Airbnb/Lifestyle/Life Lesson

The Ugly Side Of Airbnb

The company’s elite trust and safety team are always on the ground to cover up any mishaps before it gets to the press.

You might think you are saving money by renting Airbnb instead of a proper hotel, well you are far from right. Airbnb is NOT as always safe as you think. You may wonder why you have not read any of the ‘baddies’ about Airbnb. Well, it is because all the ‘baddies’ are being covered up quickly enough before it gets to the press and be reported. Victims are also paid huge sums of hush money and made to enter into NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement) to keep them shut up forever.

Spending Time In A Totally Stranger’s Home Is Never A safe Idea

When you look into the Airbnb business model, you might shrink into moving in with a total stranger for a fee, which is supposedly a lot less than checking in to a hotel. You don’t know how many people have had the key to the house, or the type of a person your host is. You see, all it takes is for you to list your property (owned or rented) to be qualified. There is no check on the type of person you are, rapist, murderer, or whatever.

Although the Airbnb prospectus, says

‘’For hosts and guests based in the US, it conducts “online background checks” including criminal and public records. In some instances, we re-run these checks periodically thereafter,” We also conduct host background checks in India prior to the first transaction. We check all of our hosts and guests against certain regulatory, terrorist, and sanctions watchlists to increase safety for all parties.”

And because there are bad people out there, really bad ones do take undue advantage of the business model to commit the worst atrocities known to man.

I understand this fear was expressed initially by Chris Sacca, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist who was invited to invest. And he backed out because he thought this is risky for any human. The other two investors ( Joe Gebbia & Nate Blecharczyk) went ahead, as they were prepared to do something about any mishap that may happen.

Airbnb Safety Team

Airbnb Safety Team is operative in every country where Airbnb also operates. The job of about one hundred officers and agents is to move in quickly to quench and resolve any issues regarding the safety of its customers.

Airbnb reportedly paid an Australian tourist visiting New York City in 2015 $7m to keep quiet said Bloomberg News. This lady picked up the key to the apartment in a shop close by. Unknown to her, her attacker (a twenty-four-year-old Junior Lee) has already made a copy of the key, got into the flat, and hid inside, waiting for her. The bottom line was that she was sexually assaulted.

Junior Lee pleaded NOT guilty, and his lawyer refused to answer any questions from the reporters. Airbnb safety team contacted the police and the victim and pays hush money to keep her silent. According to the legal agreement made with the woman, Airbnb spokesperson, Ben Breit informed the New York Post,

“In sexual assault cases, in the settlements we’ve reached, survivors can speak freely about their experiences. This includes the NYC case.”

They can freely speak about their experience without mentioning Airbnb, and charge the host as well as the victim separately, because, accordingly the state will take the case up, naturally.

A Call For Nationwide Registration For Short-Term Hosts

Airbnb now wants to involve local authorities in the registration of short-term house owners. This is for hosts to get a form of a license from the government. This I believe is to shift the responsibility of checks to the local governments. This can be good in the long run, as government and its agencies have more power and tools to do this more thoroughly than any private organization.

Airbnb has also over-hauled its rule on key-keeping. Hosts are expected to use keypad locks and are not allowed to change the code between bookings. They also offer huge discounts to hosts interested in smart locks and noise detectors.

Three True Life Cases Handled By The Safety Team

1. The host found the guest naked in bed with her seven-year-old daughter.

2. A Florida woman, Carla Stefaniak was murdered by the security guard at the Airbnb apartment she was renting in Costa Rica. Her dismembered body was found in a plastic bag about 200 yards away. She suffered a blunt object to the head with several stab wounds. The security guard was sentenced to 16 years in prison for murder. However, Carla Stefaniak’s family was settled for an undisclosed sum.

3. Five people were shot dead at an Airbnb property Halloween party in Orinda, Florida. Airbnb agreed to pay for the funeral of the victims.

The Takeaways

Airbnb is more interested in protecting its image, for long-term gain and survival. What is there for the customer who wants to save money by avoiding hotels in this sort of circumstance?

The appointment of a Safety Team of about one hundred officers spread over various countries with unlimited budgets tells us that. The safety team arranged for flights and hotel accommodation, as well as investigating the incident. The only issue here is that the Safety Team only comes in when the damage has been done, not before.

The Safety Team is made up of mostly ex-servicemen who had experience in emergencies. To date, they have covered several sexual assaults, murders, burglary, and some of the worst crimes known to man, (one host found a dismembered body inside her bedroom) inside the walls of the rented property.

According to Bloomberg News, which interviewed some of the ‘’secretive safety team, Airbnb spends an estimated fifty million dollars annually to keep mishaps out of the press.

Members of the safety team are highly stressed with some suffering serious depression because of the cases handled.

So next time you want to book an Airbnb accommodation, think first about your safety before wanting to save a few pennies.