7. The Love Fest
This guy wins for grossest infraction on our list (except maybe the murderer). Mark and Star King were reasonably comfortable when they rented their Calgary home to a young man. Unfortunately, they returned home to find out that the renter had actually used their property for an orgy. Among the terrors that awaited the couple were, “bags of trash piled up in the hallway, furniture that was completely torn up and stained, dishes filled with wet cigarettes, a chicken wing that was stuffed into one of Star King’s boots, and worst of all, ‘body fluids’ that included semen and vomit.” The total in damages amounted to $75,000. Too bad the guest gave a fake credit card. Fortunately for the Kings, Airbnb picked up the entire tab. Of course, they could pay whatever they wanted; if I’d unknowingly rented out my house for a stranger’s orgy, it’d be time to move.
8. The Hidden Camera
German tourist Yvonne Schumacher and her SO Kevin Stockton were visiting Stockton, California for a three-week stay when things started to go awry. First, the place was a mess, with the master bathroom so filthy that Schumacher refused to use it. Here’s a personal thing about Schumacher, though: she sleeps in the nude. Sometimes — like in the middle of the night — she’d even walk to the guest bathroom totally naked. Normally, that would have been fine … until she and Stockton found a wide-angle camera behind the bookshelf in the living room. According to the complaints, “not only was [the camera] able to pick up both audio and video, but it was also configured to be controlled remotely.” In other words, the Airbnb host had managed not only to record Schumacher in the buff, he’d also recorded several of the couple’s private conversations.
9. The Total Trashing
Back in the early days of Airbnb, one of the first big complaints was from a host who’s apartment was ransacked by a guest. “They smashed a hole through a locked closet door, and found the passport, cash, credit card and grandmother’s jewelry I had hidden inside. They took my camera, my iPod, an old laptop, and my external backup drive filled with photos, journals… my entire life.” It was a PR nightmare for Airbnb, but they rose to the challenge and agreed to help out in any way they could, including financial assistance and helping them find a new home. This incident led to Airbnb implementing new security measures to protect both hosts and guests.
