Don’t Count on Airbnb to Vet Your Guests

Airbnb private rentals are different and more relaxed than staying in an established-branded hotel. I guess that’s the allure and the fact that you can sometimes find a fabulous deal in a great location. But this story points out that making private arrangements can be hit and miss because of lack of oversight, quality control, and compliance with regulations designed to protect guests, in a hotel we take things for granted like a local direct-dial phone, an on-duty operator, and desk staff.

Chris McGoey

Personally I have no experience with Airbnb. I would never allow strangers to live in my home and I love staying in hotels when I travel. However, I do have friends that have been happy with their Airbnb rentals but recently one of my neighbours rented out his place on Airbnb with disastrous consequences.

John rented out his place for three days while he was on a two-week vacation. Unfortunately he returned to a nightmare, which sadly he has not yet woken up from. He arrived home to find that his apartment was used for a three-day party and it was completely trashed. Half-eaten food, drinks and cigarette butts made the place look more like a landfill than an abode. All John could do was fill up garbage bag after garbage bag and haul them out to the bins outside. Unfortunately even with the trash removed the apartment was uninhabitable. John was forced out of his own home and went to stay with a friend. He hired a cleaning service to come in and see what could be salvaged after a good going over. But, John’s worst nightmares were realized. The sofa (only a few months old), drapes, lampshades and carpeting were not salvageable.

Reaching Airbnb is not an easy task. There are no phone numbers. Your only option is email and the response time is pathetic. I have no idea if Airbnb is going to assume any financial responsibility for this disaster or if there’s lots of fine print absolving them of everything. The moral of the story is not to trust Airbnb to vet your guests. Unless you do your own research and check references yourself, you can never have peace of mind. The other option is not to rent your place out to strangers. I’m sure episodes like this will have landlords and condo associations putting stipulations in their leases and by-laws, as well they should. What’s wrong with hotels anyways?

Human relationships used to be easy: you had friends, boy- or girlfriends, parents, children, and landlords. Now, thanks to social media, it's all gone sideways.

Susan Orlean

Make someone smile today.

Geri