5 Seniors Evicted From Airbnb At Midnight Before Family Funeral After Refusing $5,000 Extortion
Airbnb can be a risk. There are too many scams on the platform, and the company has a history of not standing behind guests that find themselves stranded without a place to stay – or hosts whose properties are poorly treated.
But the platform that connects people who want to rent their real estate, and guests looking for a place to stay (at a hefty fee to both parties), has a real place.
- Destinations without good hotel options. I’ve used them on the Texas Gulf Coast, Martha’s Vineyard, and parts of Australia’s Gold Coast for instance.
- Larger accommodations, where multiple families or large families might want to stay together and over longer periods of time with residential-style amenities.
Sure, cleaning fees that still leave you with a chore list of cleaning to do before departure gets most of the bad press. But here’s a shocking case where guests were really at the mercy of a property owner that treated them badly – with Airbnb nowhere to be found.
I’ve been on @Airbnb for a long time. Some of my good friends were early employees. Last week, during a funeral for my uncle, my family had to endure a disgraceful, deeply traumatic, discriminatory experience at an @Airbnb and thus far no one has made it right.🧵 1/x
— Joseph M. Azam (@josephazam) June 27, 2023
A senior citizen – an Airbnb Superhost himself – booked a house for 8 siblings to stay in for their brother’s funeral. A total of 5 of them actually stayed at the property. Over the course of the week several people came over to pay condolences and care for the family.
Properties may have maximum guest numbers to comply with local ordinances, or additional charges for larger number of guests to discourage parties and damage. Though only 5 people spent the night at the property,
- The Airbnb host watched them on camera and saw visitors come over
- Then demanded they pay $5,000 additional dollars as though more people than registered were staying
- And threatened to kick them out if the refused
On the third day, my dad received a call from the host claiming that the group — still at the original 5 — was violating the capacity agreement of the house. The host demanded that they pay for the maximum number of 16 guests — an additional $5,000.00 — or face being evicted. 6/x
— Joseph M. Azam (@josephazam) June 27, 2023
Airbnb contacted the 70 year old man to demand the additional payment. The host claimed the seniors “caused community disturbance.” Before the funeral they were evicted “at midnight, with their suitcases, grocery bags & nowhere to go.” At 2 a.m. before the funeral, with the help of family members, they found a budget hotel to move to. The guest was blocked from the platform as a host, so that he couldn’t manage his rental properties either.
The homesharing platform became responsive – only after the man’s son, a lawyer, had his tweets about the incident go viral.
UPDATE: @Airbnb has reached out. Grateful that their leadership team spotted this and is now partnering with us in resolving. We appreciate that. It’s important to acknowledge when companies respond earnestly. Hoping it’s a learning experience and a chance to improve.
— Joseph M. Azam (@josephazam) June 28, 2023
To be sure, outlier events happen in hotels, you’re never fully protected anywhere you go. But there’s a company to go after when staying with a chain, and if nothing else tort liability helps align incentives. To date that hasn’t seemed to be the case with Airbnb.