AirBnB... Home Trashed!

[Generic]

http://ejroundtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/06/violated-travelers-lost-faith-difficult.html

 

[seashanty]

this is just awful.
but ... and i'm not blaming the victim here ... i would NOT have someone stay in my home or inn, airbnb or whatever, without me there.
most ads i see on airbnb are for a room in someone's home, not to take over someone's apartment while they are gone. even those people i know who have rental cottages or second homes that they rent out do not store personal id's, heirlooms and such there ... not even locked in a safe.
if someone checks in bent on theft, mischief and mayhem, at least they should not in any way be able to get hold of the above stuff. no way!

 

[Joey Camb]

its awful what happend but what was he thinking leaving passport/credit cards grandmothers jewelery in a simple cupboard? thats what safety deposit boxes are for! I don't trust guests when I am here to supervise them not when I am not!

 

[muirford]

Hundreds of rentals in and around New York City are exactly that - someone's apartment that is being used for short-term rentals. Some of them are even called B&Bs and listed by a reservation service. It's a very common practice.
That is an awful story.

 

[Generic]

So, how many of us have safes? We have two, one fireproof and the other for security. The security one is large enough to hold items like a laptop and is bolted to the floor so that it cannot be moved.

 

[JBloggs]

[COLOR= rgb(68, 68, 68)]Airbnb Responds After Vandals Ransack User’s Home http://on.mash.to/nCVECc FYI this happened a month ago http://bit.ly/nqV0ww[/COLOR]

 

[Generic]

[COLOR= rgb(68, 68, 68)]Airbnb Responds After Vandals Ransack User’s Home http://on.mash.to/nCVECc FYI this happened a month ago http://bit.ly/nqV0ww[/COLOR].

AirBnB's original response was that they weren't at fault... go to your insurance company and good luck. It's only after the blog got traction and their model was in jeopardy that they offered to step in and help.

 

[agoodman]

Although what heppened is AWFUL airbnb has no more responsibility for this than bedandbreakfast.com, iloveinns.com or any other listing. This can happen to ANY of us at any time, we may have a credit card that has been stolen and a guest using a fake ID or fake name.
It could happen to us in the hour we are out shopping, although not to the extent as to what took place here
And I don't recommend anyone publicize whether or not they have a safe on property.

 

[seashanty]

Hundreds of rentals in and around New York City are exactly that - someone's apartment that is being used for short-term rentals. Some of them are even called B&Bs and listed by a reservation service. It's a very common practice.
That is an awful story..

Hundreds of rentals in and around New York City are exactly that - someone's apartment that is being used for short-term rentals. Some of them are even called B&Bs and listed by a reservation service. It's a very common practice.

i didn't know that.
like that movie 'the holiday' ... i thought was cute but totally unrealistic. the two women swap houses in different countries ... all is blissful, wonderful, works out perfectly. and i wonder if that can really happen?

 

[toddburme]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?

 

[Breakfast Diva]

Hundreds of rentals in and around New York City are exactly that - someone's apartment that is being used for short-term rentals. Some of them are even called B&Bs and listed by a reservation service. It's a very common practice.
That is an awful story..

Hundreds of rentals in and around New York City are exactly that - someone's apartment that is being used for short-term rentals. Some of them are even called B&Bs and listed by a reservation service. It's a very common practice.

i didn't know that.
like that movie 'the holiday' ... i thought was cute but totally unrealistic. the two women swap houses in different countries ... all is blissful, wonderful, works out perfectly. and i wonder if that can really happen?
.

I done some research on home exchanges. You join a website which costs to join and you can exchange for the same week(s), or if you have a second house/condo, you can exchange during different weeks. People seem to have very good experiences.
I was interested because we have a second home which just sits there most of the year and is furnished, but doesn't have any of our sensitive personal papers, belongings, etc. People have done this type of exchange for years, but I would still be afraid of it. On these swaps, some people even let you swap cars! Too much liability!

 

[Generic]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?

 

[Joey Camb]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?
.

not only that but you gave the thieves the keys i would bet good money they won't pay out.

 

[Alibi Ike]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?
.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?

I think she mentions a lot of that in her blog. That AirBnB, unlike Craigslist where she advertised for years, does not warn you to be wary that these are strangers. She said they 'imply' that they have done the proper research (ie- internet searches on the info given) to see if the person is legit. Her implication being that she used to do this when she advertised on Craigslist but did not here because she was only given the info once the rez was confirmed.
And it was only afterwards that she realized 'the person spelled their own name incorrectly'. (She does post the email they used.)
I feel really sorry for her in one sense...what she is living with right now is horrible. I know what it's like to come home to find you've been robbed but this is so much worse. Everything trashed, her clothing worn, things burned in her fireplace, rotting food, the bathroom (ugh), her life story stolen, her id stolen, her cc used, her trust violated and on and on. And them writing emails to her saying 'how nice' everything was.
It's awful. I'm nauseous just thinking about how she must feel.

 

[JBloggs]

Here is another article, with a very clever ANIMATON on AirBnB

 

[Generic]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?
.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?

I think she mentions a lot of that in her blog. That AirBnB, unlike Craigslist where she advertised for years, does not warn you to be wary that these are strangers. She said they 'imply' that they have done the proper research (ie- internet searches on the info given) to see if the person is legit. Her implication being that she used to do this when she advertised on Craigslist but did not here because she was only given the info once the rez was confirmed.
And it was only afterwards that she realized 'the person spelled their own name incorrectly'. (She does post the email they used.)
I feel really sorry for her in one sense...what she is living with right now is horrible. I know what it's like to come home to find you've been robbed but this is so much worse. Everything trashed, her clothing worn, things burned in her fireplace, rotting food, the bathroom (ugh), her life story stolen, her id stolen, her cc used, her trust violated and on and on. And them writing emails to her saying 'how nice' everything was.
It's awful. I'm nauseous just thinking about how she must feel.
.

I absolutely feel for her. That's why I posted the story. But the reaction of AirBnB until it went viral was horrible. And while they took no blame, the reality is that by not being proactive they are very much to blame....
As I said, how many of them have verified their insurance or are they really uninsured? Do they have personal liability insurance? Does their property insurance allow it, cover it? Can the city, county and state now have recourse? Did she declare the income on her income taxes? Collect sales taxes? What are her liabilities on these? The reality is that AirBnB is responsible to tell everyone to do the legwork and know what they need to do to be doing this 100% legally and insured.
I'll just give you an example from us, locally.... assuming that they don't make breakfast, they have two different licences to have in place (one from the city, one from the province), three different tax regimes to collect, they have to pay two different income taxes on the money and have one inspection as well as a legally required sign on the outside of the house. There are fines for all those violations... and the income tax people, they can just damn well estimate what they think you made and send you a bill for 7 years in the past and it's almost impossible to prove otherwise unless you have paperwork... and if you do, the have you on tax evasion. It's a giant horror story from every angle. So where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.

 

[Alibi Ike]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?
.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?

I think she mentions a lot of that in her blog. That AirBnB, unlike Craigslist where she advertised for years, does not warn you to be wary that these are strangers. She said they 'imply' that they have done the proper research (ie- internet searches on the info given) to see if the person is legit. Her implication being that she used to do this when she advertised on Craigslist but did not here because she was only given the info once the rez was confirmed.
And it was only afterwards that she realized 'the person spelled their own name incorrectly'. (She does post the email they used.)
I feel really sorry for her in one sense...what she is living with right now is horrible. I know what it's like to come home to find you've been robbed but this is so much worse. Everything trashed, her clothing worn, things burned in her fireplace, rotting food, the bathroom (ugh), her life story stolen, her id stolen, her cc used, her trust violated and on and on. And them writing emails to her saying 'how nice' everything was.
It's awful. I'm nauseous just thinking about how she must feel.
.

I absolutely feel for her. That's why I posted the story. But the reaction of AirBnB until it went viral was horrible. And while they took no blame, the reality is that by not being proactive they are very much to blame....
As I said, how many of them have verified their insurance or are they really uninsured? Do they have personal liability insurance? Does their property insurance allow it, cover it? Can the city, county and state now have recourse? Did she declare the income on her income taxes? Collect sales taxes? What are her liabilities on these? The reality is that AirBnB is responsible to tell everyone to do the legwork and know what they need to do to be doing this 100% legally and insured.
I'll just give you an example from us, locally.... assuming that they don't make breakfast, they have two different licences to have in place (one from the city, one from the province), three different tax regimes to collect, they have to pay two different income taxes on the money and have one inspection as well as a legally required sign on the outside of the house. There are fines for all those violations... and the income tax people, they can just damn well estimate what they think you made and send you a bill for 7 years in the past and it's almost impossible to prove otherwise unless you have paperwork... and if you do, the have you on tax evasion. It's a giant horror story from every angle. So where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.
.

where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.

I haven't looked over the site but if they make it sound like they are vetting the renters and the owners then that's wrong.
As far as the owners are concerned, the taxes (sales, income, bed) are between them and their gov't. The insurance is something they should look into on their own, UNLESS AirBnB has made it sound like everything is covered.
Even the renters should be insured against theft and bodily harm.
For a company 'this close' to going public, there were enough eyes on them to have brought to light any glaring issues (probably wrong about that). That this is the only incident is unlikely. Maybe other people weren't hit as hard and thought, 'Well, my own stupidity brought this on,' and just went on their way but never rented or stayed again.
Hers was just such a glaring example of what could go wrong and she is such an excellent storyteller that it makes great copy.

 

[seashanty]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?
.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?

I think she mentions a lot of that in her blog. That AirBnB, unlike Craigslist where she advertised for years, does not warn you to be wary that these are strangers. She said they 'imply' that they have done the proper research (ie- internet searches on the info given) to see if the person is legit. Her implication being that she used to do this when she advertised on Craigslist but did not here because she was only given the info once the rez was confirmed.
And it was only afterwards that she realized 'the person spelled their own name incorrectly'. (She does post the email they used.)
I feel really sorry for her in one sense...what she is living with right now is horrible. I know what it's like to come home to find you've been robbed but this is so much worse. Everything trashed, her clothing worn, things burned in her fireplace, rotting food, the bathroom (ugh), her life story stolen, her id stolen, her cc used, her trust violated and on and on. And them writing emails to her saying 'how nice' everything was.
It's awful. I'm nauseous just thinking about how she must feel.
.

I absolutely feel for her. That's why I posted the story. But the reaction of AirBnB until it went viral was horrible. And while they took no blame, the reality is that by not being proactive they are very much to blame....
As I said, how many of them have verified their insurance or are they really uninsured? Do they have personal liability insurance? Does their property insurance allow it, cover it? Can the city, county and state now have recourse? Did she declare the income on her income taxes? Collect sales taxes? What are her liabilities on these? The reality is that AirBnB is responsible to tell everyone to do the legwork and know what they need to do to be doing this 100% legally and insured.
I'll just give you an example from us, locally.... assuming that they don't make breakfast, they have two different licences to have in place (one from the city, one from the province), three different tax regimes to collect, they have to pay two different income taxes on the money and have one inspection as well as a legally required sign on the outside of the house. There are fines for all those violations... and the income tax people, they can just damn well estimate what they think you made and send you a bill for 7 years in the past and it's almost impossible to prove otherwise unless you have paperwork... and if you do, the have you on tax evasion. It's a giant horror story from every angle. So where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.
.

where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.

I haven't looked over the site but if they make it sound like they are vetting the renters and the owners then that's wrong.
As far as the owners are concerned, the taxes (sales, income, bed) are between them and their gov't. The insurance is something they should look into on their own, UNLESS AirBnB has made it sound like everything is covered.
Even the renters should be insured against theft and bodily harm.
For a company 'this close' to going public, there were enough eyes on them to have brought to light any glaring issues (probably wrong about that). That this is the only incident is unlikely. Maybe other people weren't hit as hard and thought, 'Well, my own stupidity brought this on,' and just went on their way but never rented or stayed again.
Hers was just such a glaring example of what could go wrong and she is such an excellent storyteller that it makes great copy.
.

not to encourage paranoia ... but we've touched on the idea of the longer term rentals and i mentioned those i know who own vacation homes that rent them out. wisest thing is to say 'housekeeping COMES WITH price of your rental and is not optional' and every other day housekeeping shows up to get the trash out ... give fresh towels, make beds ... AND to check on the property for the owner. this is so important.
just like in your own b&b's ... you understand folk want privacy, etc. but you reserve the right to go into the room just to check all is well. how many times has one of us discovered damage of some kind, wet towels left on furniture, candles burning, a/c or heat on max with windows open, etc.? and what would have happened it you had not checked. worst things i found were an overflowing toilet just slowly and happily flooding the bathroom. also a curling iron on the highest setting sitting on a wooden window sill. and water stains from where they had removed the glass topper from a table and set it aside and then left glasses and beer bottles on the wood table.
the identity theft in addition is just sickening especially with the bogus emails to the woman. awful!

 

[Joey Camb]

I have done this with my house in Rio. A few things were broken but overall it went ok. We found the bigger headache was packing and unpacking our stuff so we probably won't do it again.
She is the victim of a crime which is a bummer but is airbnb to blame?.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?
.

When you book with AirBnB, who takes the credit card info? What does the client get? Do they require them to have household insurance, business insurance, fire insurance?
Is AirBnB warning you that you may be personally liable and that your insurance may not pay because you are running an undeclared (and potentially) illegal business in your home?

I think she mentions a lot of that in her blog. That AirBnB, unlike Craigslist where she advertised for years, does not warn you to be wary that these are strangers. She said they 'imply' that they have done the proper research (ie- internet searches on the info given) to see if the person is legit. Her implication being that she used to do this when she advertised on Craigslist but did not here because she was only given the info once the rez was confirmed.
And it was only afterwards that she realized 'the person spelled their own name incorrectly'. (She does post the email they used.)
I feel really sorry for her in one sense...what she is living with right now is horrible. I know what it's like to come home to find you've been robbed but this is so much worse. Everything trashed, her clothing worn, things burned in her fireplace, rotting food, the bathroom (ugh), her life story stolen, her id stolen, her cc used, her trust violated and on and on. And them writing emails to her saying 'how nice' everything was.
It's awful. I'm nauseous just thinking about how she must feel.
.

I absolutely feel for her. That's why I posted the story. But the reaction of AirBnB until it went viral was horrible. And while they took no blame, the reality is that by not being proactive they are very much to blame....
As I said, how many of them have verified their insurance or are they really uninsured? Do they have personal liability insurance? Does their property insurance allow it, cover it? Can the city, county and state now have recourse? Did she declare the income on her income taxes? Collect sales taxes? What are her liabilities on these? The reality is that AirBnB is responsible to tell everyone to do the legwork and know what they need to do to be doing this 100% legally and insured.
I'll just give you an example from us, locally.... assuming that they don't make breakfast, they have two different licences to have in place (one from the city, one from the province), three different tax regimes to collect, they have to pay two different income taxes on the money and have one inspection as well as a legally required sign on the outside of the house. There are fines for all those violations... and the income tax people, they can just damn well estimate what they think you made and send you a bill for 7 years in the past and it's almost impossible to prove otherwise unless you have paperwork... and if you do, the have you on tax evasion. It's a giant horror story from every angle. So where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.
.

where does AirBnB stand with this? Because somewhere along the line they should be telling people to do their due diligence and if not, they should be responsible for not telling them to do due dilegence.

I haven't looked over the site but if they make it sound like they are vetting the renters and the owners then that's wrong.
As far as the owners are concerned, the taxes (sales, income, bed) are between them and their gov't. The insurance is something they should look into on their own, UNLESS AirBnB has made it sound like everything is covered.
Even the renters should be insured against theft and bodily harm.
For a company 'this close' to going public, there were enough eyes on them to have brought to light any glaring issues (probably wrong about that). That this is the only incident is unlikely. Maybe other people weren't hit as hard and thought, 'Well, my own stupidity brought this on,' and just went on their way but never rented or stayed again.
Hers was just such a glaring example of what could go wrong and she is such an excellent storyteller that it makes great copy.
.

not to encourage paranoia ... but we've touched on the idea of the longer term rentals and i mentioned those i know who own vacation homes that rent them out. wisest thing is to say 'housekeeping COMES WITH price of your rental and is not optional' and every other day housekeeping shows up to get the trash out ... give fresh towels, make beds ... AND to check on the property for the owner. this is so important.
just like in your own b&b's ... you understand folk want privacy, etc. but you reserve the right to go into the room just to check all is well. how many times has one of us discovered damage of some kind, wet towels left on furniture, candles burning, a/c or heat on max with windows open, etc.? and what would have happened it you had not checked. worst things i found were an overflowing toilet just slowly and happily flooding the bathroom. also a curling iron on the highest setting sitting on a wooden window sill. and water stains from where they had removed the glass topper from a table and set it aside and then left glasses and beer bottles on the wood table.
the identity theft in addition is just sickening especially with the bogus emails to the woman. awful!
.

we had a family in from Brazil and were always in the room in the afternoon having a sleep so we didn't want to disturb them went to do the room when they left wrappers and food every where takeaway boxes all over stacked on top of the wardrobe. who lives like this? I would have at least asked for a rubbish sack!

 

[Generic]

Here is a follow-up article... goo.gl/g5406 where basically AirBnB comes out looking like