Potential Sexual Harrasement & Predator in my home. Trust and Safety Team no where to be found!

[Callie3]

Last week, 5 days ago to be exact I hosted an older man who was doing very strange things and my boyfriend had to ask him to leave the night after his first stay. 

1. When my boyfriend and I walked out of the shower & bathroom in our towels he was standing outside of the door and continued to stare at us as we walked out. Never did he turn away or excuse himself for being in that position. 

2. Later that night he walked into the bathroom as my boyfrined was in there with the lights on and water turned on. Although the door wasn't locked it was late at night and there wasn't another sound in the house and it's very obvous someone was in there. (Partly our fault I get it).

3. I had to flush the toilet after him 4 times the first night. And to cap off the bathroom activity he was going #2 and didn't bother to close the door which was very loud and completely disgusting. 

4. Lastly he left actual excrement on the floor which we found the following morning. Never did he let us know or attemp to clean it up. 

So not once have I been able to get a response from AirBnb or have them call me back after I have reached out to them everyday since. It really worries me becuase of the fact that if my boyfriend wouldn't have been there I would have been terrified. The fact that he was standing outside the door and staring at me when I got out of the shower was extremely unacceptable and very creepy. Now this guy is still able to stay at other people's residences and AirBnb doesn't seem to care. Each day I call I get the same response that the back office is very busy and although it is an "urgent matter" they can't help us at all until it's our time in the queue. 

Since I am the one to techincally have "canceled" the reservation, AirBnb had issued an adjustment for a full refund for the guest. We have instabook on and were told if we ever felt uncomfortable to let them know and it wouldn't count against me and charge me for the guests stay. 

I really hope the community stays safe and regardless of money to please call and cancel their guests reservation if they ever feel unsafe for any reason. I wanted to write this so everyone thinks about this and make sure their safety is everyone's number one concern. 

Also wanted to bring attention to thier Trust and Safety team and let the community know they are non-existent. AirBnb does not have hots best interests at heart and are not there to back up hosts when we need it most. THey are a jako of a department and I'm not even sure they really exists. Also the fact that the phone reps who answer calls aren't even allowed to reach out to them or call them makes me question how this company is run. It's like the Trust and Safety team is a secretive organization who is above every other department and do what they want. 

I'm going to keep sharing this story and letting the communty know until some changes are made. #1 lesson is do not count on AirBnb for any sistuation. You are on your own and again if I didn't have my boyfriend in the house I think things could have gotten much worse, it scares me so bad thinking about what random people can do in young women's room when there is no support to ensure their safety or the fact when I did call the first timea nd felt very unsafe I had to wait 20 minutes on hold until someone could even pick up the phone. Calling the police needs to be your first course of action if you ever feel unsafe, you may be kept on hold by the organization when your life is on the line. 

-Unhappy, scared, taken advantage of AirBnb Host (Maybe former depending how this is handled moving forward)

[Robin4]

@Callie3

Callie, terrible situation and I feel for you on every level. I cannot begin to imagine how you are feeling right now!!!

This situation will never happen to me for two reasons.....

1/. I am a male! It is an awful indictement on society that women have to feel for there personal safety. This is a travesty of human nature!

2/. My listing is remote from my house! It is a cottage in the rear garden! There are locked doors between our privacy and that of the guest!

Your statement..."Also wanted to bring attention to thier Trust and Safety team and let the community know they are non-existent. AirBnb does not have hots best interests at heart and are not there to back up hosts when we need it most. THey are a jako of a department and I'm not even sure they really exists. Also the fact that the phone reps who answer calls aren't even allowed to reach out to them or call them makes me question how this company is run. It's like the Trust and Safety team is a secretive organization who is above every other department and do what they want."

Yeah, that just about sums them up Callie! Trust and Safety (for want of a better 'euphorism') is simply the 'risk management' arm of Airbnb. They are not the slightest bit interested in solving your issues from your point of view! They are there to limit the company's exposure to those problems that arise.

If you cancelled the guests reservation, Callie that is just awful because you will be penalised and he will get his money back for being nothing more than a bloody jerk!!!

If I were you I would lodge a police complaint and then put the background and the results of that police action on social media!

Put a comprehensive post on Airbnb's Facebook page! They may be a heartless bunch of incopetent pricks, but they are sensitive to derogitory comments on social media....and you may just find your complaint may be taken just a tad more seriously!

Sorry Callie, I wish it wasn't this way!!!

Cheers.....Rob

[Maria-Lurdes0]

I am not so sure that the guy is a sexual predator based on his inability to look away when confronted by toweled people, but he does sound like he's lacking in social awareness and has no idea how to co-exist in a shared space environment.   Obviously, he's not a good guest or suited to this type of living.

You canceled him, which just means to me that you're taking care of yourself rather than putting money first - which is how it should be.   

Airbnb doesn't vet the guests in any way beyond "a valid piece of ID has been scanned by our robot".   So you flag his profile, and that lets Airbnb know that he shouldn't be on the platform.  I'm not sure what more can be done unless you want him charged for crapping on your floor.   

Hopefully this will be your one guest horror story, and you have only wonderful guests from here on in.   He's not the norm, he's the rare exception.

[Cynthia-and-Chris1]

What a terrible situation! 😞  Also, I love Half Moon Bay - my work has an office up the hill in Woodside that overlooks the bay and I love when I get the opportunity to work there and visit.

[Helga0]

@Callie3, sorry for your awful experience. 

Obviously, the guy lacks some social skills. I get sometimes elder people, either male or female, and there may be age related problems (as there may be different ones with young people). 

I'd speculate he had some digestive problems, needing the bathroom so often, that at home he has given up closing the door and flush every time. Looks like he is not always able to reach the toilet in time. Some people also don't flush during the night, not to make noise. 

[Helga0]

.... sorry, I have to write in installments on the phone. 

These issues, even if understandable, don't mean that a host should bear them. 

The picture of a frozen guest staring at towel clad hosts made me smile. Maybe he was as shocked as you. I told a few pretty young people that in my home nobody walks around half dressed. 

In such a situation, you could 2 two things, which cause less damage than cancellation from your side: 

1. Sit down with the guest in the morning and discuss the issues. If it's medical, you could extend some leniancy and he should close the door and check if he lost something on the way. 

2. Propose to shorten the stay to the one night already consumed and refund the rest. That's done via a booking amendment. One side proposes it, the other accepts. 

3. When all else fails, call the service Before cancellation and let them do it. 

[Helga0]

... Trust and safety is active, but they are very slow.  It may take several weeks till you hear something from them. Besides, the only topics I ever heard from them, concerned cyber safety. Phishing attacks, attempted fraud, trying to detour the service for other business. 

In this case, if you call before cancellation, customer service would be in charge. If you give them all details and say what you want, what you want the concrete person to do for you, you havd good chances to get it, if it's reasonable. If however you asked that someone else like trust and safety does something unspecified for you, the person on the phone will happily follow the suggestion that someone else handles the issue. That's o

[Helga0]

... Sorry gor the typo, can't edit. 

For the guest profile, follow @Maria-Lurdes0 advice, flag it with "Other Reasons" and describe the issues. Additionally, write something in the review, if you can review at all. But limit yourself to facts. 

From my experience with people having that mefical problem, he was probably mortified, especially when you threw him out.