My experience

My experience

We put a lot of money into remodeling our home so we could open up two rooms and become super hosts. I am a mother of two that homeschools as one of my children is on disability. With my second child ready to start school, Airbnb was going to be my way of making a good living while staying home with my kids. After months of buying beds, linens, towels, furniture, two mini refrigerators and a mini microwave and baby equipment to full accommodate our guests. Updating one bathroom and adding a shower to the only bathroom downstairs we were finally ready to open our home and were very excited about it.

But only two guests in and this is what happened to us....

Airbnb let a national registered sex offender not only open a profile but approved him within minutes as "verified" meaning safe in my opinion. As him and his heroin addict wife messaged me for a one night stay, I was excited to have my second set of guests and was ready to get the ball rolling to becoming a super host. Since they had been verified I let then into my home. After a couple of red flags went off in my head, I got my children out of the house and went to my neighbors where we did very little research and found that the man was a wanted registered sex offender. You can look up "Hope Ford" on Facebook with channel 2 news to see the full interview.

2 Replies 2
Michael1357
Level 2
New York, United States

I am curious about are you posting this in New York when you are not even a host in New York? I find it rather odd considering that I actually live in New York and have been hosting since November of last year and have never had any issues. It has been wonderful to host so many nice people from all over the world that come to visit my city. Also, if you feel uncomfortable at any time you, for any reason, you can cancel a reservation. 

 Something new to consider is also a great way to make more off your listing as well! The inconsistency of the mattresses in Airbnb is a huge opportunity for all hosts!!  One of the newest ways to maximize your listing is to partner with a company to sell the mattress directly to the guests. All you have to do is place a placard next to the bed and if the guest loves the mattress they place an order on line using a coupon code tied to your listing. The mattress is roll-packed and shipped within a week. Commissions are paid monthly. Easiest way to bring in another revenue stream to your listing. 


https://recovrmattress.com/pages/referral-program-for-airbnb-hosts