“Today, I [Screwed Up] Using Airbnb: Guy shares horrible experience with Airbnb and sparks discussion

As convenient as Airbnb can be, it’s far, far of perfect. Sometimes it’s not just a difference in the quality you think you’re getting and what you actually receive – it’s a abyss. And some Airbnb hosts are very dodgy in the way they do things. The result? Angry customers and ruined vacations.

Redditor u/lightfighter06 shared the terrible experience they recently booked a room with Airbnb while visiting Kona, Hawaii with their wife. In a very bizarre twist, it turned out that the accommodations had been double booked.

Scroll down for the full story, plus the horrible Airbnb experiences other editors shared in the thread. Has something similar ever happened to you on your vacation, dear Pandas? What was your worst Airbnb stay? When you are done reading, skip to the comments section.

A couple had booked a room in Kona, Hawaii, but were completely shocked to find someone else already living there

Picture credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)

Here is their story about a vacation that went very, very badly

Picture credits: Cameron Yartz (not the actual photo)

Picture credits: lightfighter06

Many members of the r/tifu subreddit, where the OP shared the story, had a lot of sympathy for the couple. Instead of a comfortable stay in the room they had booked, they had to sleep in their rental car in the parking lot of a fucking Walmart. And while it’s not the end of the world, that’s not how you want to spend your mini-vacation either, is it?

At the end of the day, what really hurt was that the host was incredibly sleazy and didn’t have much remorse for booking the double room. Seriously, how is that an excuse that “half the people don’t show up”? If you made a real mistake booking the duplicate (questionable) accommodations, the least you can do is inform other renters of the error and apologize. This situation really does not look good on Airbnb, nor on the hosts who use the platform.

The author of the message was not satisfied with the service provided by the Airbnb help desk. It’s easy to see why. Seriously, who asks the customer if they want to cancel the reservation when the reservation itself was taken by a complete stranger? The couple got their money back, along with $60 in credit. However, they had no place to stay, as all the hotels in the area were full.

bored panda wrote about some of the horrible experiences Airbnb guests have had have had time and once again. Many of the issues come down to the fact that travelers have to deal with greedy hosts who prioritize earning as much money as possible, as quickly as possible, over providing an adequate living experience.

Airbnb listings are actually causing a lot of harm to people in many cities around the world. Being a host is very lucrative, so owners naturally want to jump on the bandwagon. They end up making a lot more money with short-term rent with services like Airbnb than going the traditional long-term route. As such, many locals feel a real shortage of houses and apartments to rent.

But it’s not like everyone takes it lying down. Cities like New York, Boston, Santa Monica and others, actively fight back against short-term leases using the law.

“We see commercial and predatory companies trying to commercialize our residential communities in a way that harms our citizens and residents and our quality of life. It’s predatory,” Miami Beach Mayor Dan Gelber said. told CNBC back in 2018.

However, this is still not a foolproof method. Some hosts are still trying to capitalize on short-term gains by doing things illegally. Many renters and travelers don’t even know there is something wrong. Others, however, are invited to pretend to be the host’s friends or family members, coming to visit.

Here’s how people reacted to the viral post. They were very sympathetic towards the couple

Some Internet users have also shared their bad experiences with Airbnb