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One of the most exciting aspects of going on vacation is having no idea what kinds of memories you’ll make. Will the best part of the trip be the delicious pastries you enjoy every morning for breakfast or the unexpected conversations you have with locals at a dive bar? Only time will tell!
Unfortunately, however, traveling can sometimes come with unexpectedly frightening situations as well. Redditors have been recalling the creepiest experiences they’ve had while staying in Airbnbs around the globe, so we’ve gathered some of their most unsettling stories below. And keep reading to find a conversation with Kashlee Kucheran, CEO and Founder of Travel Off Path!
This post may include affiliate links.
#1
Stayed in an airbnb recently that was pretty insane. It was a shared space with several other people in it, but I had my own private room and small living room with a mini fridge and counter. I stayed in room and barely came out since covid-19 quarantine measures had just started to be enacted. Pretty soon after getting there I started having shortness of breath and vertigo. I started finding drawings in a sketchbook I had that I had no memory of drawing. I didnt speak to anyone for days and started getting really paranoid that someone was going to try to come into my room while I slept. After about a week there I thought I had already died and everything I was seeing was a hallucination to get my mind ready for death. I lived with that and other weird thoughts for another week till I read something on reddit about carbon monoxide poisoning. Called the gas company and turns out, sure enough there was a natural gas leak in my room. Lucky to be alive. Took weeks to get the host and airbnb to even compensate me for my stay.
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#2
I got to an airbnb in bumf*ck nowhere somewhere Kansas, at about midnight. The airbnb was 12 dollars for a night. The property was a quaint little house on some farmland, and I had passed the nearest house about a half a mile down the road. The host was already asleep when I got there so I let myself in and made my way to the couch where I was supposed to sleep. It was eerily quiet and pitch black outside, and I was already nervous so I couldn’t get to sleep. The living room was decorated with all kinds of random artifacts and treasures, I was looking around and taking everything in. There were cool rocks and souvenirs, but most curiously there were weird religious objects and books with cultish symbolism. I googled a word I saw on a tapestry, which turned out to be the name of the religion the host followed. The religion revolves around UFO’s, the ‘bible’ they follow is basically just a categorization of hundreds of types of space ships. I was a bit on edge after reading that, but after MUCH research, I concluded that it wasn’t a m**derous death cult, just super weird. I also nosily read through a journal that was just sitting on a coffee table, where the host had written things about her travels. One entry was about how she traveled to Peru and saw a space ship, she wrote about how she’d never seen one that close before. It was all very strange, but I eventually got to sleep regardless. When I woke up in the morning, the host made me coffee and unprompted, began telling me about her religion, among other conspiracies, like the government being able to control tornados. She was very kind and not overbearing, just eager to tell someone her truth. We talked for an hour or so before I got back on the road, and she sent me away with a bunch of stuff to research and an airbnb magazine. Best airbnb i’ve stayed at. Close second would be the gay nudist hostel in memphis.
whineygingercat 5 months ago
'Gay. Nudist. Hostel.' Well, that's a sentence I wasn't expecting to come across tonight...
Ouss Ben Aziza 5 months ago
"I got to an airbnb in bumf*ck nowhere somewhere Kansas, at about midnight. The airbnb was 12 dollars for a night. " The horror movies ALL INCLUDE THIS! We were warned. But it sounds like something i would do.
DoubleDoubleTiredAndTuckered 5 months ago
It always sort of irks me when articles and stuff say ‘her/his/their/whatever truth’, like, truth is, by definition, objective. Are we just… making the objective subjective now??
TheForrestGreene (he/they/it) 5 months ago
the last sentence made me choke on my water(because i keep forgetting not to drink water when im on bored panda)
#3
My fiance and I were staying at an AirBnB in Helsinki to visit family. When we got there and got settled, we were chatting about things we thought were missing in the apartment, specifically I remember saying I wished there was another towel hook in the bathroom (there was only 1 and obviously 2 towels being used). The next day we went out and were out pretty much all day, and when we got back that night there was another towel hook in the bathroom...
To learn more about why some travelers aren't fans of Airbnb anymore, we reached out to Kashlee Kucheran, CEO and Founder of Travel Off Path. Kashlee was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and detail exactly why she won't use Airbnb today.
"I have used AirBnB in the past, especially when it was the new kid on the block. In the beginning, it was so unique to be able to stay in someone’s actual home, a breath of fresh air in the accommodation industry, but that didn’t last long," the travel expert shared.
#4
Finally, something I can comment about!
This winter my boyfriend and I (21/20) booked a trip exploring Asheville NC and the blue ridge mountains. I booked this "secluded riverfront cabin in the mountains" that looked great with a bunch of reviews. As we're getting closer to arriving, it's apparent that we aren't in the woods, we surrounded by extremely dilapidated trailers. Like the whole sides are ripped off and boarded up, trash everywhere etc. The cabin itself was cute but weird vibes. Then we hear someone messing with the pin pad to get in the front door, we run to hold the door shut but nothing happens. Later the next night we hear it again, very distinctly and again hold the door shut, hear the screen door shut, nothing happens. Mind you, we're in the middle of nowhere so no service. So we decide to go to bed, now the bedroom has a sliding glass door to the back deck. As we're both laying there, awake and uneasy, we hear *tugging* at the sliding door. I immediately take the L on the two other nights we have and say we're leaving, now. So we quickly pack all our things, make a plan on how to get to the car/what to do if someone's out there and beeline for the car and get tf out of there. We ended up driving 3 hours to Atlanta at like 3am to sleep at my boyfriend's dad house. I got chills recalling this.
Nonnie Bear 5 months ago
I've lived in Asheville for 40+ yrs. It just gets creepier & more weird. Fact.
#5
Stayed at one in Rome. The door had 5 deadbolt locks on it. The windows were barred. Found out why. Randomly though the day people would try to open the door and look through the windows.
Multiple times we would turn around and see people peeking though cracks between the curtains.
We weren't even there a lot. Usually a quick meal or drop stuff off then back out to see the sites. Really nice place though
"Now, instead of renting someone’s apartment for a few days, you are just inside a huge rental companies property that has been thrown together with scotch tape, sparsely decorated, and hardly maintained," Kashlee says.
"For me, it’s the worst case scenario. I’m paying money to stay in something that has been given the bare minimum effort, yet charged similarly to hotels, without the service or amenities of hotels," she explained. "Why would anyone want to do that?"
#6
Not sure if it's "creepy", exactly, but it was definitely off-putting.
A few years ago, some friends and I rented an AirBnB flat in London for a convention. We'd been corresponding with the owner, who had told us that she would meet us in front of the building to give us the keys and show us around. We messaged her when we got to London, and got a message back confirming the building address and flat number, and telling us the keys were in a lock-box on the front of the building. Weird, but fine.
When we got to the building, there was no lock-box, so we messaged her again. Got a message back saying something like "oops, wrong flat, on my way". (Which was weird considering she'd confirmed the address in the same message?) We waited 30 minutes and then messaged her again, asking how much longer she'd be. It was around 10pm and raining, and we were all tired. She messaged back about 10 minutes later that she was sending someone else, and to wait inside the building. Which we couldn't, because the door was only accessible by key/buzzer.
At around 11pm, a car pulled up with a guy in it, who yelled out the window "keys?". One of my friends went over and the guy just handed him a set of keys, with a tag on it that said the flat number we'd been told. He didn't ask our names, or for ID or even identify himself, just handed over the keys and drove off. It was at this point that my other friend suggested we should just bite the bullet and go see if we could get a hotel room, because this was kinda sketchy, but as we were all so tired, we decided to just see if we could get into the flat, and if it was the one in the pictures, we'd stay at least that night. It was (it was super nice, actually!), so we stayed.
We messaged the owner a few times during our stay, but didn't get a response until the night we were due to leave, when we just got told to leave the keys on the kitchen table and pull the door shut behind us. No reply to any of our questions about anything else. Weird experience.
Lil Miss Hobbit 5 months ago
Maybe the owner was going through something and just couldn't help as much as she wanted
#7
I'm not sure if this applies,we ALMOST got the room but bailed out quickly.So,here's my story: My parents and I were on vacation,and we were searching for a place to stay (yes,I am aware it was dumb of us not to make a reservation beforehand) as soon as we got out of the bus. It's normal for people renting rooms there to approach you and ask you if you'd like to rent a room,and soon enough we were approached by this bald guy.That's the only thing I remember about him, the fact that he was bald.And shady.I didn't have a good feeling about him,even though I was only a kid. So he comes towards us,and starts talking to my already exhausted dad(who probably wasn't thinking straight at the time) and tells him he has a nice apartment nearby. We agree to go. My dad is carrying our stuff, and walking parallel with the guy,and my mom and I are walking behind them. We enter this neighborhood and we pass a café. The waiter,a young guy of I'd presume 16-17,comes near my mom and I and quietly tells us not to go with the bald guy,because he's up to no good. At this point I was scared sh*tless,and my mom was worried,but we decided to check the place out anyway. We arrived at the apartment and there were a LOT of stairs. When we finally went into the room,it was all stuffy and clustered and dark,bunker-style.I remember the furniture being colourful but unsettling. He asked us what we thought and my mom and I started protesting about it,saying we'd like to check out another place. He started getting weirdly desperate,telling us we wouldn't find a place cheaper, that he had other rooms,we should think about it etc. His demeanor instantly changed from calm to frustrated and almost angry. My dad finally told him we wouldn't stay there and we booked it out quickly. When we passed the café again, the waiter said that the guy had criminal ties. We got another apartment,thankfully which was pretty nice for a 10 day vacation,but God,the claustrophobia and anxiety that overcame me when we stepped into that room is still real,years later. I can't help but wonder if something happened there.
As far as why Airbnb appeals to so many travelers, Kashlee says there are a variety of reasons. "Many people still believe they are staying at a local's home, usually to their surprising disappointment once they arrive," she noted.
"Some visitors feel they are injecting their tourism dollars back into the pockets of locals instead of large hoteliers, but now that’s not the case, with most properties being owned by chain hospitality groups," Kashlee says.
"[And] of course, many tourists want the extra space, or even a full working kitchen, which I agree is most definitely harder to come by affordably in a standard hotel," she added.
#8
I was travelling solo in Prague, and i loved my AirBNB apartment. It was the only time ive used them. As i was going into the apartment, this old czech guy starts yelling at me in czech, i say sorry i dont speak czech, and i go up the stairs. He follows me but heads up another flight. I didn't go into the apartment until he was out of sight. 10 mins later the doorbell rings, and i look out the peephole and it's the guy. I obviously dont open the door but my heart was beating so hard. He leaves after a few minutes. I talked to the host about it and he came over right away to calm me down and assure me. He was great. The guy never showed up again.
Luke Branwen 5 months ago
Older Czechs can be very... specific, especially if the traveller was some visible minority. (Source: Czech). I'm definitely not saying all of them are like that, but some geezer harrassing and stalking a Black / Muslim person is something I can totally imagine.
#9
Had a week long trip to Iceland. Our last night of the trip was just before a 6am flight, so I booked a cheap spare bedroom through Airbnb, close to the airport in Keflavik. I was honestly considering pulling an all-nighter at the airport instead, and in retrospect I wish I had. I probably would have gotten more sleep.
We checked in with the Airbnb owner's 9 to 12 year old son (I'm terrible at guessing age) who didn't really speak English (even though the owner knew what time we would be arriving). The place was a mess, we really felt like we were invading someone's home, but we had a bed and a bathroom and that's all we needed for one night...
The horrible part was overnight: I admit this is partly my fault as I forgot to put the lock on our bedroom door. I happened to wake up overnight to see the owner's son standing at the foot of the bed just staring. I asked him what he was doing and he just turned around and walked away. I woke up my boyfriend who was still asleep, but he didn't really register what I was saying and just went back to sleep. I then locked the door, went back to bed, but didn't get a wink of sleep the rest of the evening.
I let the owner know what happened after we got home, but he didn't really do anything or offer any explanation. 0/10 would not recommend at all...
Alisha Brun 5 months ago (edited)
This seems kinda harmless. Sorry, a lot of these seem like mismanaged AirBNBs or people cheaping out and expecting great stays.
Kashlee shared that her favorite alternative to Airbnb is just sticking to an old, classic hotel. "Hotels are listening to the demands of tourists and have started offering things like longer stay discounts, kitchenettes, better wifi, and more roomy suites," the travel expert told Bored Panda. "Hotels, especially if they are historic, have some of the best addresses in the world. Why try and change a perfect model?"
#10
I messaged the host asking for towels. She told me they were under the bed in a drawer. They were in the second drawer that I opened. The first drawer was stuffed full of sex toys and bondage supplies. To each their own, that's her sexual expression. But you gotta put that somewhere else when you have guests staying over. I shouldn't have been surprised since she had about 30 framed photos on the wall in the tiny studio apartment. Photos of herself from various pole dancing competitions and boudoir shoots.
badmotorfinger 5 months ago
Maybe the host was hoping to make a "friend" by leaving her toys there.
#11
A last minute long weekend to Montreal, my first trip to this incredible international city that is affordable and close for people up north in the US. My card was hacked during booking. I arrive and the address doesn't seem to exist. It was just northeast of mile end, I forget exactly where, but it was right near a freeway that split the road in two. Google maps showed the air bnb to be right where the highway was that divided the street. I almost gave up as scammed and returned home. On one last loop I found the address, tucked behind an iron stairwell. I parked, walked up, and the front door was unlocked. I was freaking out because I thought someone was home and didn't know they had been the target of an air bnb hack and things might get out of control. I sit there for a few and a big guy walks in through the back door. I'm now s******g bricks. He says "oh, hi, you must be [username]. I'm [whatever]. Did you have trouble finding the place?" Turned out to be a super nice guy who was a decades long, successful professional musician and couldn't have been nicer. When I told him the story and asked about door locks, he replied "you must be from the States. Montreal is the safest city in North America. I never lock the door and nobody will ever bother you here." That was mostly true. On one hand, I saw a guy blink out a contact lens and everyone stopped to help him find it and not crush it. On the other hand, a group of quite rough people who hang out near McGill gave me s**t for not having a Canadian accent, as if my feathers are ruffled by a bunch of addicts.
Nadine Debard 5 months ago
I stayed in a Airbnb in Montréal too, the back door didn't lock, but we knew the city reputation and didn't made a big deal about it as we were staying just one night. The only things that tried to enter were adorable squirrels. Loved that place.
"In regards to safety, I find hotels much more secure than Airbnbs," Kashlee added. "They usually have maintenance staff on hand around the clock for thing like burst pipes or problems, guards and security cameras, on call doctors, high quality safety boxes in the room, variety of locks on the doors, and protocols in place for things like earthquakes or other emergencies."
#12
A couple years ago, my friend and I (18/19 F) were travelling in the Southeast USA because we were on spring break. The AirBnB we rented for the night turned out to be a couch in this guy's front room. In the middle of the night, these two people come in through the front door, drunk as hell, banging about, cursing, just overall being loud and obnoxious (they were NOT our AirBnB host), and start talking in front of our bed. I was awake, as was my friend, but we were unsure of what they were doing or what they would do, so we didn't move. They left the house and came back a couple of times, creeping us out the entire time, and we didn't find out until the next morning that our host had been renting one of his guest rooms in the back of the house to them.
Also, one of them ended up s******g on top of the toilet seat in the middle of the night. We got a full refund.
#13
Not very creepy but some Paris AirBnBs just don’t exist, like there’s just no house at the address. So I showed up in Paris and guess what, no AirBnB, just great.
"Of course, creepy situations can happen in any type of accommodation, but myself as someone who spends an average of 200 nights on the road per year, I feel much safer staying in hotels than the property of someone who decided out of the blue they would like to be a hotel," Kashlee shared.
#14
My sister and I were staying in a cute little detached house in a wealthy part of San Diego. It was right by the beach, but the house was super hippy and relaxed, the man who lived there was out of town, so some of his stuff was out, he was literally making his own kombucha. He had a bathroom attached to his little house that had a door that led to outside. He shared this bathroom with a tenant in another house who didn’t have one. Around 4am she comes home drunk, goes into the bathroom, and starting banging on the door to our room viciously. She’s screaming about how he stole her phone yesterday...this man has been out of town for a week. It was scary to wake up to in the middle of the night, but our stay was still great.
#15
I stayed at one, they had halloween decorations and a mouse infestation, I went up stairs to check out the pounding noise, skeleton with red eyes scared the s**t out of me.
#16
My friend used to air bnb her one bedroom apartment a few times a month for extra money. She came back to a huge mess one time like there was a party. She peaked into a garbage bag they left and saw a huge box of used enemas. Her poor cat must’ve witnessed an orgy.
#17
Two years ago my husband and I went to Boise Idaho for a Joe Rogan comedy show. We lived in Utah, so it was just a couple hour drive.
Upon arriving the only directions sent to us was the code to the front door and that he wouldn’t be home. We pull up and the house is MASSIVE. We walk in and are kind of confused as to where to go. The pictures of the advertisement was a room in the basement with a bathroom next to it. So we went and settled in. The comedy show was that same night so I hopped in the shower, and as I was getting out my husband told me the host had messaged him told him we were in the wrong room and to go into the room upstairs?
Ok... but how did he know we were in the wrong room if he wasn’t home?
So we took our stuff upstairs and began looking around, trying to figure out which room. We opened a few doors and there was several bedrooms but the only bedroom that had new towels, and water bottles on the nightstand was the master bedroom.
Still a bit confused we put our stuff down and noticed all of the owners stuff was still in the nightstand drawers, and their closet was full of clothes and jewelry. Directly next to the bedroom their was an office and a bunch of dog toys and bowls of food and water... but no dog.
We were a bit confused but the owner told us he wouldn’t be home all weekend and to make ourselves comfortable.
The night came and went, and we went to our show. Explored some of Boise and headed back to the house.
We both kept telling each other something felt off, but didn’t know why. We agreed to wake up and take our time getting back on the road and to our kids.
Fast fwd to the next morning and were woken up to a dog running down the hallway and barks echoing throughout the massive house.
My husband hops out of bed and opened the door to see if someone was there, but saw nobody, or nothing. We packed up super early and left way faster than we originally planned.
It was SUPER weird, and uneasy feeling. Like we were being watched, and someone was with us the whole time.
#18
My and my friends went to Spain on holiday. We got to our Airbnb and met the owner, he showed us around and left, we never see him again.
About two days after we arrived I posted a picture to my Instagram. Sometime later an old man comments on it, something like “party hard into the morning , beautiful” (my s****y translation from Spanish) , I just laughed about it to my friends and didn’t take much notice of it , but one of my friends looked into the account and it was.. our Airbnb owner.
This was weird to me because my friend did all the booking for us through her account and we just sent in whatever we owed to her back, so there would nowhere where he could have found out what my name was. I still don’t know how he managed to find me :/.
Raphapablap 5 months ago
You have to list the names of all guests staying. That's probably how he got the name.
#19
I stayed in one that used to be a love hotel in Ikebukuro, Tokyo last year. Found out a few months later there was a guy going around m**dering people in their hotels in that area.
#20
new orleans. TWO TIMES. i used to drive out there a lot to dance, and usually stayed at a hotel on bourbon but twice i thought maaaaybe i could cut down on expenses with air b n b. yes i have learned my lesson..
1st time:
check into a cute little shotgun back house. not the best area but whatever it's nola. get inside and go to the bathroom. toilet doesn't work and overflows. i end up having to squat and pee in the side yard while waiting for the owner to respond to us. look up to see a guy on his balcony watching me, all angry-looking, as i am mid-stream. had to move all our stuff to a hotel across town (which the owner paid for- she was actually really nice)
2nd time not so friendly. show up to a weird office type building with my boyfriend. creepy homeless people are staring us down, not in a curious way but malicious vibes. we get an eerie feeling. go upstairs and there are no keys, just keypads on the door, and the passcode to get into our room is a VERY easily guessed code, i think it was just our room number or something, i don't remember. we get inside and it looks like a place that was not meant to be lived in, again like it's supposed to be an office building, with the cheapest furniture and bedding. it had a kitchen but everything was from walmart and smelled weird, didn't look clean either. we try to brush it off and i go to work that night. my uber driver tells me this area is dangerous. later on my boyfriend goes out for several hours by himself, eventually showing up to buy me a drink at the strip club and we leave together. when we get back to the room it seems like someone has moved our stuff around and then we see a rat scurry by. we are freaked out and decide to read reviews of the place. another recent reviewer reported someone breaking in and leaving blood all over the sheets. we left and got a room on bourbon at a nice hotel and i'm not allowed to book rooms anymore lol
(oh yeah and as a bonus, when my boyfriend left an honest and accurate review, the owner responded super hostile and childish, cursing him out and calling him racist).
#21
This isn't exactly creepy, but just weirded me out.
I was travelling throughout Eastern and Central Europe alone (18F at the time) and booked a private room through AirBnB. When I got there the owner was not around so I left my things in the room, locked it, and went exploring for a bit. At around 9:30pm he messaged me asking if I wanted to go out to dinner with him (I had already eaten and hadn't met him yet) and I declined, as I thought it was odd that a man in his mid-40s wanted to go out to dinner with someone he had never met.
We chatted a little when I got back to the apartment, and things were fine, but the whole experience was a little off-putting. The next morning he offered me food, and asked if I'd like my cereal microwaved (I had no idea people did this?? It was very confusing). He then insisted on taking me around the city until I had to catch my bus (as I insisted he drop me off early because the whole situation was making me uncomfortable), and I never contacted him again.
The owner might of just been overly friendly, and nothing bad ever happened. It was just a weird experience and made me uncomfortable, probably because of how young I was.
#22
Air BnB in the 7th arrondissement of Paris (edit: it was actually the 18th). The place was a four story apartment that I rented just for a weekend with a few friends. The larger apartment building was maze-like with no windows in the common spaces and had those elevators that look like they are lined with concrete which was a bit off-putting to start. Despite being four stories, the apartment was extremely small and narrow throughout. I stayed on the top floor which was a converted attic with two beds and some basic accommodations. It never felt right being up there, it was dark, had no windows and was just a bit claustrophobic, but I didn’t think I’d mind because we weren’t going to be spending a lot of time there. First night I ended up sleeping at a French girl’s place, which was its own half-regret of a story, but the second and final night I went back to the apartment late with only one other friend from my small group and he took the only bed on the only small room off the bottom floor. That bottom floor room had a thick door with a hotel-lock and was the only way in or out of the apartment that we knew of. I couldn’t get comfortable and couldn’t fall asleep in that attic, it just didn’t feel right. Making things worse, we didn’t want to use the hotel lock on the front door because we had some friends that may or may not come back in the middle of the night, we did lock the light deadbolt though. I was tossing and turning all night, spending lots of time staring at the ceiling. I stayed completely still and silent around 4am when I heard footsteps walking up the final staircase (and the only exit) which led directly to the door of the attic room. The door whispered open making a disturbingly quiet crescendoing high pitched squeal. I don’t think I would’ve heard it if I hadn’t already been awake. It was dark, really dark, and I could barely make out the door slowly peeling open, as if someone was trying to sneak in. I stayed laying on my side and kept my eyes locked on the doorway as it continued to open until I called out thinking it was my friend perhaps trying to mess with me. No response, but the door stopped inching open for a second. I called out again and again got no response, but now the door swung wide open slamming against the wall and I saw a shadow outline of a person, distorted by darkness and barely illuminated only from the doorway behind which had a window looking out onto the streets of Paris on the wall across from the top steps. The figure started approaching me slowly. It was so dark in there that I couldn’t make out exactly what/who was coming silently towards me, but I didn’t wait to find out. Went full fight or flight mode and sprang up and out of bed grabbing a nearby heavy lamp to use as a blunt weapon. My eyes must’ve been better adjusted to the dark than my evening guest and I was able to keep my distance. I occasionally swung the lamp while moving in a skewed clockwise circle around the figure in the narrow claustrophobic attic as it approached me. After what felt like a few minutes but was probably a few seconds, I found myself with a clear path to the doorway and the subsequent staircase so I threw the lamp at the intruder, breaking it with a shatter, and I flew down all three flights of stairs with so much energy I was lucky not to fall and hurt myself. I shook awake my one friend who made it back with me that night and said that crazy s**t was going down upstairs. I looked back and the door to the apartment was wide open. I told him that I was f*****g leaving right now and calling the cops and that he should join me. He did join me without a second thought. Both of us were in pajamas and neither of us even grabbed our phones we were trying to get out of there so quick. As we were fleeing the building, we ran into two of our other friends who got the air bnb with us as they were exiting the strange concrete elevators. Being so drunk that their words were mostly slurred into an incoherent ramble, they basically said that we were just freaking out and that we should go back to the apartment with them. They also didn’t want to call the cops because they were insisting on finishing all the d***s they bought because nobody wanted to take them on the plane to our next destination. My soberish friend and I said we weren’t going back and left the building. A few min later my drunk friends texted us that the place was all clear but we were a******s for leaving the door open and trashing the place. We did leave the door open, but we did not trash the place. I did totally break a lamp though. I spent the rest of the night at a 24/7 McDonalds alone when my friend who was downstairs decided that he wanted to go back to get some rest before the flight. I didn’t go back to the air bnb the next morning until after sunrise, I got my stuff as quickly as I could and got the f**k out of there. To this day nobody believes me, but I am 100% confident that somebody broke into our air bnb that night. I never ended up calling the police, but I told the air bnb owner the story and he thought I was just trying to get out of paying the damages on the lamp. I gave the place a 1 Star review with simply the comment: “decent location, decent amenities, but I’m pretty sure someone broke in during the middle of the night and tried to k*ll me in the attic. None of my friends nor the owner believed me. I got charged extra for breaking a lamp in self defense. This is not a joke. 1/5 stars, I won’t be going back.”.
#23
My parents right now own an Airbnb. There was this couple that rented a night once, they were your typical dr*ggy looking people. They stayed for one night. That night, the woman was screaming like no tomorrow, I think she was being abused. We heard everything because the Airbnb was upstairs and very easy to hear. The guy was probably drunk. Cops were called and arrested the guy. The next morning, my parents found the glass door shattered, the police asked my mom if we could help provide the woman some food or whatever. Mom reluctantly declined because she had enough with these people and kicked her out. I still am not 100% sure what happened that night TLDR: domestic violence leads to a shattered glass door and cops.
Emma Owens 5 months ago
Giving the woman a sandwich and a glass of water would hardly have hurt before sending her on her way, especially given the circumstances.
#24
Can't remember where I read it, but someone found a camera hidden inside a WiFi router in the master bedroom. Ugh.
#25
1. The house with a creepy mannequin propped up at an organ in the backyard
2. The house where the owner (who was single and lived alone) had 4 things hung up on his fridge - his own Christmas newsletters for the past 4 years. In 2017 he designed a fursuit. I know this because the picture of him in the fursuit made it into that year's Christmas newsletter, which was hanging on his fridge.
#26
Obligatory late for this one, so probably won't be seen, and it is REALLY long...
My husband got us an AirBnB for our anniversary a couple of years ago in the mountains near a National Park. It was one of these where we just rented the room in a larger occupied house.
Night 1: We arrive before the host does and had a hard tine finding the property. We actually drove past it several times and dismissed it due to the large gate blocking the driveway and multiple keep out signs. Once we drive down the driveway, we realize we are there before her and use the hidden key to go inside.
There is no real furniture inside. Some old particleboard stuff and couch in the living room, but it is sparsely furnished. There is nothing but a bag of apples in the fridge.
About that time the host shows up. She describes her long commute to a city multiple hours away everyday and describes how her boyfriend worries about her. She is sure to mention a few prople in the area have bothered her before, and she is armed because of it. And also, we must ALWAYS lock the driveway gate behind us. Overall, we get a distinct feeling she is lying or hiding something. We assume it is that she actually doesn't live at the AirBnB full time but doesn't want anyone to know, so she exaggerates to throw folks off. It would explain the weird furniture, too.
Night 2: Husband and I return to the AirBnB after dark. As our headlights light up the driveway, a man in just STANDING in the middle of the gate. We jump out of our skins, but he gives us a friendly wave. We realize this must be the boyfriend (oh, he DOES exist).
We go into the house, and the host tells us they are going to a concert for the night. The boyfriend has a VERY intense stare anf literally says NOTHING. All while our host is gushing about her exciting night, he's just silent. Our host is sure to emphasize that she saw us and our car in town earlier in the day, as well. Okay, so these folks are a bit odd, no doubt.
Husband and I are exhausted, so we go to our room. I immediately notice our stuff has been gone through and put back carefully. There were not coasters in the room before, but now room temperautre water bottles are on coasters. The clothes I had out and folded feel wrong, like they've been moved and put back.
At this point, I am more angry than creeped out. We make a joke about how it was a bit like a bad horror movie, and go to sleep. We are then woken up by the couple, not only when they come home late but a none too lengthy time after they went to their bedroom. Gee, I wonder what was happening...
It is important to now note (and remember for later) that the house has two sides. One that we never saw, and one with two bedrooms (the hosts and ours). We had to pass by her bedroom to leave the house.
Day 3: Before leave for the Park, I arrange our stuff specifically to see what will happen. I also take anything with any value with us.
Night 3: The host texts us during the day that she will be staying with her intensely silent boyfriend for the night. Perfect, no more snooping our stuff; no weird noises to be expected!
We come back and go to bed early after a long night of hiking. Once again, it is clear our stuff has been looked through. A solid feeling of discomfort and just wanting to be done with the AirBnB settles in.
Guys, gals, and every other identity, things are about to get real. We are woken up in the wee hours of the morning by something that sounds like it was sliding on the roof. I notice a weird light reflected in the window sill, like car headlights heading down the driveway. And then all the power in the AirBnB goes OUT.
At this point, my instincts are telling me to GTFO. I cry out, "What was that?!" Husband grumbles that it is fine and goes back to sleep. I sleep none the rest of the night. There are no more noises, not even the sound of our host coming in late.
Moreover, what are we going to do? Look through a house we don't know, in the dark, when we have to pass by her room? I settle in for a night of tense vigilance.
Day 4: I tell husband that I am NOT staying here anymore. Husband says I am overreacting. I pack all of our suitcases and try to persuade him that SOMETHING is wrong. He is adamant a branch slide across the roof and knocked out the power.
So we go outside. There are no trees near the house. There are no trees down. The powerlines are all still intact. I am freaking out at this point, which is unusual for my husband because I am the more scientific and logical one.
Husband convinces me to leave our things at the AirBnB and go hike to mull it over.
As we leave the house, the freaking gate across the driveway is unlocked and open. OPEN. Oh, and all the surrounding neighbors have power.
At this point, I say something about the headlights, and my husband says he didn't notice the lights. At this point, I am theorizing that our host really is harassed by locals and they climbed the roof and disconnected the power (the powerline connected hust above our bedroom).
My husband calls the host to report the power issue. She mentions that her grandfather has actually passed away the night before and her brother will be on the property preparing the family graveyard shared on the property. We say something about leaving, and the host REPEATEDLY insists that we stay another night, and says she will be home in the evening, too.
I tell my husband that I have no idea WHAT is going on, whether corporeal harassment or otherworldly visitors I don't believe in, but it is time to listen to our instincts. Are we REALLY going to sleep having our ONE exit trapped by this woman and her boyfriend?! We've been lied to, our stuff has been moved, and s**t is happening.
Night 4: We come home that night, my husband packs our car while I offer my codolences, and we FINALLY GTFO. I've bever slept better than that night.
Nino Uwu 5 months ago
TLDR; Woman and her husband stay at AirBnB in a national park. Host is a little odd, probably doesn't live at the airbnb full-time. Tells couple to close and lock front gate cuz she's harassed by locals. Hosts boyfriend appears creepily, odd relationship. As couple gets in their room, belongings have been gone through. Belongings were gone through the next few nights as well. The power in the house goes out after something scraping the roof. Woman is freaked tf out, no trees in the surrounding area to cause it, and all neighbors have power. Owner casually mentions grandpa who died the night before and her brother is prepping the family graveyard on the property. Despite that, host insists on the couple staying. Couple leaves the next day
#27
We were on a trip across the prairies in Canada and we stopped at this little place in Saskatchewan. It was run by this sweet but intimidating old lady and her cranky husband.
They didn't really seem prepared to have us there. Every time we asked about something generally expected of a B&B (breakfast time, menu, things to do), they faltered and didnt really have an answer right away.
Then they had another couple stay at the same time. This was a simple house, not really big. So that seemed strange. There wasn't really room for everyone.
Well the reason they didn't seem prepared was they weren't even registered as a B&B. We were just staying at this random couple's house. They just went with it when.we showed up at their house by mistake and were happy to take our money.
Kind of creepy, but the town itself was nice and quaint. It was the kind of peaceful place you could stay for a while since there's not a lot going on.
#28
I stood at a lovely AirBnB in Iowa for my little brothers graduation. He didn’t know I was going to make it so we threw a surprise party at the Airbnb. While we were setting up my other brother and I went down to the basement to get an extra table. The second we got down there we looked at each other and said, yup it’s scary here. We searched for the table, the longer I spent in the basement the greater the feeling of dread grew in me. We found the extra table and headed back up stairs, joking about how creepy a seemingly normal basement was. My whole family got together, and the family started. While we were celebrating my girlfriend decided she’d run the washer which was downstairs, she was going to go down alone when she came back and asked me to go with her, since it was creepy. Again I went down and rushed to leave. The basement was now officially scary to me.
The party continued and we had a wonderful time. As the night started to settle people got in their Ubers back to their hotels, and now it was just me and my girlfriend, unwinding after an afternoon of eating and drinking. We were relaxing when the laundry buzzer went off. I looked at her, and she said she didn’t pick up the load from earlier. I thought it was strange that it hadn’t beeped hours ago. We headed down to the basement. Again she stopped at the stairs to the basement and asked me to go first. As I was going down the buzzer on the washer went off again scaring us. We both jumped, I hurried down grabbed the laundry and we headed up stairs to let it air dry. As we finished, I could tell she was still nervous, we decided to go through the house and lock all the windows and doors (this is standard when we visit an Airbnb we never miss this step). My girlfriend stays beside me this whole time, we finally have one last door, the door to the back garden right outside the kitchen and at the top of the basement. I go and lock the door, ignoring the sense of dread I felt with my back turned to the basement.
I should mention this was an oldish house, so the stairs were steep and the bedroom where we slept was probably originally an attic. In order to turn on the lights up stairs you had to flip a switch at the bottom of the stairs. As we made our way in the dimly lit house to the light switch I think our sense of tiredness overcame the dread we had. I flipped on the switch and headed for the stairs. Just as I did I heard a loud banging sound like the sound of pots or something metallic clanging. It was a fast tone Whack Whack Whack. My girlfriends face was full of fear and I’m sure mine was too. I began to go for the kitchen where there was a knife. But then I heard the whacking again, at the top of the stairs, I turned to look against the now illuminated attic, and saw a ceiling fan turned on to its max setting, and it’s mounting pole making the sound. I ran upstairs and turned off the fan. My girlfriend close behind me. We got ready for bed. I headed downstairs to turn off the light switch and went up stairs. I looked outside the window of the attic to check on my car out front. Everything was good. We began to fall asleep. It was a restless night, hot and stuffy. I had dreams of seeing a shadowy figure out on the lawn. I woke up the next morning tired. I made my way down to the kitchen to brew some coffee. As I was turning around I looked at the stair case to the basement. Something was wrong, and I don’t know why but I was drawn to the basement again. I looked down the stairs, and walked down. I looked around, and saw nothing. I headed up stairs. We had breakfast packed our bags and got ready to go. As we were doing one last sweep, I checked the kitchen one more time to make sure everything as in good shape. Just as I was about to say all good let’s go, that damned laundry machine buzzed. Both me and my girlfriend were just like nope, and proceeded to get the f**k out. As we were leaving in a rush I grabbed the bags and told my girlfriend to start the car. As I was the fan upstairs turned on again and began making the whacking noise. I’ve never bolted so fast out of a house. When I got to the car my girlfriend saw the look of panic on my face. “What happened?” “The fan turned on again.” I got her out of the drivers seat and we sped off to collect our thoughts at a local diner. I texted the Airbnb host that the washer kept on making noises and that I couldn’t figure out how to turn off the ceiling fan upstairs.
They messaged back
“Thank you for staying with us.”.
#29
I'm traveling alone for work within Germany.
Oddest experience so far was a studio apartment with a host family of Turkish immigrants living in the rest of the house. They were super nice, but the only person who spoke English or German wasn't there and could only be contacted by email.
The mom came to offer coffee at random times like 9pm.
The advertised laundry facility was their laundry machine. So I had to hand my laundry to the mom, who filled the detergent drawer of the machine completely full. And she insisted that she would hang the laundry to dry. I would have preferred to handle my undies myself, but try explaining that without a shared language.
The next day, my coworkers said I intensely smelled like laundry detergent.
They really meant well, but the random coffee offers late in the evening to a woman traveling alone, and the insistence on doing my laundry, felt off.
Alisha Brun 5 months ago
Not creepy at all, sounds like a language barrier and someone doesn't know how to use detergent.
What do you think ?
Jack Burton 5 months ago
We should all stop using airbnb, i know it's really an easy way to travel but it's so bad for cities. Look at some place like Barcelona's Barrio Gotico. It was an awesome part of the city 20 years ago. Now it's just touristic flats, no local shops, no real people living here. Really sad.
Bernd Herbert 5 months ago
I've had a couple of Airbnbs in my travels in various States in the US, in Australia, in NZ, in a few European Countries and maybe I'm just the lucky one but I've never had any bad experiences. Reading the guest reviews is a must of course
Nils Skirnir 5 months ago
My thought is that AirBnB was almost entirely responsible for the explosion of bedbugs in US and Europe. Think about it — inconsistent cleaning, sketchy standards, and no regulations.
Christos Arvanitis 5 months ago
I have to think that some/most of these people don't read the reviews. Anything lower than a 4.8 points to a problem IMHO. And how does somebody show up and then realize that they only rented a couch?
Diolla 5 months ago
That was the original thought of AirBed and Breakfast.
Load More Replies... digitalin 5 months ago
I've always had great experiences with Airbnb. I get that they're economically controversial, though. The weirdest hotel experience I ever had was actually at a hotel. It was a historic one, so I was expecting it to be "unique", but it felt so dingy and claustrophobic that I didn't even unload my bags. The hotel manager kept pleading for me not to leave, getting weirdly desperate. It probably would have been fine, but it's better to trust your gut.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
So, the BnB stands for 'Bed and Breakfast'. But breakfast is not supplied like the typically accepted 'Bed and Breakfast' places before this company came on the scene. False advertising?
Jaguarundi 5 months ago
I will only stay in a B & B that's registered with the Innkeepers Association and never in an "AirBnB". I want a place that follows health and safety standards, not just someone's spare room, or worse, their occupied home.
BarkingSquirell 5 months ago
Most of these posts require serious editing: I'm not reading a full NYT article.
Jack Burton 5 months ago
We should all stop using airbnb, i know it's really an easy way to travel but it's so bad for cities. Look at some place like Barcelona's Barrio Gotico. It was an awesome part of the city 20 years ago. Now it's just touristic flats, no local shops, no real people living here. Really sad.
Bernd Herbert 5 months ago
I've had a couple of Airbnbs in my travels in various States in the US, in Australia, in NZ, in a few European Countries and maybe I'm just the lucky one but I've never had any bad experiences. Reading the guest reviews is a must of course
Nils Skirnir 5 months ago
My thought is that AirBnB was almost entirely responsible for the explosion of bedbugs in US and Europe. Think about it — inconsistent cleaning, sketchy standards, and no regulations.
Christos Arvanitis 5 months ago
I have to think that some/most of these people don't read the reviews. Anything lower than a 4.8 points to a problem IMHO. And how does somebody show up and then realize that they only rented a couch?
Diolla 5 months ago
That was the original thought of AirBed and Breakfast.
Load More Replies... digitalin 5 months ago
I've always had great experiences with Airbnb. I get that they're economically controversial, though. The weirdest hotel experience I ever had was actually at a hotel. It was a historic one, so I was expecting it to be "unique", but it felt so dingy and claustrophobic that I didn't even unload my bags. The hotel manager kept pleading for me not to leave, getting weirdly desperate. It probably would have been fine, but it's better to trust your gut.
Michael P (Perthaussieguy) 5 months ago
So, the BnB stands for 'Bed and Breakfast'. But breakfast is not supplied like the typically accepted 'Bed and Breakfast' places before this company came on the scene. False advertising?
Jaguarundi 5 months ago
I will only stay in a B & B that's registered with the Innkeepers Association and never in an "AirBnB". I want a place that follows health and safety standards, not just someone's spare room, or worse, their occupied home.
BarkingSquirell 5 months ago
Most of these posts require serious editing: I'm not reading a full NYT article.
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