Imagine you rent an Air BnB on a lake in Alaska, your child runs into the back bedroom to play on the bunk bed while you enjoy the view. Minutes later your child is dead from brushing against Fentanyl residue that was left by drug manufacturing. Imagine you then that you find out that Air BnB knew about it and refused to take any action. Forcing the people who own the home to allow you to enter a possibly lethal environment…
My wife and I run an Air BnB. A few weeks ago we started noticing odd behavior with our BnB guests.
It started with a guest who stayed 1 night, and managed to do about $600 worth of theft and damage to our home. We found things when cleaning the home that at the time made no sense but turned out to be drug manufacturing paraphernalia (Meth and Fentanyl).
The second incident a guest booked for 7 days. On his final day he refused to leave our property, and we were forced to call the troopers. Luckily he left after hearing the troopers were on their way to the property.
Upon entering the home we found a disaster zone. Our kitchen and living room had become a drug manufacturing lab. They had disconnected our Toyo stove fuel line and had used around 300 gallons of fuel in 7 days (about $1500). We found other items like prescription drug packaging, over the counter drug packaging, and items used to stir the chemicals they were using. We found traces of caustic acids that were strong enough to eat stainless steel sinks and melt countertops. The home was completely saturated with chemical smells so thick we coughed whenever in the home.
Upon contacting the troopers we were told that this issue is becoming more and more common, but there is nothing they can do as there's no cameras inside the home that can show what happened. The trooper also told us that we could have been killed while in the home because the items they use to use and manufacture drugs can have fentanyl on them, and touching them could kill you.
We did some research and found out that to clean a drug lab up takes special hazmat equipment and certifications, and it could cost upwards of $4000 or more to hire a company to clean it.
We contacted Air BnB immediately and notified them of what took place in our home. We provided picture evidence of everything we found and information on what the troopers told us. We also filed an insurance claim for the damage. We explained the dire situation and the fact that the home is not safe for guests to check into, and that we do not have the funds to rectify the safety issues on our own. We were ignored by Air BnB, their corporate offices, and all customer service agents.
After almost two weeks of being told that they are “working on it” we contacted again. We expressed to Air BnB that guests entering the home could be maimed or killed because of what took place there, and that the upcoming reservations need to be cancelled.
Air BnB advised us that any reservation we cancel we will be charged for, and that what took place in our home is not "an extenuating" circumstance, and that if we cancel the reservations we will be charged.
So we can either allow guests to check in and possibly die, or we can pay a fee to protect them. Air BnB didn't care what option we chose.
The really juicy part: If you go on Air BnB community forums, reddit, etc. you will see that this is a massive and ongoing problem; not only in Alaska but around the country.
You will also see that Air BnB is completely negligent and is allowing these events to take place, not helping the hosts with damaged property, and not protecting guests who have booked those properties.
It is also true that Air BnB is not removing these people form their platform and is allowing them to continue to book. The second guest who damaged our home had reviews posted by other hosts after he left our property saying he did the same thing at their homes. Air BnB allowed him to continue to make reservations knowing he was committing theft, vandalism, and the manufacturing of illegal and lethal narcotics in hosts’ homes.
Air BnB is literally forcing hosts to allow families to stay at their homes where they could die.
If that's not a news story I don't know what is.
Please check this out. Read the web forums about Air BnB. We want this information out to protect people. There are also large underage parties taking place (which we also had and weren’t helped with) in some cases teenagers are dying on hosts properties, etc.
With the busy summer season coming up people seriously need to be aware of this. They also need to understand that Air BnB is allowing this to happen willingly, knowingly, and without concern for the safety of guests.
**[Private conversation removed in line with the Community Center Guidelines]
