Airbnb Horror Story (Vegas)

Valor14
Level 1
Philadelphia, PA

Airbnb Horror Story (Vegas)

Very dangerous Airbnb situation. My post is kind of long, but it’s all relevant information. Please let me know if anyone has any advice on how to get restitution. I’m only looking to break even, as of now I’m literally paying for the incompetence, or malevolence of the host (and Airbnb by proxy) 

 

Quick details about the place: it’s a private studio that’s connected to the hosts house. Only one entrance in and out - the main door.

 

I booked here and planned to stay from Wednesday to Saturday. I arrived Wednesday afternoon and settled in to bed around 7pm. At around 9pm I hear someone tapping on my window. Im laying in bed and the windows are covered by drapes so I can’t see who it is. I made a noise and it went away, but then came back seconds later and went away when I make another noise.

 

I immediately contacted the Airbnb safety team as well as the host to ask if that was him. The host responded an hour and a half later, around 10:30pm, saying “I was going to bring you water but you seemed like you were asleep so I left”

 

I thought that was strange, but decided to try to get back to sleep, I couldn’t though, I was still wide awake from the tapping. I’m glad I was awake because I was ready for what happened next.

 

At 11:10pm I hear noise outside my room and I then hear the sound of someone trying my doorknob, he also try’s the key code on the door which is the main lock. After one failed attempt he successfully enters the key code and unlocks my door. I can see the front door from my bed, so knowing this, I jumped out of bed and ran over as the door was opening. I slammed the door shut as I was yelling for the person to leave. The person spoke in a low voice and mentioned the hosts name and tried to claim it was their room and eventually left when it was clear I was speaking with the police.

 

The policeman on scene wasn’t particularly surprised that this sort of thing happened in that neighborhood and suggested that I leave the Airbnb.

 

At best, this is a MAJOR safety violation. Multiple people know the simple code for the front door and someone used it to try and enter the room.

 

However, what I’m leaning towards is that this was some type of set-up. If the host knew I was coming in from the East Coast then the tapping at my window at 9pm would be equivalent to my 12am because of the time difference. And the 11pm break-in would be like my 2am. I think the tapping was to see if I was asleep and then someone was going to rob me in my sleep, or worse.


The host hasn’t apologized or taken any responsibility and has changed alibis multiple times about what happened. First he said that it was likely another Airbnb guest because someone else had reserved for today, then when it became clear that alibi made no sense he switched to it was someone from the main house who got confused and tried to enter the main house through my room (there’s nowhere else to go once you enter the room I was staying in)

 

I have all the chat logs with his alibi switching and rude comments, if anyone would like to contact me for further details, please reach out. I’ll be happy to answer any questions.

 

I’m really disappointed in the way Airbnb is handling this, they did say they would put me up for two nights in a hotel, but I needed three nights since this happened the first night I was there.

 

Hotels in Vegas aren’t particularly cheap, especially when booked on late notice and involving a Friday night, which is why I booked an Airbnb to begin with. All-in-all the hotel ended up being around $800 for three nights, they gave me $500 and still haven’t even refunded me the money for my Airbnb or the Lyfts/Ubers I had to take at midnight to leave the host and scramble to find a hotel. So it’s now cost me money to almost be robbed or assaulted in an Airbnb.

 

If Airbnb rectifies the situation, I’ll be more than happy to update my post, but as of now I can’t use Airbnb ever again

3 Replies 3

@Valor14   Sounds like a disturbing situation - in your shoes, I would have left that place too. The security issues with this place would definitely entitle you to a refund of your rental fee. But it's totally at Airbnb's discretion how much compensation they offer for the other expenses you incurred in relocating. $500 is pretty impressive - many people in similar situations get nothing, and that's something to consider if you book again with Airbnb. 

 

If you took out travel insurance, it's worth checking your policy to see if it has any relevant coverage for security emergencies. And of course, if Airbnb hasn't already shut the listing down, it's worth taking a minute to review it. I don't know if the host was truly malevolent or just badly disorganized, but either way, this doesn't sound like someone who would be able to keep a good reputation on the platform for very long. What were the previous reviews like?

Wow, I didn’t know that Airbnb had such a horrible compensation history. That fact I still haven’t received a refund is pretty troubling. 

the host had pretty good reviews, which is part of why I felt ok about booking initially. No picture of his face in his profile which is the only part in hindsight that seems a bit off. 

Thanks for the advice!

 

-Valor

Valor14
Level 1
Philadelphia, PA

Just wanted to update this post and add that Airbnb fully covered the hotel I had to stay in as well as surrounding fees like Lyfts/Ubers. They also gave me a credit for the Airbnb I paid for. I can honestly say I’m pretty satisfied with the effort put forth by their safety team as well as their refund team.