Slashdot Mirror
'My Airbnb Guests Threw a New Year's Party For 300 People' (theguardian.com)
"What's the worst that can happen?" thought Nicko Feinberg last December when he listed his house on Airbnb.
The listing explicitly said no parties. Then a request came through to book the house for one night on New Year's Day. It was from a young man, probably in his early 20s. He had one review but it was terrific.... I picked up my boys and we stayed down the road at my mother's apartment... When I got back [the next day] I saw three or four cars in the driveway. I threw my food down and knew I was screwed. Inside there were about 12 young adults, all trying to clean.
The floors looked like someone had poured Jagermeister and champagne everywhere and then danced on them. Everything seemed wrong: my artwork was not on the walls; there was furniture missing; the glass panel on my staircase was shattered; even the floor didn't seem level any more. Then I noticed they were using my best sheets and towels as mops....I told them no one was leaving and I called the police and Airbnb. When a police officer turned up, he said it was a civil matter, before adding: "We were here last night...."
Ultimately, it was just stuff and I knew it would be OK. But I felt a massive disappointment in humanity. That night, it wasn't hard for me and my boys to find Instagram pictures and videos of the party. It was horrifying to see so many people in the house, jumping up and down on the furniture and windowsills. They broke my hot tub and tiles in the bathroom; when I looked in the rubbish bags, I saw all my drinks bottles empty, as well as broken glasses and towels. I found an image online of the invite that said, "Mansion Party" with my address. There had been 300 people there. Boys were charged to enter; girls got in free.
While he won't disclose what Airbnb paid him for the damage, "a year later repairs are continuing. The floor is still uneven." But he told one local news channel that the damage was over $100,000, adding "There's footprints on my bathroom walls."
At one point more than 100 cars had been parked outside, according to a police report, and the 23-year-old was ultimately charged with "disorderly conduct". He also was banned permanently from Airbnb -- which said in a statement that "negative incidents are incredibly rare."
The floors looked like someone had poured Jagermeister and champagne everywhere and then danced on them. Everything seemed wrong: my artwork was not on the walls; there was furniture missing; the glass panel on my staircase was shattered; even the floor didn't seem level any more. Then I noticed they were using my best sheets and towels as mops....I told them no one was leaving and I called the police and Airbnb. When a police officer turned up, he said it was a civil matter, before adding: "We were here last night...."
Ultimately, it was just stuff and I knew it would be OK. But I felt a massive disappointment in humanity. That night, it wasn't hard for me and my boys to find Instagram pictures and videos of the party. It was horrifying to see so many people in the house, jumping up and down on the furniture and windowsills. They broke my hot tub and tiles in the bathroom; when I looked in the rubbish bags, I saw all my drinks bottles empty, as well as broken glasses and towels. I found an image online of the invite that said, "Mansion Party" with my address. There had been 300 people there. Boys were charged to enter; girls got in free.
While he won't disclose what Airbnb paid him for the damage, "a year later repairs are continuing. The floor is still uneven." But he told one local news channel that the damage was over $100,000, adding "There's footprints on my bathroom walls."
At one point more than 100 cars had been parked outside, according to a police report, and the 23-year-old was ultimately charged with "disorderly conduct". He also was banned permanently from Airbnb -- which said in a statement that "negative incidents are incredibly rare."
In a world where everyone reviews everyone, airbnb type places are a lot less likely to have negative reviews. It's not worth giving a negative review and getting negative effects in the future. So you start getting reviews like this:
"It was a great experience. I enjoyed looking at the interesting patterns the mold made on the bathroom tiles. Five stars."
Another thing: for a while, Agoda would ask you to rate a place, and if you didn't put five stars, would ask, "What was wrong with this place?" As a result, it was easier to just not review, unless you wanted to give them five stars.
Lately I've stopped looking at hotel reviews at all, and just sorting by cleanliness rating. If it doesn't get a top clean rating, it's probably not worth visiting.
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
People become prejudiced against groups of immigrants because they see the clash between how said immigrants behave in reality vs. the idealised image that has been drilled into them by misguided educators who feel morally superior to everyone else.
Indeed. The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.
At least AirBnB stood behind the homeowner is making good on what its idiot customer did. I would have expected AirBnB to hide behind some nebulous legal language and walk away from this scot-free. I guess I am jaded towards corporations and impressed that AirBnB took actions to try and make the entire situation right. Still, I never would use AirBnB offering accomodations.
I have an Airbnb, and have hosted hundreds of guests. I never had anything happen like what is described in TFA.
I once rented to a group of people that turned out to be a Harley motorcycle gang. When they checked out, the place was immaculate. All the laundry was done, the towels were folded, the dishes were washed and put away, and they left me a five star review.
I can see where she went and what she did based on the credit card receipts. She's a total milktoast. More than once she's remarked that it's only old folks where she goes, and I know she ain't lying because, again, I can see the admission fees and souvenirs on my credit card. I didn't even raise her this way. Doesn't help that she hasn't got much to rebel against (I'm kind of a loser, so the only "rebelling" she can do is not being a failure in life, also I'm pretty into death metal so there's not a whole hell of a lot of music she can "shock" me with. )
Anyway, Not every 20 year old is a party animal. This one was pretty clearly running a professional party for money. Anyone could do that, not just a 20 year old. The real problem is that you put 300 folks in a building meant for 20 tops it warps the floors.
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"immigrants" aren't a homogenous group and aren't perceived as such.
For example traditional Asian immigrants in Europe are generally well liked and there's no "oh they're all like that" generalization. That's exactly why British journalists try to rebrand criminals from the middle east as "Asian".