Creepy Airbnb Stories
TW: Topics in this blog post may be distressing to some readers. Reader discretion advised.
Hi friends! For this blog post, I thought we could take a look at some creepy Airbnb stories. I've collated a few from the interwebs.
Let me know in the comments if you've ever had a creepy Airbnb experience. Luckily for me, I don't think I've ever had anything too spooky (that I've noticed, anyway).
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Creepy Airbnb Stories
From the subreddit /r/solotravel, Reddit user justjudifer asked: "What are your Airbnb horror stories?" These are some of the responses from 7 years ago:
SillyOldBears 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." This one is just kinda sad? Like awful; how would you not clean and then think to rent out this place? So strange to me.
toomanypens6 said: "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." So gross.
cincbus said: "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." Very awkward; why would you have your Airbnb listed if you had to show it? Feels like an invasion of privacy walking into the women's rooms where they were napping, and like clearly they would have said why they were staying there! Weird all around.
From the subreddit /r/AskReddit, user ppihfmsl asked: "What is your worst Airbnb experience?" These are some of the responses:
From OP: "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."
This one is now deleted, but it's creepy AF: "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*ck off after we caught him stealing beer and cigarettes and bringing them back to his house. And men wonder why women are scared of them?
wurstbrot_royal said: "Only time I used AirBnb: New York East Harlem for 5 nights. The host slept on the couch while I was sleeping in her room. She would get drunk every night - would undress and show me her bare chest and overall was just a lot to take in. I felt like I needed to end this on a positive note, so we went for drinks on the last evening. She expected me to pay for everything including the cab ride back (I paid half). I discovered I am not cool with sleeping in some random person's personal space."
A few from the Buzzfeed Community:
norenelee said: "We had one that we called the m*rder d*ath cabin. It was close to the beach, but you had a long, steep set of stairs to walk down to the beach, as it was along a hillside. The house smelled overwhelmingly like mold. The upstairs bedrooms had glassless windows that overlooked the living room, so we couldn't put the kids to bed while the adults stay up and talk because they could hear everything. The furniture fabric was so thin that you could see the foam on all the armrests. There were hotels in the wall and spiderwebs in the high windows. It could have been a really charming cabin if it had been kept up well, but they obviously didn't care. We couldn’t stay because of mold allergies, but our friends decided to stay the night. When they went to leave the next morning, they couldn’t get out because the private road the house was on was blocked by one neighbor doing some sort of regrading with big equipment and a huge load of dirt left at the entrance of the road. I think they waited three or four hours for the crew to clear the road so they could get out. Thankfully, we got our money back since the pictures did not match the cabin, and it was basically uninhabitable. Ah, memories."
Psyche said: "I rented a room as a broke college student, and a married couple had a huge fight about me, and I had to leave. Her creepy husband was literally sending my pictures (which I did not give him) from my social media to his buddies talking about me. It got even worse - so stay safe out there." Why are there so many predators out there?
jenniferj32 said: "I rented an Airbnb in Vancouver for five days during a conference. The apartment was gorgeous and on the 18th floor of a building that did not allow Airbnbs. There were signs EVERYWHERE banning short-term rentals, and the owner had me sneak in the back and use the freight elevator. I wasn’t allowed to enter or leave at certain times. I was terrified the whole time I’d get caught and thrown out in a foreign country."
Rachel S G said: "We stayed in the basement of a woman’s house near Vancouver while she was home. We’re from the UK and had been traveling for 16 hours, so we were exhausted because it felt like 5 a.m. to us. The basement was flooded, and she stayed downstairs talking to us for ages while we were all just desperate to go to sleep. She was then up for hours in the middle of the night playing loud music and walking around in loud shoes (heels, I assume). We left at around 7 a.m. Vancouver time and didn’t want to disturb her, so we packed up and left without making too much noise. She sent my dad numerous angry emails complaining that we didn’t say goodbye before we left."
From BoredPanda:
FinnegansMom said: "AirBNB in Toronto. Sister and I brought our passports. They demanded we forfeit the passports on arrival. We said absolutely not and after hesitation were shown to our space. The rooms did not match the pictures posted at all. The place reeked of bleach that had been used recently. We took photos of every room, and quietly slipped out when no one was watching. Reported everything to AirBNB and were given a full refund. Their ad was removed and host blocked. Seriously believe we narrowly escaped being trafficked that day." I am glad these girls got out of there because that could have been the start of some sort of human tr*fficking, right?
Julie Myers said: "Had a guest from Italy for 3 months. I made dinner for her when she arrived and she made a point of telling me she threw it up (I am a good cook and have published a cook book). Two days later, her son arrived without telling me to stay the entire time. She used my address to establish permanent residency in the U.S. and to open financial accounts without telling me. She took a hammer to my quartz counter-top, causing $1000 in damage and then said it was gouged by someone else (no one else was in the house). She hung her underwear on my awnings to dry because she did not like the dryer. I came home to find her building wooden displays in my living room and with cans of black spray ready to paint them in my house. She poisoned my dog deliberately and I had to spend $800 at the vet. She took my carved wooden salad spoons from Africa and used them to stir pasta and ruined them. She said that anything I cooked smelled bad and I should eat out. She threw out pieces of silverware, chef’s knives, and china. She threatened to write horrible reviews about me on Airbnb if I did not drive her where she wanted to go and help her with her errands. I called Airbnb for help and they were useless. They said it was my problem. The night she finally left she poured red wine all over expensive new white linens. I found out I could not collect the deposit or the Host Guarantee because I “did not have proof” even though I sent 20 pages of documents and photos. Airbnb requires a police report and this is impossible to obtain in Florida because any damages caused by a “resident” of a home have to be brought to civil court, not the police. That was the last guest I had on Airbnb." I read one of the comments on here blaming the host for accepting a guest for 3 months; that reads like victim-blaming to me - like maybe she needed the money, and MOST people don't act like this. I feel so bad.
A few stories I found from Vice (that are in Australia, omg!!!):
From Kaia (24): "I was staying in an apartment in Melbourne’s CBD with my boyfriend. A wooden plank fell out from under the bed frame a couple of times during the day so I messaged the host asking if they could fix it. It was 7p.m. when I sent the message. At around 9p.m., my boyfriend and I are in bed, obviously naked, and we just… hear the door unlocking?? Someone sticks his head in and calls out “hello?” down the hallway and all of a sudden there is a MAN IN THE HOUSE. Like, he just let himself in!!!!! And was coming into the bedroom! Where we were naked! My boyfriend was like, “wtf are you doing here, please leave”. And this man tells us he’s been sent by the host. He leaves and I check my phone to see a message from the host saying they’ll send someone over. I message him back and tell him it’s so not okay to just?? Give a man a key and let him in while we are still in the apartment??? The guy hadn’t rung the doorbell or knocked or anything. The host proceeds to ring me and go ballistic over the phone abusing me and calling me stupid. It was insane. I immediately reported him to Airbnb and they removed his other listings and refunded my trip. And then he proceeded to leave a review on my profile, claiming I had… broken all of the furniture in his property??? It was an entire paragraph of lies and I had to chase up Airbnb to have it removed. They ended up reinstating his properties and he’s still on the app." Damn, girl, that is so creepy. I feel like the person needs to knock!
From Allie (24): "I once stayed in this Airbnb in Gippsland with a friend. It was some random old lady’s spare bedroom (she didn’t tell us… she said the room was completely separate). The window in the room was smashed, we weren’t allowed to shower for more than 1 minute. We couldn’t have it on hot either. We weren’t allowed to speak or make any noise after 8:30p.m. and we had to ask to use the kitchen (that was a part of the deal??!). We weren’t allowed to park in the driveway so we had to park a kilometre away. And, her pet horse kept trying to break into the room while we slept. We were meant to stay for three nights and we stayed for 8 hours because it was so weird." I feel like this host is missing out with some advertising re the horse popping its head into the room. What a weird experience.
Indi (21): "I was in Byron for Schoolies (regrets) and the Airbnb we stayed at was actually really nice but something about it was so off. It was me and 5-6 other girls. There was one night when I was sleeping alone and I was lying there trying to fall asleep and I could feel this pressure on top of me and breathing noises which was so ungodly scary. I put my headphones in to try to distract myself but that didn’t work, and the feeling just wouldn’t go away so I moved into a different room and slept with one of the other girls. The other bizarre thing that happened is that we were all sitting in a lounge room just outside the kitchen, all of us were in the same room, and we could hear FOOTSTEPS walking around the kitchen and the back door sliding open and closed. Not necessarily f*cked, but if Byron schoolies wasn’t traumatic enough having a haunted Airbnb absolutely did it for me." I'm surprised it took us this long to get to an actual haunted story!
Thank you for reading! Stay safe out there. Ash x
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