. He seemed really thin, way thinner than his photo (he wasn't fat before). But he walked around with a liter bottle of some soda, drinking straight out of it. Another guy came in, and the host said he helps him take care of the house. This guy looked like a drug addict, crazy thin with matted hair, and the first thing he asked for was the soda bottle. So I grew suspicious of that "soda".
The room was nice though. I got settled in and everything was how I thought it was going to be. Not long before I was going to go to sleep, the host asked me if I would be willing to trade rooms with another guest in the home, because their room they booked didn't have its own private bathroom and she'd have to walk down the stairs to use the bathroom and she can't walk that well. I was like uh......sorry?
Then I remember after 11 PM, I heard some hammering. It went for at least half an hour. I was like what the f**k? The host was actually doing home improvement work, with a hammer, while his guests in multiple rooms were trying to sleep.
Just...really weird. I think I gave a 3 star, since the room was fine.
The host had a dog. She left for the night, leaving the dog to bark all night. Cops came thinking I was a burglar.
My friend, her husky and I were road tripping through the New England area and she booked an Airbnb in Maine, our last stop. The host was a very old man, maybe in his 60s and was very chatty. He showed us around this very old house, the layout was almost a full circle and all the rooms were connected, meaning there were two doors to almost every room, including the bathroom. He also let us know that he sleeps in the attic upstairs. We decide to stay in the one room together even though there was a second tiny bedroom connected to the "master" bedroom. In the small bedroom, there were these small black and white pictures all over the walls and NONE of those people looked they were of him. He said he never furnished the house, instead just bought the house as is and lives in it now. During the day, we did our own thing and when we got back late, he was still awake insisting to talk to us. Finally, we say we are tired and I go to shower and ask my friend to stay in the bathroom with me since there are two doors, both that don't close all the way therefore no lock. But upon opening the shower door, there was so much grime and mildew all over, there was NO WAY I would've gotten clean in there. So we get ready to just go to sleep and realize both bedroom doors do not close all the way and no locks. I told her to sleep with the car keys under our pillow in case we needed to make a run for it at night. Luckily, we survived the night. The next morning, he made us breakfast and was talking about how he's traveled to Asia and met some with ladyboys and other Asian women who wanted the American dream and will marry American men to be their submissive or some bulls**t. (We are Asian.) Also, during breakfast, the door to the attic that he stays at kept opening by itself.
TL;DR: Airbnb's bathroom was atrocious with mildew and grime, couldn't shower. Host was a weird, yellow fevered, old perverted man that may or may not be a killer with these random people pictures on his wall. The house was haunted with doors opening by itself.
The first and last time I’ll ever use AirBnB was in NC at a conference. I’m a sheltered woc, never really been to the “hood” before. Rented a room and the lady was nice. I knew something was up because I couldn’t get any food delivery there. Every place refused to come to this area.
The lady tried to persuade me to make her some cake thing but I was like yah nahhhh. Anyway, two out of the two nights I slept there I was woken up to her fighting with her daughter and gun shots that i hope weren’t coming from inside the home. Some jewelry of mine went missing and she had pit bulls which weren’t a concern for me because dogs! But it didn’t say that on her profile anywhere. The dogs were cute till they s**t on the bathroom floor and nobody wanted to clean it up.
-10/10 won’t use Airbnb again.
In the middle of the night someone was pounding on our air bnb door. When no one answered they started punching the lockset to try to break in. We called the cops and by the time they arrive, the dude had walked around the porch and was asleep on the back balcony. They woke him up and he was wasted and thought this was his house. The cops took him home. Everything turned out fine but it was a terrifying way to wake up at 3am!
Innsbruck Austria. We came in from Switzerland on the night train. We get to the apartment building (which has 12 different apartments) unsure how to enter. We call the host several times, leave several messages, no answer. We see a lady leaving the building with her dog, it turns out she is his roommate! She tells us there is no reservation, that the host is at a festival, but after showing her the reservation she said we could stay for one night (which was the length of our reservation) apparently host had rented out his room for the festival, forgot to leave a key with the roomates, and his phone died
On check-in day in cold a*s East Coast January, my boyfriend’s host completely forgot about him and would not pick up phone calls or answer messages. He waited until midnight and had to come back the next day. No apologies or explanations.
WiFi was listed as an amenity. Nope, $20 if you want to use the Internet. Now, room was supposed to be for 2 guests with Queen bed. Nope, a twin bed that barely fit in the room. BF added me as the second guest so I can stay if I want. Nope, $80 additional per night or get kicked out. Kitchen is also listed in the amenities. You will be scolded and threatened to be kicked out if you are in it for more than 15min.
BF wouldn’t write a bad review because he didn’t want trouble. Makes me mad thinking of it.
East coast weather can either hit hard or not. But I’m in the Midwest so idk fully.
Termite infestation out of nowhere during my groups second night in NOLA. We returned to the house mid afternoon to regroup before going out for the night. Between the hours of 6pm (when we left there was no sign of anything wrong) to ~midnight termites had begun chewing through walls and were all over EVERYTHING. In our suitcases and clothes, all over the bed, all over the food, all over the floor. It. Was. Disgusting. We had to find a hotel for 12 people at about 1am and spent the night in our hotel going through every item we owned one by one making sure to kill any termites we had missed. Thankfully got a full refund from the owner.
Termites are just another fact of life in New Orleans. They swarm and get in everything about twice a year. I remember having to cover my hair and wear a bandana over my face if I wanted to go anywhere when it was migration season. It's not really your hosts fault, it's just a thing that happens there.
Got a super late cancellation in Vancouver when there was a ton of stuff going on in town and it took us hours to find a place. It was extremely stressful and I legit thought I was going to be sleeping outside with the homeless that night (I had my backpacking gear at least). Ended up staying at a a pretty dhady but clean hotel near E/W Grenich that is a super shady neighborhood. Not my first late cancellation either.
My girlfriend is from a vacation town and a third of the apartments on her mom's floor had been converted into full time short-term rental units. Well, former floor since the rent jumped up a ton. It's undeniable that AirBnB/short-term rentals are taking a lot of properties off the rental market and raising rents in vacation-oriented markets. The locals who work in a service oriented economy just can't compete with the visitors.
Stayed in a beachfront bungalow in SEA that only locked from the outside with a padlock. The people who hung around the bungalow bar, including the owner (it was a cluster of bungalows and a bar/restaurant by the same name) were all definitely shady AF. When I sat down (female solo traveler, the only woman in the establishment) they had no issues making jokes about how you can "do anything you want on this island, you can make someone disappear if you want." Nopenopenope.
On a night out I ended up dropping the key to the padlock and had to sleep on the porch because the owner wouldn't be there with a replacement until morning. I was more than happy to pay the replacement fee but asked that it be done through the resolution center and not with cash, so there'd be proof I paid, and he agreed. I paid immediately and checked out but I guess there's a delay on AirBnb's end (it stated I had like 48 hours to fulfill the request) so I got a series of incredibly angry, threatening messages from the host asking for his money, asking why I'd do this to him, telling me I'd never be welcome back on that island, that he would get me blackballed from ever re-entering that country, etc. Then the funds were released to him and he apologized.
I left him a good review so he would feel even more guilty and stupid.
I went to a music festival and stayed in a shared house AirB, just wanted to go to sleep there and planned on coming in late. My host new I was in town for the festival and told me it wouldn’t be a problem to come in late as long as I was quiet. First night was fine, second night I came back very drunk and couldn’t figure out the key code to unlock the door. I knew what it was, I was just punching it in wrong because... drunk. After the third attempt the door flys open and this very tall German man (we were in Canada) starts yelling at me in a thick accent telling me I’m at the wrong house. I immediately start arguing back because I KNEW I was at the right place. He didn’t believe me and wouldn’t let me through. I showed him email confirmations from the host and told him over and over that all my s**t was upstairs, including my passport.
He still wouldn’t budge. I charged through like a maniac, ran upstairs into my room, locked the door and told him to leave me tf alone. Didn’t bother me after that and luckily I didn’t have to see him again the next day. I told the host about it and he ended up discounting that night. So I got a free night but I was terrified the whole time. (Am female).
Guy left his handgun out, this in a country where it's almost impossible to get handguns.
I packed my s**t as soon as he stepped out of the apartment and called AirBnB (this was at like midnight). They were nice about it and put me in a fancy hotel for the duration of my stay.
We stayed in a room that was desperate from the main house. A bit rundown and a bit buggy, but we were in the woods. Turns out in the back there was a hole in the roof and there were possums running across the ceiling all night. At one point they were frenzied and making all kids of noise so whether it was a fight or mating we had no idea. Did not sleep at all. Was half convinced one would fall through a water damaged part of the ceiling.
The host collected creepy dolls. They were everywhere! Staring at me.
My bf got an AirBNB and it was the couples bedroom. They slept on the couch and we had to pass by them to get to the room. I felt so uncomfortable with that.
My gf went to a FGL concert in central PA with about 5 of her friends (all girls). In the middle of the night, a drunk man broke into their AirBNB. They all hid in the bathroom scared sh**less. He actually just fell asleep in there but the fear of the unknown terrified them.
My group rented the second floor of a house with access to the first floor where the owner lived. She was part of a Great Dane rescue organization and had three of those huge dogs. One was old with huge tumors growing all over its body and two of them were young and aggressive. We would try to go out and sit in the yard and they would charge at you and only pull up at the last second. She was all like "Oh, they're so sweet", but honestly they were a little terrifying. On our last day there, the old one died and when I went downstairs to say goodbye to the lady, she was sitting on the floor sobbing. I was like "Sorry about your dog, gotta go!" My friends stayed later and ended up having to help her bury it.
All the ones I've stayed in over the past couple years have been the rented apartment converted to AirBnB with Ikea, Amazon, and TJ Maxx purchased furniture. Bland and uncomfortable. It finally dawned on me that someone took these apartments away from the housing market and made housing more expensive. When I used Airbnb years ago for vacations we stayed in back houses and basement apartments with the family upstairs. You'd have notes saying to watch out for their dog because he likes to come in the cabin or be careful of the ducks near the pond because they were protective of their nests. Now it's impersonal emails, electronic locks, and properties the owner/manager rarely sees because he pays for a cleaning company to maintain the apartment. It's like watching little Anakin growing up to be Darth Vader. I'm done with Airbnb.
Do none of these people read reviews before they book? Or were there no reviews? Or fake reviews? I’ve stayed in hundreds of AirBNBs in about 7 different countries and never had a single problem. I’m not affiliated with AirBNB. Well, sometimes the decor was dated, occasionally something was not working, but nothing like these horror stories. Always read the reviews, always write a review.
I stayed in one and after paying an extortionate cleaning fee and being expected to keep the place spotless, I found toenails from the previous occupant... In the bed. It was my first and last time using Airbnb.
Load More Replies... All the ones I've stayed in over the past couple years have been the rented apartment converted to AirBnB with Ikea, Amazon, and TJ Maxx purchased furniture. Bland and uncomfortable. It finally dawned on me that someone took these apartments away from the housing market and made housing more expensive. When I used Airbnb years ago for vacations we stayed in back houses and basement apartments with the family upstairs. You'd have notes saying to watch out for their dog because he likes to come in the cabin or be careful of the ducks near the pond because they were protective of their nests. Now it's impersonal emails, electronic locks, and properties the owner/manager rarely sees because he pays for a cleaning company to maintain the apartment. It's like watching little Anakin growing up to be Darth Vader. I'm done with Airbnb.
Do none of these people read reviews before they book? Or were there no reviews? Or fake reviews? I’ve stayed in hundreds of AirBNBs in about 7 different countries and never had a single problem. I’m not affiliated with AirBNB. Well, sometimes the decor was dated, occasionally something was not working, but nothing like these horror stories. Always read the reviews, always write a review.
I stayed in one and after paying an extortionate cleaning fee and being expected to keep the place spotless, I found toenails from the previous occupant... In the bed. It was my first and last time using Airbnb.
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