According to a 2021 study, a lot can go wrong when staying in an Airbnb. A data scientist, Asher Fergusson, collaborated with a few researchers to find out the problems that guests are most likely to face when staying at short-term rentals. 

The project even received funding from ASIS International, and over 2 and a half years the team used machine learning and natural language processing techniques to analyze X (previously Twitter) posts associated with guest complaints. 

“Our number one goal when starting out with this research was to find out what’s most likely to go wrong for Airbnb guests,” Fergusson said to Forbes Women.

In total, they analyzed over 127,183 posts published between January 1, 2015 and September 20, 2020 and broke them down into types. The results ranged from frustrating to dangerous.

“We found thousands of cases of account hacking with vacation dollars being stolen via fraudulent bookings as well as many other scams,” says Fergusson. “Then there were police interventions, bodily harm, threats, bug infestations, invasions of privacy via hidden cameras, long-term negative health impacts after the customer checked out of the Airbnb and so much more. Even in 2021, the amount of illegal, unsafe or fake listings on the platform is staggering—more than any of us probably realize.”

The report revealed that the most common problems were linked to customer service (72.2%), which provided limited support during emergencies or was rude or even unreachable. Scams made up 22.3% of complaints, from fake listings to hacked accounts. 10.4% of guests were left unsatisfied because the host cancelled their stay. 6.1% experienced unsafe conditions ranging from pest infestations to hidden cameras. While 3.7% of complaints reported discrimination against race and sexuality.

Ferguson published the report, saying that it was important that Airbnb users know what awaits them when they’re using the platform. “Countless Airbnb guest complaints we reviewed on Twitter suggested that the company is very good at circumventing responsibility,” he says. “Their customer service will often go silent or cite some obscure, confusingly worded terms of service when guests rightfully request refunds for services not rendered. It’s important for users to understand renting an Airbnb is not the same as booking a hotel.”

He believes that it’s easier to scam people with short-term rentals as they have little supervision as opposed to hotels. Reputable hospitality institutions are less likely to be massively deceiving people or constantly cancel reservations hours before guests have to arrive. Moreover, it’s rare to find a hotel that doesn’t have safety precautions like a smoke or carbon monoxide detector.

In order to stay safe and protected, Ferguson recommends treating rental reviews as a mystery novel. This means reading between the lines what the previous guest has written, as most of them don’t express the negatives directly. In addition, he advises to never book a place with zero reviews. Instead, he says to aim for rentals with a 4.85-star review average or higher.

It’s also important to look at the hosts’s overall reviews, not just the listing’s. Be sure to reach out to the host before the stay and document anything that goes wrong or seems suspicious with video evidence. This helps to get a refund with less hassle.