I traveled for work and stayed with my friend and he is also one of the leaders of our leadership team at MindRight. We got back to Brooklyn from our office in the Audible building in Newark around 4 pm. We both heard cats fighting in the rooms that the Airbnb guest was staying in. The door was locked. There were never keys given to that room.
The Airbnb guest ended up getting back to the apartment around 8 pm. He informed us that he changed the lock. We legitimately were shocked.. imagine someone changing the locks to one of your rooms in your home.
The individual that was asked to leave didn’t agree to give back the keys to the home, the room or the front door. After multiple calls, Airbnb said that they wouldn’t remove the reservation and couldn’t do anything, We called the police.
The police ultimately communicated that he was now trespassing and needed to leave immediately. My friend and his husband offered to allow him to keep all of his stuff (over 20 large black bags that piled over 3 feet into the air on the bed, closet, and floor) and his 4 cats, which he declined.
The last call after 1 am, was the only time Airbnb removed the reservation because we informed them the police were involved and removed the individual. Airbnb informed us that they have seen this type of thing before and leave it up to the host to handle these types of situations.
As a CTO and a leader, I am very understanding of mistakes on all levels of operations, however, they are not ignored. As a soon to be father and homeowner, I can never feel safe doing Airbnb. Airbnb should not feel comfortable with these situations or how they resolved them.
AirBnb is only a glorified advertisement and payment platform. They cannot do anything about this sort of issues. There are not a letting agent. They are not a substitute from knowing what letting property entails.
I agree with someone else that the story isn't entirely clearly written but I think I get it.
Really be interested to know-- did the renter actually leave their cats and bags there?
Two years ago my friend rented her room for two nights. The person who rented it didn't like it, and demanded his money back after the first night. Instead of going through the usual AirBnb route, the man took her keys with him and demanded she goes to meet him at a random hotel with cash to get the keys back.
Airbnb refused to provide any assistance and said that it is within the guests right to do so (lol). Police were called on a premise of extortion to resolve the situation.
I hope Airbnb goes bankrupt.
Don't do it.
What level of vetting does your friend do with accepting guest reservations? Do they communicate with the guest before allowing a reservation? Or was it a “reserve now at this price” deal? The more experienced Airbnb hosts usually check a guest’s subjective “rating” (via previous host’s comments) and their rental history.