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

[Susan17]

... but whether they're travellers, tourists or globetrotters, it doesn't make the hounding and dehumanising of them - pregnant women and children amongst them - any less repulsive. 

[Ben551]

I rather think it's "ok" to not like people who, as you put it, were "littering, petty theft, scamming free stuff, leaving a mess behind, boisterous behaviour, parking offences".  You realise this was all in the space of 2 weeks from a single family, right?  They were also convicted in a NZ court in that small space of time and issued a deportation notice...model citizens.

But you're right, perhaps the NZ public has been out of control and these people deserve an apology.  I tell you what, I'll write one up and put it on the windscreen of the rental car that they yesterday left crashed, trashed and abandoned on the side of the road.

[Susan17]

Yeah, it wouldn't be the first car that was left crashed and trashed as a result of being chased and hounded by baying papparazi, hungry for a juicy story to feed the worlds' salacious appetite for a bit of scandal, would it? At least everyone got out alive this time. 

There's a fundamental difference in "not liking" something, and using it as an excuse to jump on the virtue-signalling persecution bandwagon. 

[Sarah977]

@Susan17  Have you seen the videos of how those "innocent" children behave?

[Susan17]

@Sarah977 Yes, I have, but where did I say they were innocent, or otherwise? 

We know nothing  about those kids, nor have we any right to presume to know. My best friend fought through the courts for almost 3 years - and almost bankrupted herself in the process - to adopt the little girl she'd been fostering since she was a few months old, whose birth mother's background was troubled, to say the least. From very early on, it was clear that J was going to have very serious emotional and behavioural difficulties, and despite Katrina having the patience of a saint, and raising J in exactly the same way, with the same abundance of love and care, and under the same rules and parameters, as her two extremely well behaved sons, J's behaviour (and language) can be utterly shocking at times - particularly when she's frightened or stressed or feeling insecure in unfamiliar surroundings.  

Katrina is a strong, strong woman who has faced many challenges in her life, but on more than one occasion I've seen her reduced to sobbing tears by others (usually women,  mothers themselves who should know better), who feel the superior need to openly criticise and pass snide comment on J's behaviour and Katrina's parenting skills, when J is having a meltdown in a public space (which very often manifests itself in her screaming and swearing at total strangers, who somehow think its appropriate to stare and point in disgust and contempt at an already distressed child)

We can never know what difficulties and prejudices these children may have faced from the moment they were born into this world, or how scared or distraught they may have been by the the chaos and pandemonium that was unfolding around them, or how confused and terrified they may have been by the grown adults - from both sides -  hurling insults and abuse at each other, or how differently they may have acted had they been privileged enough to have access to the specialist services and early interventions that are so often inaccessible to the most marginalised and ostracised children in society - those who may need them most. 

So in the absence of such information, perhaps we should reserve our opinions on them. Irrespective of how things may appear on the surface, no child - no child, whoever they are, whatever their background - deserves to be hunted down and cornered like wild animals, while their little faces - innocent or otherwise - are splashed all over the world's media, for the salacious entertainment of others, as grown adults sit in righteous and indignant moral judgement of them. Shame on anyone and everyone who in any way, shape or form, thinks that any  child deserves to be treated in this way, regardless of the circumstances. 

[Sandra126]

I read an interview with them and they said they are neither Irish nor travellers. Just tourists from Liverpool, grew up in London. Not that it makes any difference.

[Ben551]

@Sandra126  yeah I think the media has been mis-labelling them a lot, hence I didn't bring any of that labelling into the posts here .. seemed beside the point. Behaviour is behaviour etc.

[Helen3]

Listen to their accents @Sandra163 they are clearly Irish, but indeed  may have grown up in the UK.

[Helen3]

Hi @Sandra126

Travellers in this context ie 'travelling community' normally refers in the UK and Ireland to gypsies, Romanies and people from the Irish travelling community.

[Susan17]

You know they're travellers, I know they're travellers, the media knows they're travellers, the whole d*mn world knows they're travellers. But hey, let's just conveniently refer to them as  "unruly tourists" instead, so we can all indulge in a spot of casual racism to make ourselves feel superior. They're only travellers, after all - that still counts as acceptable racism in 2019.... right? 

"The cleaner said the room was "really messy, and it smelt like kid's poo".

"I had to open all the windows, and I told my boss to leave them open as well as the door, so it could air out."

According to the motel, spaghetti was found around the bed while cans and bottles of toiletry items were found dumped on the shower floor.

The motel claimed teaspoons, forks, a bowl and a wine glass were missing after the family left"

And somehow, that's worthy of international newspaper headlines and global media coverage. (The room smelled of kid's poo, btw - no suggestion that it was smeared all over the walls or anything)  There's nothing more heinous going on in the entire planet for us to spout our righteous indignation on and sit in moral judgement of at all, is there? If this was any  other ethnic group being hounded and persecuted in this manner, half the world would be up in arms at the vile, hypocritical, hysterical injustice of it all. 

[Susan17]

And let's not forget, this whole debacle came to be splashed all over the world's media, primarily because of a verbal altercation over some trash left on a beach, and a small child's inappropriate response to a volatile situation unfolding around him (volatile on both sides of the divide - it wasn't all one-sided)

Can someone please explain to me how anyone feels that a group of people, children included - any  group of people, travellers or non-travellers - deserves to be hunted down, chased, provoked and cornered, every minute of every day, by hordes of "respectable" citizens, acting like a pack of wolves, baying for blood? Neither side is blameless here, and neither side has conducted themselves with a shred  more dignity, honour or integrity  than the other. 

[Helen3]

Well said @Susan17

Lots of people travelling abroad unfortunately behave badly.  But they don't get demonised because of the community they belong to and splashed all over the media.

[Branka-and-Silvia0]

Well, they turned people and media against them not because of their nationality or race but because of their bad behavior.

You can't behave inappropriately and expect to be treated and be welcomed the same as others who behave appropriately. If they want to be accepted then they have to change their manners.  They don't have to break the law to be judged by others.

I don't feel sorry for them if they don't like NZ they can go where their behavior will be welcomed (if such a place exists)

[Susan17]

@Branka-and-Silvia0

Not for one minute have I condoned their behaviour or inferred that it was in any way appropriate though, Branka. That's absolutely not the point I'm making here. There's been equally inappropriate behaviour from both sides.

We're all products of the way in which we're viewed, treated and accepted by society. And some members of society are shunned, discriminated against and excluded from the day they're born, solely because of their ethnicity, and regardless of how perfectly they might behave. Can you imagine for one minute how it would feel to be castigated as a second class citizen every day of your life, just because you happen to be born into a strata of society that others view as beneath them? Not a great way to shape one's world view. 

Regardless though, this group behaved terribly - that goes without saying - but the hysterical, grossly overblown response to their undeniably inappropriate, but relatively harmless, actions, has been sickeningly disproportionate and says a lot more about us, than it says about them. 

And even when travellers are model citizens - and contrary to public opinion, many actually are good, decent people - the sad fact is, no place on this earth exists where they are ever welcomed, or where they're allowed to belong. That's the whole root of the problem. 

[Ben551]

The point of the post was to warn other hosts of potential bad guests, the same way as we do for each other through the guest review system. As hosts, we will always share information about bad guest behaviour, whether through the review system or on this forum.

The point wasn't to debate the rights and wrongs of the media (or social media). As hosts, we don't control that and it's not our place to apologise for its content. It is our place to look out for each other and do what little we can to keep our hosting experiences safe and positive.