Let me tell you all about my experience from hell and my now departure from Airbnb as a host due to [guest name hidden].
I made 13 calls to Airbnb and it wasn’t until I called them hysterical because this man was trying to move back into my home after moving out, that they started taking action. Most of the issues started when my husband and I went out of town and left my daughter to house sit. At that point, there was a switch in this man, and he lost all abilities to maintain boundaries, rules, and expectations previously set forth. No amount of discussions could help.
The final straw was that I gave him a written notice that if he could not clean up after himself , I would ask him to refrain from using the kitchen. He called Airbnb and asked for a $550 refund for his last month. Two days later, this man stood in my kitchen, using my pots and pans, and while cooking in my kitchen and said to me “I am entitled to this refund, I am filing a lawsuit for your abuse and demands to clean the kitchen and you will be hearing from my people”. I lost my s*** and called Airbnb to get him out of my house.
**** booked a long term stay with us for 97 days as he was moving to the area for a new job. He moved in and while he was slightly annoying—okay—a lot annoying—we overlooked it. We were firm and didn’t change the rules. We just didn’t realize we needed to be as specific. As in, “if you use the kitchen, please cleanup after yourself”. When speaking to a 58 year old man, one would think that would be sufficient. It was not. I needed to give him an actual checklist of what that meant because I had wiped up food crumbs and put his dishes away almost daily.
To sum it up, this is the email that I sent to his sister two days ago, after a five day ordeal with him and Airbnb:
To ****
Regarding your email, please address me as Dr. ****, as I have earned that title.
Do not email me through a professional service again, as that is considered harassment and a misuse of what that service is designed for.
This is in regards to your continued harassment of phone calls, text messages and emails regarding your brother, *****.
I feel certain you have been given misinformation, incorrect information, and outright lies.
Whether it matters or not let me fill you in on a few things:
We changed the locks, as instructed by AirBnB. **** had been instructed to access the property at an agreed upon time. He refused to adhere to the time. When he showed up two hours late and was unable to access the property, he did not call me, or my husband. He did not call AirBnB. He called the police. We patiently waited for over an hour while he gathered most of his belongings. Then, we were on the phone for an additional hour, attempting to get him a refund, as demanded by you and him.
The police officer had to verbally contain **** many times, due to his hostile attitude towards her, as well as me and my husband. He was outright rude, difficult, and demanding. A trait of his that I am sure you are well aware of.
After **** was finished retrieving his items, **** (my husband) was kind enough to offer him a cold drink. The police officer had to remind him to say thank you. **** then attempted to go back upstairs to get some ice. Law enforcement refused him entry into my home. **** went to get him some ice and again, **** couldn’t say thank you. In fact, he demanded a different type of ice cube.
As you know, I am a clinical psychologist and a licensed social worker. I am highly trained, educated and experienced and therefore capable of making a diagnosis. **** behavior is consistent with the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, in which there are limited treatment options.
He was told to obtain the last his belongings yesterday. He failed to do so. He has until tonight at 8:30 PM to obtain the last of his belongings or they will be thrown away. He has not done a change of address for his mail. All incoming mail will be returned to sender, effective immediately.
His poor behavior is evidenced as outlined below:
Since his departure, we have had three neighbors approach us and share incidents regarding him, in which they were quite disturbed by his awkwardness. They assumed he was a relative of ours and were relieved to know he was not.
While he was residing here, we were informed of a drunken, verbal altercation he had with the general manager of III Forks restaurant, by both **** and the GM.
My 23 year old daughter informed me of inappropriate comments and looks he made towards her while she was house sitting in our absence. **** also made the same comment to my husband.
**** has openly admitted his mental health diagnoses.
As stated, **** did not take all of his belongings. It took four bags of trash to clean out the kitchen, refrigerator and pantry. The housekeeper is at my home now to clean the room he occupied. He left empty coke cans, empty and full beer bottles, trash, food, half full tea pitcher, half full coffee pot, toilet paper bits on the floor in the bedroom. When you add this to the kitchen that we cleaned up every day after him, he treated our home as a frat house, never cleaning up after himself.
He took our dogs for walks, on at least three occasions that we know of, despite our rules to never remove them from their kennels.
He said directly to me, he didn't see why I couldn't clean up after him since I clean up after my husband.
He demanded the dryer be fixed, and said he was "entitled to use laundry facilities".
**** did a change of address to our home without discussing it with us to avoid jury duty. We were notified by the USPS this was done, not ****.
We kindly stated "make yourself at home, and if you see something you need, please feel to use it". Paul took full advantage of this statement.
**** demanded we accommodate his need for cable television, despite our listing stating we didn't offer that. He insisted we take down the television from the wall mount and install an antenna. We were worried that he would do it himself and cause more damage, so we allowed him to bully us into that.
He overfed the turtles in a five day period, causing the filter system to have to be replaced and a full water replacement. We had to hide the turtle food to avoid him overfeeding them again.
My husband I were in in the middle of a very small kitchen putting away groceries and cleaning out the kitchen and **** inserted himself and attempted to begin cooking dinner. I had to ask him to leave and give us a few minutes to clear out. It was obvious we were in the space using it. He did the same thing to my daughter and her friend. He has zero concept of personal space and consideration of others.
I highly recommend serious mental health treatment for him. This would explain his numerous employment positions and inability to maintain employment. I am relieved to have him out of my home. Do NOT under any circumstances contact me again on his behalf or I will report your harassment to the New York Bar. You cannot represent him in a Florida situation.
As I’ve stated previously, Airbnb made the decision to refund a portion of his money. That was not up to me.
You and he need to govern yourself accordingly
Dr. Tracy ****
Needless to say, we are never doing Airbnb again. Not just because of ****, but mainly because Airbnb was absolutely useless to us and played kicked the can for five days. I called them 13 times and I received exactly one phone call back despite 13 promises for a call back.
