Warning to all NZ Hosts : British Tourists on a house-trashing tour

[Ben551]

Greetings ~

After today's headlines I feel the need to extend a warning to all AirBnb hosts in New Zealand, Australia and the UK.

A group of ten British tourists have been in the New Zealand news headlines all through January 2018.  They have been not paying for meals, trashing hotel rooms and litering during their stay in Auckland and Hamilton.  Last night, they turned up in my city of Wellington,  and were sighted making trouble a mere 2 minutes drive away from my house. 

The damage toll from the group is estimated to run into the hundreds of thousand as they continue a path of destruction through the country, but the Police and politicians can't move fast enough.  They are likely to remain at large for several days before action is taken to arrest and deport them all (it seems to react to a situation like this is more than our criminal justice system is designed to cope with).  If they leave on their own, they will likely pop up in Australia or the UK.

Here is the series of events as they have unfolded over the past few weeks:

15 January: First they trashed an Auckland beach.

15 January: Then the NZ Police investigated.

15 January: They said they were just here to see the hobbits.

16 January: Then they stole a Christmas tree.

16 January: And pled guilty to two counts of theft.

16 January: So the NZ government issued a deportation notice with 28 days to leave.

17 January: Then the media reported what they are like back in the UK.

17 January: So the NZ Police Minister called for the group to be sent home immediately.

18 January: Then they turned up in MY HOME TOWN!!

Warning: Some of the video footage contained in these news articles could offend.

Here is a map covering the first few days of their damage path:

What AirBnb Hosts Need to know:

The family are known to use information on private accomodation websites (like AirBnb) to make bookings waaay into the future that they never intend to pay for.  They do this to immediately gain access to property addresses and use it to locate vacant rental accomodation (i.e. they choose ones with space in their calendar 'now' then make a booking for the 'future').  They then break in and trash it without the owners knowledge.  this link describes what they do - I do not have the stomach to re-write it.

If they turn up at your property, do not engage with them.  Call the Police immediately (if you are in New Zealand the number is '111').

If they leave New Zealand before the authorities can act, they are likely to turn up in Australia or the UK.

Meanwhile, I'm going to sleep with a crow bar under my pillow until these jerks are out of my country...

~ Ben

[Cathie19]

Ahh @Ben551. The ugly tourist entourage causing a need for timely triage. Deportation sounds like the ticket!

[Kathy33]

Ben your story is on the front page of the Seattle Times. Thanks for the world news.

[Ben551]

@Kathy33 cool. Yeah the headline has travelled around now.

[Ann72]

@Ben551 This is horrendous!  I hope you don't see them at all!  Keep us posted!

[Ria16]

😉 @Ben551 You didn’t put any links up to their side of the story . About how we are so horrid to them and how they are just too scared to go out now and how all they want to do is find out where the hobbits live 😉  Bad kiwis! 

[Ben551]

You're so right, sorry @Ria16 - I tell you what, after they are done trashing the capital we'll send them up to Northland for some proper Kiwi hospitality 🙂

[Ria16]

@Ben551 No Hobbits up here, I seriously think they will be on their way the weekend so maybe next stop LA 😉 

[Ben551]

@Ria16  How do you know there aren't any Hobbits up there?  Hobbits are tricksy...

[Ben551 · Accepted solution]

Something amazing happened after we made this post...

My wife and I were reviewing our upcoming bookings to ensure we hadn't been targeted by these buffoons. We spied a booking made by a "ghost" guest, waaaay out in our calendar. We've been so focused on our current and approaching bookings we hadn't noticed it.

You know the type of booking... no profile photo, no Government ID, no reviews....no last name. Plus the account was made on the day of the reservation. Now, being IB hosts, we have all these options turned on. But we didn't in the beginning of January so we figure this listing must have snuck in there.

So we talked it over and got in touch with AirBnb. Not only did they agree the guest profile looked fishy, they thanked me graciously for being a diligent host, and removed the booking, no consequences. In fact they couldn't be more helpful. Perhaps it was my English charm, but the lady on the phone would have mowed my lawn if I asked her to...

Now I know what you are thinking: all the search results will be slammed.  Nope. AirBnb said that doesn't happen when they pull bookings in this type of situation. We checked and it all looks fine, we're still no. 5 for upcoming free spots in April. 

The best part is: the whole thing was sorted before the kettle finished boiling. We went from worried to sorted in less than 5 minutes.

Now... I know it's a bit odd to post about something positive on the internet these days, but... you have to admit this was brilliant service.

[Cathie19]

A job well done!

[Huma0]

@Ben551

I think Airbnb are very grateful when you alert them to these sorts of situations. I had three very odd requests for the same dates within an hour of each other. One of them was very dodgy, asking to set up a bank account using my home address! I said no, obviously, but called Airbnb to let them know something was 'off'.

It turned out one request was fine, the girl was just a bit clueless (I can remember what she was asking for at the time, but it was something strange), but the other two were connected and this dodgy user had messaged thousands of hosts. I was apparently the first to report it and the lady I spoke to at Airbnb was SO thankful.

[Pete28]

They are flying back in to stay with you post Brexit 🙂 

[Stipeth0]

..hello

[Pete69]

[quote]no profile photo, no Government ID....no last name.[/quote]

Any one of these translates to "no booking" with me.