In the bustling world of Airbnb, where strangers from different corners of the globe find solace in temporary homes, there lies a hidden realm of untold stories. From peculiar guests to downright disgusting behavior, these Airbnb hosts recall the worst guests they’ve ever hosted. Consider the next reservation denied! All content has been edited for clarity.
Table of contents
1. “The House Was A Hot Mess”
“Most of our Airbnb guests were awesome! However, there were a few doozies.
It was our first rental, and my partner and I were so excited. We were newbies to the Airbnb rental deal. A young woman, under 21, asked to rent the place. They were going to the State Fair, about an hour from the home. Then she, her girlfriends, and her brother were going to spend the night. My husband called and talked to her, and we felt comfortable hosting. So, we moved forward.
I think they went to the State Fair. I thought it was odd because it was so far away, but the guest said it was close to all of her girlfriends. She said they wanted to meet up somewhere, then drive out to the Airbnb together. We got a notice from our doorbell camera that multiple people were coming in and out of the house, so my husband went to check it out. The guests were supposed to have two cars. There were five cars in front, and four guys walking out of the house. Plus, there were three more walking in. My husband told them to cut it out, and the cars dispersed. Shortly after, my husband left.
The next day, he went over to clean the house. When he walked in, there was vomit everywhere. It was on our white towels and table runner. There were red solo cups, ping pong balls, empty beer bottles, drugs, a case of beer in the fridge, and a ginormous bottle of strawberry lemonade vodka in a bedroom drawer. The house was a hot mess.
Anyway, we did charge her for the items they ruined, for smoking in the house, for a party, and for the extra cleaning fees.
The guest apologized and said she had gone to sleep. All of her friends were responsible for the state of our house. We took pictures, sent them to Airbnb, worked their system, and eventually got everything we charged her.
Another guest rented for her extended family for her wedding. It was a 10-day booking, so we were excited. They stole four blankets, trenched the yard, had some powdered substance all over the house and sidewalk, dragged the iron outdoor furniture across the pavement and chipped the cement, gouged cabinet drawers, stained countertops, cooked some very foul smelling foods, and rearranged furniture. At first, the guest denied everything. Again, my husband and I went through the process. Eventually, the guest learned from her family they did indeed trash the rental. We were mostly reimbursed for everything and the blankets were returned.
We are pickier now with who stays in the house. We have our house rules with consequences very well stated in our agreement. We haven’t had any issues since, and we even opened a second and third rental. I hope I never have such terrible guests again.”
2. “I Could Hardly Believe What I Was Seeing”
“I used to host a four-bedroom house in Bangkok. It was usually rented by groups of guys coming for a boys’ trip to Bangkok for a few days. No thrills, just cheap and cheerful. One day, a lady in her 30s booked the house for three nights.
On the first night, I got a phone call from the neighbors.
My neighbors explained, ‘There are so many cars blocking the street. What is going on over there?’
I started heading over to the house, as I didn’t permit parties at the rental house. When I walked in, I realized it wasn’t a party. It was a funeral! The guests took all of my furniture out of the house and placed the guest’s grandmother’s coffin on the pool table in the living room. I could hardly believe what I was seeing!
I walked up to the guest and said, ‘I am so sorry for your loss. You can’t have a funeral in my house, though. Please remove the coffin by tomorrow, and please, no more events in my house!’
The next evening, I went to the house where two big dudes were pretending to be security guards standing at the gate. I call the guest, and she told me to ‘get over myself,’ myself in a very slurred voice.
I called Airbnb, and they said I should decide on what to do. NO advice. Just do whatever I thought was right. Stupidly, I let them stay until their checkout date. I came back to the house to find drug paraphernalia everywhere. This woman had a funeral and got messed up the very next day. Unbelievable, right?
Two days later, I got a call from the guest.
The guest explained, ‘My police officer friend left a weapon in the kitchen. Can he come back and get it?’
At first, I thought it was a joke to stop me from calling the police to report her. However, I couldn’t have been more wrong. When I looked, I found a weapon sitting on top of the fridge. I called the cops myself, and they came over and picked up the weapon!
I filed a claim with Airbnb, and I only got an additional $80 to use for additional cleaning. The whole situation was awful, and it put me off from hosting for a while.”
3. “It Cost Tens Of Thousands Of Dollars To Fix”
“I worked as a realtor, so I saw some pretty horrible things regularly. I rented my home out once, but I never dabbled in Airbnb. Ever. What stopped me? A family with seven kids.
The man was an engineer, and his wife was a stay-at-home, homeschooling mother. They rented our place and when they left, it was unrecognizable. Every piece of furniture was trashed. It was broken, stained, and covered in so much filth, I didn’t want to know what it was. The carpet was shot. Somehow the kids managed to tear it at the seams, on top of staining it beyond recognition. The cabinetry had gouges everywhere. The bedroom doors were broken off the hinges.
And the cherry on top? They had made food the kids didn’t like, so they snuck into the walk-in closet, put a hole in the wall, and shoved the food into the hole to hide it. It rotted before we found it, so we had to tear the wall apart to get it out. The interior of the whole place was destroyed. It cost us tens of thousands of dollars to fix. The renters just got away with it, too. There were no repercussions for the damages done. We fixed the house back up, put it up for sale, and got it out of our lives.
I promised myself I would never do any type of rentals again.”
4. “They Left The House In Shambles”
“One time, I rented my house out to a family. The family had a very old couple who kept wetting the beds. They used the washer and dryer every single day to wash the pajamas. It was never a full load, just the pajamas. My unit was pet friendly, and they used puppy pads on the beds, but they had put the plastic side up. They were at my rental for a long three weeks. These guests showed up four hours early to check in and left six hours late. They acted like I was being unreasonable when I told them I had other guests checking in, and how they needed to leave. The family member driving the old couple did not even apologize.
He simply shrugged and said, ‘Why would I know there is a checkout time?’
Thankfully, the next guests were very understanding and kind.
Another time, four big frat-type guys rented the house. They were super polite when they checked in, and seemed super nice in general.
However, they woke me up at three in the morning shouting and bragging about something. When I checked the security footage, I found out the guys were bragging about the hooker they’d JUST brought into my home! When I looked at the video footage, they had called a hooker in. The woman spent a good amount of time wandering outside and looking into the windows.
Shortly after the bragging, the drugged-up frat boys decided to drive home. At four in the morning. The place was disgusting, and they left the house in shambles. It took hours to scrub down and disinfect.
Never again.”
