Mass Shooting in Airbnb house in Orinda last night, 4 dead

Lan1
Level 10
El Cerrito, CA

Mass Shooting in Airbnb house in Orinda last night, 4 dead

Breaking news:  4 dead, many injured in  an Airbnb party house in Orinda CA last night ( 10/31). The house is just few steps away from my second residence in the same street. About 10:00pm, My daughter and I were driving back to our residence, noticed that the street were full of cars. After a while, we heard police helicopters and ambulances arriving ....Neighboor next door told us there was a mass shooting in the Airbnb house few steps away.

The head of Airbnb trust and safety announced that  they will conduct serious investigation, according to the news.

My dear fellow host, I have been posting  many times regarding my concerns to Airbnb unsafe booking process.  My own house has been targeted several times for huge parties/criminal activities, but it couldn’t get enough attention from Airbnb trust and safety 

department.

 Please protect yourself and be safe!

周蘭
837 Replies 837
Helen427
Level 10
Auckland, New Zealand

hello @David6  sorry to hear of your unfortunate situation - see my recent topic of Alterations / Modification of bookings for your future reference.

All the best

Central To All Home & Location

Auckland, New Zealand

Count yourself lucky that they even examined your claim, much less decided in your favor.

I couldn't get them to even examine my guests slanderous/untruthful statements about my vacation home!

 

bevg

Ute42
Level 10
Germany

.

This wasn't the first and it won't be the last gunshooting in an airbnb.

 

Here's a story where guests left 42 bullet holes in the walls of the hosts building:

 

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Hosting/Airbnb-rejected-to-pay-220-000-in-damage-for-a-SHOOTING-...

 

Such events are killing the reputation of airbnb and they are generating strong resinstance from the general public against airbnb-style hosting.

 

Mark116
Level 10
Jersey City, NJ

I could be wrong, but I presume that the majority of guests who are wishing to rent an airbnb for a 'mansion party' are going to be somewhere in the age range of 18-25ish, and so if airbnb were actually to put in place a system to red flag risky bookings, it will run smack into their policy of not allowing hosts to discriminate based on age.  It will be interesting  how they end up navigating this, but it is still an open question of what, if anything in reality, airbnb will do to help prevent guests from having illegal parties. 

@Mark116 Agreed. And how many guests are booking with an explanation of "Coming to your home to throw a party. There will obviously be drugs and alcohol there." And hosts willing to accommodate such a request. I can't imagine any hosts actually wanting to host out of control parties, especially when it is very hard to recoup any damages from Airbnb.  I also wonder how "risky bookings" will be flagged.

@Mark116 @The Halloween party people in Orinda shooting tragedy, mostly were from the same college in Oakland as my party guests. Check My listing, the only ONE star review left by the party girl, read her profile...

周蘭
Evo2
Level 2
Oakland, CA

This is happening to my house right now and my neighbors came to me to try and get ME kicked out for using AirBnB. What to do? 

.

@Evo2 

 

Your listing states:

 

  • Renovated temple home & large backyard garden for ceremony,
    rituals, parties and special healing workshops.

 

I think You got what You've asked for.

 

I've had to revise the listing repeatedly as we host daytime workshops and experiences here up to 9 people only. 

We specifically host dinner parties, indoors. 

.

@Evo2 

 

Your listing doesn't state "dinner parties, indoors", it just says: "Parties".

 

 

That's all in the guidebook and in conversations, and I took out the words events and parties altogether, thank you for spotting that one. 

David6
Level 10
London, United Kingdom

I hope it NEVER happens. But I think it will be a tragic fire that finally brings Airbnb to its knees. Guns/mass shootings - *that*  happens at those crazy ‘party houses’, in the US - way, way , far away from the ‘idyllic beach house’ or ‘luxe city pad.’ That cute cottage (with no fire escape)  you can rent all over UK. 

 

But I’m sure many guests  have stayed in an airbnb with no fire alarms. No way out if the stairs were blocked by flames. That’s when Airbnb will finally wake up, need to change or face extinction / regulation so strict it will see it’s demise. Airbnb need to take action now. This needs to be wake up call for AIRBNB TO GETS ITS AND EVERY HOUSE ON ITS SITE IN ORDER!!!! 

Lizzie
Former Community Manager
Former Community Manager
London, United Kingdom

Hello @David6,

 

I'm not sure if you saw my message earlier in this discussion, there has been quite a few replies since, so it's a little buried. 

 

To recap what I mentioned,  I wanted to make sure you have seen Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky's response to the tragic incident that happened in Orinda, California, this week. He announced some meaningful investments and changes aimed at better prevention of incidents like this, rapid response if they do happen, and stronger enforcement of higher standards on guests (or hosts) who are responsible for these incidents. Airbnb has assembled a team to accelerate this work. We’ll be keeping you informed here on the Community Center as more information comes.

 

Thanks,

 

Lizzie


--------------------


Thank you for the last 7 years, find out more in my Personal Update.


Looking to contact our Support Team, for details...take a look at the Community Help Guides.

@Lizzie 

 

Thank you.  I've seen the posts here and read the news. 

 

I understand your responsibilities here, appreciate the positive energy you bring with you, and please know that what follows in this post is not a reflection on you or you efforts here.

 

I've heard Mr Chesky's promises before and seen the results.  His replies to this event are carefully chosen (likely by his legal advisors) and skirt the real issues. 

 

Even the most diligent of hosts/platforms cannot prevent every problem, and we could descend into a lengthy debate about gun control, etc.... However, this host community has been clearly expressing our concern about the lack of guest vetting, incomplete and fraudulent guest profiles, and the shortcomings in host support in situations like this with the only reply form the management being none at all, "we're listening," and very inconsistent and biased revisions, and application of policy and TOS (in favor of guests...even bad guests with supporting evidence), with the only tangible results from management being:

 

1- the additional relaxation of existing policy and TOS (and increasingly inconsistent application of such) concerning the very safety/support issues that are at the core of this tragedy.  Specifically that guests are NOT required to provide vetted ID, any personal information including real names, and can be banned and still re-register to book under fictitious names, and airbnb has not only allowed it, when we've raised legitimate, substantiated concerns, hosts have been disregarded and turned away by support and management.  The existing requirements leave hosts with no legal recourse and even law enforcement cannot act without a valid ID to work with.

 

2- There have been significant unsupported financial losses borne by many hosts who've been victimized by these internal policies and airbnb's guest bias

 

3- Airbnb has attempted to force conscientious and reasonably concerned hosts into using "instant book" to boost profits by tying the provision of valid IDs by guests to "instant book" and excluding it from "request to book" by implementing policy that only supports government ID requirements for "instant book"

 

4- an overall lack of support and policy enforcement by this platform on behalf of legitimate host complaints and concerns surrounding abuses by guests from registration to review.

 

This incident is a huge wake up call that hosts have been sounding for months and years as we have been habitually disregarded.

 

Mr Chesky's words not only miss the mark, he's dodging the concerns about his policies surrounding guest booking requirements (for regular listings as well as open homes), a stance that has made Airbnb the laughingstock of the lodging industry and a magnet for the kinds of scammers the others ban and the criminals that perpetrated this tragedy.

 

I am only deeply saddened about this tragedy, that sane policy might have prevented it, I and outraged that after so many host warnings, it requires something this terrible to get the attention of the very ones who profit so handsomely.

 

This may be the final incident that sets the precedent for multiple lawsuits that cannot be swept under the rug, and much needed industry reform.

 

This incident points to the far larger issue of "profit over people" that will ripple outwards and trickle down to touch everyone associated with the .com, tech, and lodging platforms that have profited so handsomely in new territory that did not previously exist,

 

The fallout is already showing up in the failed IPO's, strikes, and bad press.

 

This incident is landmark, and echoes the rise of the labor unions a century ago in the industrial revolution.

 

The comments of Mr Checky are much the same as his previous comments about incidents that created previous bad PR...except that this one was deadly, there will be deeper inquiry, and the issues many hosts and previous victims of these permissive CEO's of the "tech revolution" have been raising about safety and safety/guest profiles on Airbnb are  foundational to how this will unfold.

 

We've been speaking.  You have indicated you have been listening, and I share this with all due respect for your position @Lizzie , but what I find most tragic that it requires an incident like this to have the leaders of this platform publicly acknowledge there's even a problem.

 

This is history repeating itself, and it's time for a change.