Lately, Airbnbs have been pretty popular. They’re typically seen as comfier and oftentimes cheaper alternatives to hotel rooms, especially for larger groups.
But that doesn’t mean they’re without issues. As people shared their horrible Airbnb experiences on multiple Reddit posts , it’s no wonder people are deciding to switch back to hotels.
1. “My host lied about having Wi-Fi and a king-sized bed.” – ppihfmsl
“Then, I was woken up by her sneaking into the apartment in the middle of the night and snooping in my bag. I had to call the police… That was fun.”
So basically, the host was shady in more ways than one. Always be careful when somebody else has keys to your rental.
2. “Host lied and tried to get my friends and I to pay a $250 cleaning fee, even though we did everything he asked before we left.” – Pattewad
“I declined the payment, reported him to AirBnB, and never contacted him after that.”
Ah yes. Don’t you just love it when the person renting their place to you also tries to scam you?
“We rented his house for spring break (we’re in college) and did not throw any parties or trash the place, cleaned it pretty well before we left.”
“I have a feeling he pulls that [expletive] every time he rents to college students and just pockets the extra cash because most groups are probably afraid of getting in trouble.”
The worst part about this is the fact that the host probably got away with it a bunch of times…
3. “My work wanted to go cheap so instead of putting me up somewhere in New York city they got me an Airbnb in east Rutherford, NJ.” -TheRelevantElephants
“It was some guy’s art studio, the walls were paper thin, so I heard the host yelling at possible art dealers or whatever all night while trying to sleep on a cot which had one dirty pillow on it (also for some reason it had a single rose on it).”
Jeez… everything about this sounds horrible. You really have to be careful when renting something online.
4. “Staying in New Orleans in July with no AC probably tops my list.” – iwinagain
“There were roaches everywhere as well. The worst thing we found was some super faulty wiring. One day it rained and water was leaking out of the electrical socket. Staying at this place totally ruined New Orleans for me.”
To be honest, that sounds like my worst nightmare.
5. “My fiance and I were staying at an AirBnB in Helsinki to visit family.” – 15sunflowers
On the plus side, they’re visiting a pretty city like Helsinki. So there’s that.
“When we got there and got settled, we were chatting about things we thought were missing in the apartment, specifically I remember saying I wished there was another towel hook in the bathroom.”
“The next day we went out and were out pretty much all day…”
“…and when we got back that night there was another towel hook in the bathroom…”
So… either they had a camera in there, or the host was uncomfortably close by, listening in. And honestly? Neither of those options is good.
6. “Stayed at one in Rome. The door had 5 deadbolt locks on it. The windows were barred. Found out why.” – [deleted]
“Randomly though the day people would try to open the door and look through the windows. Multiple times we would turn around and see people peeking though cracks between the curtains.”
Well, at least they couldn’t get in. Right?
7. “The remote for the TV wasn’t really working and I opened up the battery compartment to see if the batteries were in there correctly; there was a bag of meth in there.” – KingCarnivore
Yeah… I’d definitely be getting out of there. The last thing anyone needs is to be caught with drugs that aren’t even theirs.
8. “My first time visiting Vermont, I made the mistake of opening a box (I was looking for Q-tips) in the bathroom & it was filled with nail clippings.” – mxt213
That’s just plain gross. It’s like people forget that you can just throw nail clippings into the garbage.
But the real question (that I def don’t want answered) is: did they belong to a previous guest, or the host…?
9. “The host had a dog. She left for the night, leaving the dog to bark all night. Cops came thinking I was a burglar.” – jrgallag
I don’t know what kind of person would leave their dog with a complete stranger. I also don’t blame the poor dog for all the barking.
10. “Scorpions everywhere at an Airbnb in Mexico.” – unashamed_desire
I guess there are a lot of scorpions in Mexico. But I still wouldn’t want to be that close to them. I’d probably just cry my entire stay.
11. “We were staying in New Orleans in a condo that was obviously a full time rental.” – namkap
“One of the previous renters had vomited on a comforter, but not told the owner. The bedding has been washed but there was still some crusty vomit on the comforter because the guy doing the cleaning didn’t know he should be looking for it.”
No. Just no.
“To their credit, the owner & host were very apologetic, replaced all of the bedding in the apartment that day, etc. Still overall a good experience.”
Sometimes a trip has a bit of a hiccup, but is still mostly salvageable. It looks like that was the case for this person.
12. “I arrived at the Airbnb in a small town late at night. It’s an inn with five rooms. One room is for Airbnb.” – wheresmyswab
“Landlady runs the pub downstairs. It’s a stormy night, and there’s nobody around.”
This sounds like the setup to a horror movie. I’m half tempted to yell “RUN!!” at my screen right now.
“Landlady is surprised to see me because ‘Someone else arrived earlier and picked up the key.”
“‘He said he’s from Airbnb and mentioned the correct room number (only one for Airbnb), so I thought that was your booking. Strange.’”
This is just getting more and more strange.
“Not bothering to find out who that person is, she just gave me the key to another room and disappeared.”
“Right next to where my room would be. Only two rooms occupied in the inn. I could hear the guy walking around in the room.”
Yeah, I’d probably just get in my car and drive home.
13. “Chairs, chairs EVERYWHERE.” – Gryphacus
“The dining room, the living room, the kitchen. Two of the three bedrooms. Almost every spot of available wall space had hotel-style chairs of varying designs lining them. That house must have had forty chairs in it.”
This isn’t creepy, gross, or even life-threatening. It’s just weird, man.
14. “My wife and I went to stay at a place that had an undisclosed camera in the living room.” – adiabatic_storm
“While I can understand why someone might want one there, it should have been disclosed. We cancelled the reservation and got our money back through Airbnb. The guy tried to fight it and lost.”
Yeah, that’s a huge invasion of privacy. The fact that the host tried to fight it, too. Just plain wrong.
15. “There were no curtains on the two giant bathroom windows and I could practically high-five the neighbors through their own widows [sic] on either side.” – Buttholstergeist
Also super bizarre. I’m sure the neighbors don’t want to stare at strangers while they’re trying to use the bathroom. At least, I hope not.