Top 10 Worst Airbnb Stories: Times Things Went Wrong

Understandably, New York penthouse owner Rachel Bassini was relieved to hear that her home was being rented out to a man traveling with his family – less margin for error, right? Well, it turns out the guy was lying – and instead of a family retreat, he had partying on his mind. Later seeing Instagram posts of said party, Rachel returned to her home to find used condoms and chewing gum scattered about the place, as well as human feces – which were found all over the bathroom, and on her couch. Chewing gum and poop? Who invited that guy?

Some Airbnb properties are furnished nicer than others. In some cases, you might be lucky enough to get ornate water features or even paintings inside the house, giving it a homier feel. Two roommates from London, found out why that can be dangerous. Their apartment featured a print by the artist Banksy, allegedly worth around $11,000. After they’d rented the place out, they returned to find "Leopard and Barcode" had been stolen. Not only that, but the place was trashed and garnished with used condom wrappers, empty laughing gas containers and marijuana joints. Maybe they hosted an auction. A hilarious, chilled out, promiscuous auction.

Having a neighbor that looks out for you and keeps an eye on your home while you’re away can be great. But sometimes, people can get a little too involved for their own good. When musician STEFisDOPE, along with fellow musicians Xali and Willie Howard, were getting comfortable one night in their legally-rented Airbnb property, police bust into the place, guns out. Apparently, a nearby neighbor thought they were robbing the place and called in the fuzz. Things were eventually ironed out and the police left, but the neighbor evidently didn’t take the hint, showed up later on and just walked in the front door – the nerve, huh.

The worst thing about this story is arguably the false hope Ej felt when she left her home in the hands of a new lodger. Leaving town on business, Ej built up a warm rapport with her tenant, receiving frequent texts about how much they appreciated her hospitality and how much they were loving using her home. Upon her return, confident that everything would be as she left it, she found that the place had been trashed and that valuable, priceless family jewelry had been stolen. Ej reportedly said that the thieves stole her spirit, and that … cannot be replaced. Mannnnnnnn.

When it comes to renting out your home, this is many people’s worst fear. Imagine renting out your house, only to have the guest complain about something – in this case cloudy tap water – and then try and get a refund on the rent. Annoyed, you ask them to leave, but they refuse, and decide that they are never leaving – and worse still, they’re going to sue you because the cloudy tap water gave their brother a stomach ulcer, apparently. Unlikely as this scenario may be, this is exactly what happened to Cory Tschogl, and it took her three to six months and thousands of dollars to get it resolved.

This one’s quite unique – and as much as we think the villain in this is wrong, you’ve got to applaud his business nouse. When a couple from San Francisco hired a house sitter to keep an eye on their home, they paid him his due and went on their way. But they never imagined he’d try and make a bit on the side by renting out their home as his own on Airbnb. The couple only found out after a friend of theirs went to rent it themselves and thought, wait, what? Imagine getting that text message.

This joke’s probably been made a million times, right? “Don’t let strangers stay in your house, they’ll probably use it to shoot a weird sex tape”. Well, that’s what happened to Kristina Knapic and her Californian mansion. Thinking she was renting it out to a civilized gang of friends, she returned to find numerous sex toys, enema kits, and stained sheets. She put two and two together and got, well, an adult film. After doing some research, she found out that the director of said adult movie had posted that he was filming at the property on Facebook – making her house famous for all the wrong reasons.

Let’s turn the tables a bit, shall we. It’s not always the people paying to stay a house that are the crazy ones. In this story, a couple rented a house and were given a warm reception by the host, who even gave them a bottle of wine. The couple settled down for the night, only to be awoken by the same host crashing through the bedroom window and demanding cleaning fees. Chaos ensued, he was wrestled to the ground and it turned out that it wasn’t even his house to rent, it belonged to an elderly lady whom he was renting it off himself.

After finding an Airbnb user who had positive reviews on the website, and had been renting successfully for two years, Derek Starnes and his wife confidently signed up, hoping to get away for the night. But when they spotted an unusual hole in the bedroom’s smoke detector, they investigated further, only to find a hidden camera pointed right at the bed. They went straight to the police, and it turns out that homeowner Wayne Natt had planned to film them. Natt was later arrested on the charge of video voyeurism. So, be sure to check your smoke detectors people – 'cause they might be cameras.

Ah yes, the pièce de résistance of lodger-related nightmares – finding out that your home has become a brothel. When two friends set out on a four-week holiday, they returned to find that police had raided their home in order to prevent their two very well dressed guests from running a brothel there. Apparently, the two women who were renting the property looked like business women, meaning the hosts had no reason to be suspicious. The pubic hair and used condoms they found everywhere however proved that they had every reason to be. It's probably fair to say that from then on, any knocks on the door they received about someone coming to fix the sink, were probably fake.