When you meet an airbnb-host from Hell

Most of the time our airbnb hosts were wonderful - like here, when we were offered local vine and a swim in the pool.

We’ve been airbnb’ing through eleven European countries this summer.

And it’s been wonderful.

With one exception, when we met a very unfriendly host, who still gives me nightmares.

I do not like being in conflict with other human beings. I do not like to be treated unfair. I try to do my best, at least most of the time. I try to listen, be friendly, and interested. I also love to leave a place in good order, almost like we haven’t been there.

I carefully read the rules and regulations at the places we stay at. I want to be a good guest. 

And now I’ve learned a lesson: It’s imperative that I read some of the reviews former clients have given to a certain host. In that way it might be possible to find the thorns among the roses, and avoid them.

So this is my story, about the host from hell.

First of all, she (let's call her N) seemed friendly. At the beginning N used friendly words, like trying to show that she was helpful. Already while being there, at her place, we realized that the friendliness and helpfulness was fake. When I think of her, it’s like I see the face of a snake, trying to lure its victim into its embrace. And this, playing out being ”kind”, could be an effective weapon. When you lie, and smile at the same time, it’s easy to be fooled by the appearance. At least for someone like me.

We, my husband and I, were heading towards Nice, where we would meet some dear friends. I had found a place with air conditioning (an absolute necessity since it was around 33 degrees Celsius), near our friend’s house. Our conversation with the host had been minimal, and when I asked where I could park the car, there was no response. That wasn’t a good sign.

N had sent information about how to get into the house. There was a huge gate and a key box outside the gate, and  I got the code. To be able to open it, I almost needed three hands, since it was a bit complicated. 

As I stood there, trying to open the key box, a man from Southern Europe approached and asked: ”Are you staying here tonight, so are we, but we haven’t got any messages from the host about how to enter. We are talking directly to airbnb in this moment.”

This little incident of course added to a sense of insecurity.

I found our room, it looked like in the pictures. We saw the air con machine in the corner of the room. It looked ”dead”. In another room we found the remote control. It said 22 degrees (meaning that it seemed like the batteries actually worked)  - but absolutely nothing happened as we pressed the buttons.

I sent a message to N. She came with new batteries. Nothing happened. We said: It seems like the air con doesn’t work. She said ”thats because of the batteries”. ”But, it doesn’t work with the new ones”. Then she said she would buy another set of batteries.

We looked at each other, starting to have the creepy feeling that she was lying to us, pretending that the machine worked, talking about batteries, instead of fixing the real thing - like checking if the electrical fuse for the air con worked.

It was one of the hottest nights this summer.

The dead airconditioning

Since we had no alternatives, we decided to go to have dinner with our friends.

The host demanded that we put the key in the key box outside the gate at all times. It seemed like there was ONE key, even if she had two separate guests. Next morning we learned what that meant.

 When we came back at 22.30 there was a new set of batteries lying on the floor outside our room. Of course we tried them, even if we ”knew” it wouldn’t work. It didn’t. Now we were certain that she had lied. We looked at a ”dead” air conditioning machine, since it had no power.

We lay under a thin blanket, trying to fall asleep. It was impossible. It felt like something was in our bed, under the sheets. It was itching a lot, and we tried to trace bugs in the bed. They were hard to see, but easy to feel. My husband succeeded eventually in catching one of the bugs. He took a photograph, and then using ”Google lens” (a service where google lens tells whats in the photo) and it said ”probably bed bugs”. 

We looked at each other in despair. Should we try to find somewhere else in the middle of the night, to at least get some sleep? We didn’t, instead we tried to protect ourselves against the bugs.

To get rid of some of the heat, and the feeling of being invaded by bugs,  and not spending the night itching the bug bites, we each took a shower in the middle of the night. And then we took all the linen out of the bed, shaking it well, and then we put three layers of linen underneath us, us lying naked on top. We hoped the bugs wouldn’t have the strength to go through several layers of fabric. By three in the morning we finally fell asleep.

During the hours I couldn’t sleep I started to read the reviews about N. I saw that when someone was criticizing her, she made comments and said things like:   ”these guests are liars”. It went on and on, and made me feel dizzy and helpless.

In the morning, my husband wanted to fetch something in our car, standing outside the house and obviously outside  the gate. When he tried to open the gate it was locked. He took a chair, and tried to climb over the gate, to reach the key box, turned to me and said:

We are locked in!

So there was this host, locking in her guests in her garden. What would have happened if an emergency would occur?

In that moment N came out, using a high pitched voice saying: ”I will open the gate. You are too early”.

We found a little table with two chairs outside the house. The host screamed:

”You are not allowed to sit here, it’s for other guests. You are disturbing them”.

The area she offered us to sit at. We declined.

I didn’t see the other guests, didn’t hear them complaining about us sitting there… 

She became more and more rude. We said the air conditioning didn’t work. And she replied, that it wasn’t a service really, it was something she offered, because she is so kind. I showed her her own airbnb-ad and said that she was lying. (Which is true).

I also said that there had been bugs in the bed.

She screamed:

- You are lying, you have to prove what you said.

It was like I was suddenly in a court of justice, needing to have hard evidence to prove my case.

My husband  showed her the ”corpse” of the bug, he caught at night and she:

”This is just dust”, it doesn’t prove anything. You are liars”.

I said that I was disappointed, and she screamed that she was disappointed with us, and what ever I said she contradicted me, trying to make me to be the bad person. Then we left. We sat outside her gate having our breakfast. And I was totally shaken.

I waited a few days writing my review about this stay. I hesitated because the behavior of this woman scared me. I ”knew” that if I would write about my experience, N would say that I am a liar, and that she would also take revenge, writing something mean about us.

And I also guessed that she would be cunning in this sense: Waiting for my review, to then fire her arms at me. Which also happened.

When I eventually wrote my review, this was actually one of the things that happened, but she was also even more cunning. She reported my review and told airbnb to delete it, since I ”didn’t have any proof” of my ”accusations”. 

In the meantime - between staying at her place and writing my review -  I had tried to connect to airbnbs service desk, to report this hostile host, but didn’t get any response.

Suddenly I got a message from airbnb saying that my review was deleted, since it was false. 

It felt like shit. It felt like this host had the ability to convince people that she is good, using a nice tone to the staff at airbnb, and I felt sad and angry that they believed her.

Strange enough, almost at the same time, I got another message from another person at airbnb, wanting me to give my version of the events. And I told her this story, in a much more condensed form. And she said: We let your review stay, the other person at our office made a mistake.

Lesson learned:

• Use hosts with good reviews.
• Read some of the reviews.
• If the host doesn’t communicate clearly, be aware.

I wanted to tell this story like a little warning. Choose hosts that feels likeable, who seems to love meeting strangers - you might have amazing meetings. We had. Except this time.

Charlotte Cronquist is a warrior of love

Love is the answer