Nightmare situation at AirB&B

[Manuel692]

Hi All, 

I need some advice. I recently booked an Airb&B and had a horrible result. I'll write this in bullets, but will summarise in a couple of sentences at the end: 

-OP and friend rent Airb&b to go to Rio.

-OP and friend have friends in Rio. Booked accommodation that allowed guests for this reason.

-OP and friend go out Saturday with one of the group of friends. Go out clubbing and arrive to Airb&b at 5 AM (one friend comes back with us, let's call her Susan for this example).

-OP is in bedroom with Susan chatting while OP's friend (Let's call him Chris) is also in his own room

-Susan asks OP for a bottle of water, OP obliges and comes out of his room to crazy scene

-Chris is in the kitchen with a naked 50 year old woman who has appeared to come out of nowhere saying "no problem" but refusing to leave the flat. Likely on drugs. Chris gives her a towel to cover herself

-OP realises that the woman has a large wad of keys in her hand

-OP notices she came in through what we thought was a utility closet in a small room next to the toilet which ends up is a door that links the downstairs apartment to the upstairs apartment.

-Later find out that the host's friends were staying there and were essentially throwing a "party" with multiple prostitutes and drugs (no evidence of the drugs, but their behaviour made it rather obvious).

-Susan is initially angry as we've been romantically involved in the past, thinks the working girls were invited by us (another eventually came through the door while we were trying to get them out). A verbal altercation starts that involves me separating them physically.

-Eventually Chris pushes the 50 year old naked woman out, however she keeps trying to get into the flat as she has the keys.

-Susan realises the situation and decides to go downstairs to call the police. I agree and follow her down while leaving Chris to sort the flat situation. We were on the phone for 5 minutes and waited for quite a while but they never showed up.

-Ask for security guard at the door for help, but he is incredibly unhelpful, almost like he is in on the situation.

-Susan has left her things (IE purse, phone, etc) in the kitchen, and is worried that the people who have access to the apartment will steal her stuff, I volunteer to go up with her to get the stuff.

-In the lift (it's one of those old lifts with a wooden door and gate that closes inside), we reach our floor where there is a man with bloodshot eyes aggressively peering through the peephole of the elevator. I assume he is going to get aggressive and having Susan behind me, prepare for whatever is about to happen. The door opens and I ask the man to get out of the way. The 50 year old woman then tries to pull him away and he pushes her off her. Susan gets angry at the him physically grabbing the woman and tries to intervene, but I don't allow it due to safety concerns and in the struggle between her getting out and holding the 50 year old woman back Susan is trying to get to, the chain I am wearing is ripped out of my neck and thus broken. 

-The man and 50 year old woman close the door to the elevator and retreat back to their room. I wait a bit to avoid conflict, and then take Susan to my flat to get her things. I tell Chris what happened, and that he needs to leave as there's an unpredictable man involved now. He tells me to get Susan out and that he will join me downstairs. I oblige.

-Chris comes down 5 minutes after us, and tells me that there's another man who tried to intimidate him on his way down. Says we need to go pack our things and go as these people have access to our apartment through that door and the keys.

-I message/call the airb&b host but get no response.

-We head upstairs, pack our things in a hurry, and leave.

-Susan is kind enough to let us stay at her families house for the morning, but of course by the time this was over it was past 6 AM and no sleep was to he had.

-I receive messages from the Airb&b host asking what happened, explain, and find out that the two men were the Airb&b host's friends staying in his apartment, who have decided to bring back "strangers" and have some sort of party. Apparently they fell asleep and the girl who made her way into our flat managed to somehow get the maid's keys, I'm not convinced due to the wad of keys being rather large and wondering how she knew which key to use if she was as intoxicated as the host later claimed. 

-The man who I had the run in with in the elevator texts me the next day apologising for what happened and wants to meet. My friend and I meet him at a McDonald's where they bring us a cheap bottle of red to try and "better" the situation.

-a second man who I had not seen but Chris had an intimidating run in with is incredibly condescending, thinks the situation can be rectified by paying the hotel for the last day of our holiday.

-We refuse and say we will go through AirB&B.

-I notify the host that we were unable to reach an agreement (host at this point has refunded me for 2 nights we didn't stay in the AirB&B only). Reads my message and ignores. I spent more money finding accommodation on the last night than the money refunded by the host (we booked a hotel in the area that was no frills). Not to mention the time lost on my holiday rectifying the situation. 

-We reach out to host again today and explain as we're unsure if he knows the severity of the situation trying to work out an agreement in the form of a refund

-Host implies we're blowing the situation out of proportion and that he could possibly seek legal advice for libel (everything I said above/to him is true so not concerned). He also changes his story to the girls being friends of his friends (I have evidence where he states that they've brought "strangers" in from previous messages) and tries to downplay. 

**Quick summary: Host has friends over who decide to invite prostitutes to their house. One of them breaks into our Airb&b with keys, refuses to leave, and had aggressive altercations with both of his male friends staying in the flat below. **

Any advice from both hosts and guests would be greatly appreciated as well as what you think would be the fair outcome to expect from Airb&b/the host.

Thanks!

Manny

[Linda108]

Wow!  @Manuel692 The best and possibly only "protection" a guest has with respect to booking any Air BNB is to read the reviews.  If this host is unconcerned about your accusations I would imagine this is not the first time this has happened.  I suggest you contact Air BNB and request a relocation to another listing if possible and request a refund.  Air BNB does have the ability to see if this behavior has been resported before.  good luck!

You have a phone number for contacting Air BNB on your reservation confirmation, but here is a guide for contacting them as well.

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Help/Contact-Airbnb-A-Community-Help-Guide/m-p/16165#M728

[Manuel692]

Thank you Linda, I have used your link and gotten in touch with them to sort as the host has made it obvious he's not willing to sort any further than the minimum he has now. I've had 0 problems with Airb&b before this, I feel like I've hit the absolute extreme on my first haha!

[Lisa723]

@Manuel692 your post doesn't make clear how much of your payment the host has already refunded.

[Manuel692]

Hi Lisa, the refund was just a few cents over 100 GBP, which was the equivalent of the two nights we didn't stay in the Airb&b due to the incident. 

[Lisa723]

@Manuel692 I see, and you want a refund for the previous nights which were fine?

[Manuel692]

I would like to be compensated fairly for the loss of a day on my 7 day vacation, the extra money I spent on finding another accommodation as well as my broken necklace.

I feel having to deal with the mess his guests created that night aren’t on par with just a 2 night refund. 

[Helen3]

@Manuel692  I saw this post on another forum and the hosts response to you.

To me this story doesn't quite add up from either side.

Having said that it might have been a frightening experience, and I am glad that it wasn't a sole women or mother and daughter say that were staying.

Why would you leave the  flat  to go outside and call the police, rather than you all staying together and packing up your stuff while waiting for the police.

In the two physical altercations your former love interest was involved.

Nowhere do you mention the host lived downstairs or why you didn't ask for him to be woken up to attend to the situation.

Also confused as to why you agreed to meet his friends the next day to discuss the situation, rather than sorting out with the host directly.

In terms of the hosts story its seem improbable that a drunken guest would just happen upon a bunch of keys and know that one of them fitted a door.

In terms of fair outcome, I think if this situation is correct the host should be suspended while Airbnb investigate. You will have the police report from the night and other evidence I am sure to support your reporting of the situation.

I know you have been asking for financial compensation for the one night you stayed in a hotel/and return of your money for the whole duration of the stay. The problem is you didn't flag this situation to Airbnb at the time as they advise you to,  but from your posts didn't speak to them until you returned and the host refused to return your money for the whole of your stay.

I don't think it's appropriate to ask for the return of your money for your whole stay but the difference between the two nights stay that were returned to you and the cost of the hotel is something you can ask for.

[Manuel692]

My friend chose to go outside as she didn’t want to be in the flat after she found out what was happening in the flat below.

I don’t see your point in the altercations. Yes, she probably wasn’t the most calm in the situation, but we’d just come home to someone breaking into our flat shortly after.

We didn’t know what was happening. All we knew was there was a door linking to the bottom flat and two hostile guys and women were coming into our space. We thought the host had a flat on another floor, and we asked the doorman to wake him he pretty much refused and told me to call him. I mentioned the doorman was uncooperative.

I met with the guests directly because the host himself told me they wanted to meet us to compensate us. We were trying to sort it outside of Airb&b because I felt bad for the host (at the time thinking he just got some **bleep**ty guests). But as the situation played on, we realised they were actually his friends. Even then, we thought we’d sort it outside. Due to the absurdity of this situation, I have no doubt Airb&b will sort to a satisfactory standard on our end. We were trying to get the host to make it right to an equal standard, but clearly that didn’t work. I have evidence of everything in this paragraph in terms of the conversation with the host/guest so have no reason to lie.

[Helen3]

Hello @Manuel692 

The point is that your guest, came back to your rental (not her flat) at 5 a.m. and it is likely that people in your party had been drinking. She then got involved in two physical altercations. 

I am not underplaying the fact that it was an awful experience. And that there is no way this guest of the host should have had access to the keys. It must have been frightening. As I said it is definitely suspcious that she would have access to a maid's keys (why were they at the hosts flat?) and how did she know they opened a door to an upstairs flat.

I seems you decided to meet with the hosts friends to get additional compensation (to the two nights you didn't stay which the host refunded you) and then when you were not happy with what they offered, you now want to claim through Airbnb to get money back for your whole stay.

You weren't trying to make it right 'to an equal standard'. The host had already refunded you for the two nights you didn't stay, you went outside of Airbnb to try and get more. 

[David6]

If you had a trouble free stay in the apartment before this incident, basically the host should refund the night of the incident + plus any nights you didn’t stay after. Maybe Airbnb will agree that you should also be reimbursed for any extras you had to pay for the new accommodation, but they are getting pretty strict with claims from either side,  & although it was horrible situation nothing *actually* (thankfully) happened, (although intimidated, no harm came to any of you).  In the world of Airbnb this was  actually pretty mild, sorry to say. With any claims  they take all emotion out of any incident, and look at cold hard facts submitted from both sides. Airbnb do not compensate for ‘time spent’ dealing with issue or any kind of emotional  upset. When  my listing was trashed by guests - it took weeks to resolve and yes, Airbnb paid out eventually, but only because the press got hold of my story and were going to publish. But no compensations for the days I spent sorting everything. 

You will need to submit receipts. Also I can imagine the host will have his version of events that you had your own guest back (you state this was permitted) that you returned drunk and aggressive at 5am. I don’t know if you guys had been drinking or not, but get ready for this to be said, as the host doesn’t seem (by what you’ve said) to be the most savoury type. Also you met with his friends after the incident - again if they were really sinister and threatening, I can imagine Airbnb will question why you did that? And hopefully you left/will leave an honest review because this situation is crazy and the host needs to ensure no one enters an apartment a guest is staying in. Good luck. 

[David6]

@Manuel692 

If you had a trouble free stay in the apartment before this incident, basically the host should refund the night of the incident + plus any nights you didn’t stay after. Maybe Airbnb will agree that you should also be reimbursed for any extras you had to pay for the new accommodation, but they are getting pretty strict with claims from either side,  & although it was horrible situation nothing *actually* (thankfully) happened, (although intimidated, no harm came to any of you).  In the world of Airbnb this was  actually pretty mild, sorry to say. With any claims  they take all emotion out of any incident, and look at cold hard facts submitted from both sides. Airbnb do not compensate for ‘time spent’ dealing with issue or any kind of emotional  upset.

You will need to submit receipts. Also I can imagine the host will have his version of events that you had your own guest back (you state this was permitted) that you returned drunk and aggressive at 5am. I don’t know if you guys had been drinking or not, but get ready for this to be said, as the host doesn’t seem (by what you’ve said) to be the most savoury type. Also you met with his friends after the incident - again if they were really sinister and threatening, I can imagine Airbnb will question why you did that? And hopefully you left/will leave an honest review because this situation is crazy and the host needs to ensure no one enters an apartment a guest is staying in. Good luck.

[Jessica-and-Henry0]

@Manuel692 

Unfortunately Airbnb doesn't compensate for "time wasted". 

While it's quite unfortunate your stay was a complete mess, the host is always due to be paid in full for nights the guests stay without incident, and guests are due to be refunded fully for nights not stayed and partially refunded for nights stayed with incident. This is just how Airbnb works.

What I don't quite understand is why you'd agree to waste even more time to meet up with *anyone* at a McDonald's? Honestly? I kinda get the impression you were expecting an envelope of cash from the host to smooth things over and pay for your hotel in exchange for not leaving a completely scathing review. 

The thing about Airbnb is......no one's extra time and effort are worth anything according to Airbnb standards. If it were the other way around where a guest brings drunk drugged out prostitutes into a host's home, trashes the place and threatens the host, we'd be having the exact same conversation. 

My experience as a guest user AND host is..... Airbnb is great when both host and guest act responsibility and respectfully towards each other. But when things go wrong...... you are on your own. 

I think the best you can expect is a voucher you can use for a future stay. I doubt Airbnb will pay for your hotel although you could try. And please make sure you leave an honest and factual review of your stay. Good luck~

[David6]

@Jessica-and-Henry0 

This post should be flagged for all see. No truer words spoken. In 5 years of hosting - when things go wrong, Airbnb just does not have the teams or capacity to deal with situations. If the press get involved and Airbnb fear bad publicity they  sweep in and take some responsibility. When my apartment was trashed by guests who then threatened me because the police were involved - a senior manager messaged to say he was ‘preying for me.’ I *just* needed support dealing with a bewildering   situation, not his prayers 🙂

But most complaints  are met with cooker cutter, cut and paste responses and more often that not, they do not even address your issue. Finally they say ‘with all due respect, we now consider this case closed’ The end! Nothing you can do, we are just a tiny speck in this juggernaut of a company and they honestly don’t even seem to care...? 

@Manuel692  although I have sympathy I do think your expectations are a little unrealistic. Would a hotel charging the same nightly rate reimburse you? No, I’m afraid not. Maybe in time you will be able to laugh about this absurd situation, I think you’re going to have to chalk this up as ‘wow, that was one crazy trip.’