Airbnb Host Ruins Woman’s Trip—She Strikes Back and Exposes His Illegal Operation
Airbnb was once hailed as the smartest, most creative way to travel. Gone are the days of checking in at a hotel front desk, chatting it up with a beautiful receptionist, free breakfast with your stay, pool access, and pleasant beds. Or, you can spend 10 minutes searching in the dark outside of a stranger’s apartment until you find their lock box, stay in their possibly unclean apartment for a few days, and return the place spotless or get a bad review. Oh yeah, that $85 per night cleaning fee.
Over the last couple of years, travelers have started using other companies or just getting a hotel instead more often than booking via Airbnb. Well, and in this article we have a tale that may just you never want to use a rental service again.
Scroll down for one guest’s insight into a nightmare stay she recently had with a lazy Airbnb owner, that she later posted on the Petty Revenge subreddit. We want to know your take on this scenario in the comments, as well as do you love or hate Airbnb?
After dealing with a negligent host of an illegal Airbnb, this guest decided to get petty revenge
The problem with stories like this one is that they rightly shine a light on the kind of hospitality provided by Airbnb hosts like this one valued over the need for extreme discipline to cover every end of the horror story for how the guest always pays for the atmospheric fluff or 3-star unbloated retelling of travel for less | the end. The case also brings frontend a bigger question of the legality of short-term rentals, the responsibility of hosts — and the rights of guests — so the earlier frustrations that the poster experienced are at the forefront of multiple issues.
The Problem of Illegal Short-Term Rentals
To prevent impacts to the integrity of the community and unwanted nuisance issues, many municipalities and property management companies prohibit short-term rentals in residential buildings. That said, this isn’t to say that all condo hosts follow the rules, as one in this story was rather brazen about breaking them and even told the guest essentially to lie if asked. This trend mimics regulatory crackdowns seen in the likes of Toronto and New York against illegal listings. At those locales, homeowners are required to register their listings and be in accordance with local laws, but enforcement often lags, paving the way for unscrupulous activity like those mentioned above.
The move to file a report is in line with a big push for community accountability, as major instances of mischief by illegal Airbnb hosts have resulted in $400,000 in fines or even eviction for defiance of the home-sharing regulations.
Financial and Emotional Costs for Guests
Both tangible and intangible costs to the poster were incurred in the process of their attendance. They burned through hours diagnosing the parking problem, laundering unlaundered sheets, and swapping out a busted TV. These must be so irritating to overcome contrary to the protection Airbnb essentially sells to its guests. And in 2022, Consumer Reports found that hidden fees, dirty units, and hosts who don’t respond measure among the top complaints Airbnb users are filing, raising the question of whether the short-term rental giant is worth the potential return on investment.
It also shows how much power consumers have nowadays to keep businesses in check, as seen by the guest’s choice to report the host. Bringing attention to these noncompliant hosts not only seeks justice for the individual but also denies a profit motive for those willing to jeopardize community standards.
The situation exemplifies the dangers of short-term rental platforms when irresponsible owners take advantage of loopholes or fail to fulfill their responsibilities. The original poster did the right thing by informing property management about the host’s illegal activity to put a stop to these dishonest and dishonest practices. Which won’t affect any immediate fix, but their efforts could form part of a larger movement for transparency and accountability in the short-term rental industry. A Word of Caution for Airbnb Hosts & Guests: This story illustrates a cautionary tale for Hosts and Guests alike.
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