One of the most exciting aspects of going on vacation is having no idea what kinds of memories you’ll make. Will the best part of the trip be the delicious pastries you enjoy every morning for breakfast or the unexpected conversations you have with locals at a dive bar? Only time will tell!
#1
Stayed in an airbnb recently that was pretty insane. It was a shared space with several other people in it, but I had my own private room and small living room with a mini fridge and counter. I stayed in room and barely came out since covid-19 quarantine measures had just started to be enacted. Pretty soon after getting there I started having shortness of breath and vertigo. I started finding drawings in a sketchbook I had that I had no memory of drawing. I didnt speak to anyone for days and started getting really paranoid that someone was going to try to come into my room while I slept. After about a week there I thought I had already died and everything I was seeing was a hallucination to get my mind ready for death. I lived with that and other weird thoughts for another week till I read something on reddit about carbon monoxide poisoning. Called the gas company and turns out, sure enough there was a natural gas leak in my room. Lucky to be alive. Took weeks to get the host and airbnb to even compensate me for my stay.
113points
#2
I got to an airbnb in bumf*ck nowhere somewhere Kansas, at about midnight. The airbnb was 12 dollars for a night. The property was a quaint little house on some farmland, and I had passed the nearest house about a half a mile down the road. The host was already asleep when I got there so I let myself in and made my way to the couch where I was supposed to sleep. It was eerily quiet and pitch black outside, and I was already nervous so I couldn’t get to sleep. The living room was decorated with all kinds of random artifacts and treasures, I was looking around and taking everything in. There were cool rocks and souvenirs, but most curiously there were weird religious objects and books with cultish symbolism. I googled a word I saw on a tapestry, which turned out to be the name of the religion the host followed. The religion revolves around UFO’s, the ‘bible’ they follow is basically just a categorization of hundreds of types of space ships. I was a bit on edge after reading that, but after MUCH research, I concluded that it wasn’t a m**derous death cult, just super weird. I also nosily read through a journal that was just sitting on a coffee table, where the host had written things about her travels. One entry was about how she traveled to Peru and saw a space ship, she wrote about how she’d never seen one that close before. It was all very strange, but I eventually got to sleep regardless. When I woke up in the morning, the host made me coffee and unprompted, began telling me about her religion, among other conspiracies, like the government being able to control tornados. She was very kind and not overbearing, just eager to tell someone her truth. We talked for an hour or so before I got back on the road, and she sent me away with a bunch of stuff to research and an airbnb magazine. Best airbnb i’ve stayed at. Close second would be the gay nudist hostel in memphis.
71points
#3
My fiance and I were staying at an AirBnB in Helsinki to visit family. When we got there and got settled, we were chatting about things we thought were missing in the apartment, specifically I remember saying I wished there was another towel hook in the bathroom (there was only 1 and obviously 2 towels being used). The next day we went out and were out pretty much all day, and when we got back that night there was another towel hook in the bathroom...
52points
To learn more about why some travelers aren't fans of Airbnb anymore, we reached out to Kashlee Kucheran, CEO and Founder of Travel Off Path. Kashlee was kind enough to have a chat with Bored Panda and detail exactly why she won't use Airbnb today.
"I have used AirBnB in the past, especially when it was the new kid on the block. In the beginning, it was so unique to be able to stay in someone’s actual home, a breath of fresh air in the accommodation industry, but that didn’t last long," the travel expert shared.
#4
Finally, something I can comment about!
This winter my boyfriend and I (21/20) booked a trip exploring Asheville NC and the blue ridge mountains. I booked this "secluded riverfront cabin in the mountains" that looked great with a bunch of reviews. As we're getting closer to arriving, it's apparent that we aren't in the woods, we surrounded by extremely dilapidated trailers. Like the whole sides are ripped off and boarded up, trash everywhere etc. The cabin itself was cute but weird vibes. Then we hear someone messing with the pin pad to get in the front door, we run to hold the door shut but nothing happens. Later the next night we hear it again, very distinctly and again hold the door shut, hear the screen door shut, nothing happens. Mind you, we're in the middle of nowhere so no service. So we decide to go to bed, now the bedroom has a sliding glass door to the back deck. As we're both laying there, awake and uneasy, we hear *tugging* at the sliding door. I immediately take the L on the two other nights we have and say we're leaving, now. So we quickly pack all our things, make a plan on how to get to the car/what to do if someone's out there and beeline for the car and get tf out of there. We ended up driving 3 hours to Atlanta at like 3am to sleep at my boyfriend's dad house. I got chills recalling this.
This winter my boyfriend and I (21/20) booked a trip exploring Asheville NC and the blue ridge mountains. I booked this "secluded riverfront cabin in the mountains" that looked great with a bunch of reviews. As we're getting closer to arriving, it's apparent that we aren't in the woods, we surrounded by extremely dilapidated trailers. Like the whole sides are ripped off and boarded up, trash everywhere etc. The cabin itself was cute but weird vibes. Then we hear someone messing with the pin pad to get in the front door, we run to hold the door shut but nothing happens. Later the next night we hear it again, very distinctly and again hold the door shut, hear the screen door shut, nothing happens. Mind you, we're in the middle of nowhere so no service. So we decide to go to bed, now the bedroom has a sliding glass door to the back deck. As we're both laying there, awake and uneasy, we hear *tugging* at the sliding door. I immediately take the L on the two other nights we have and say we're leaving, now. So we quickly pack all our things, make a plan on how to get to the car/what to do if someone's out there and beeline for the car and get tf out of there. We ended up driving 3 hours to Atlanta at like 3am to sleep at my boyfriend's dad house. I got chills recalling this.
42points
#5
Stayed at one in Rome. The door had 5 deadbolt locks on it. The windows were barred. Found out why. Randomly though the day people would try to open the door and look through the windows.
Multiple times we would turn around and see people peeking though cracks between the curtains.
We weren't even there a lot. Usually a quick meal or drop stuff off then back out to see the sites. Really nice place though
42points
"Now, instead of renting someone’s apartment for a few days, you are just inside a huge rental companies property that has been thrown together with scotch tape, sparsely decorated, and hardly maintained," Kashlee says.
"For me, it’s the worst case scenario. I’m paying money to stay in something that has been given the bare minimum effort, yet charged similarly to hotels, without the service or amenities of hotels," she explained. "Why would anyone want to do that?"
#6
Not sure if it's "creepy", exactly, but it was definitely off-putting.
A few years ago, some friends and I rented an AirBnB flat in London for a convention. We'd been corresponding with the owner, who had told us that she would meet us in front of the building to give us the keys and show us around. We messaged her when we got to London, and got a message back confirming the building address and flat number, and telling us the keys were in a lock-box on the front of the building. Weird, but fine.
When we got to the building, there was no lock-box, so we messaged her again. Got a message back saying something like "oops, wrong flat, on my way". (Which was weird considering she'd confirmed the address in the same message?) We waited 30 minutes and then messaged her again, asking how much longer she'd be. It was around 10pm and raining, and we were all tired. She messaged back about 10 minutes later that she was sending someone else, and to wait inside the building. Which we couldn't, because the door was only accessible by key/buzzer.
At around 11pm, a car pulled up with a guy in it, who yelled out the window "keys?". One of my friends went over and the guy just handed him a set of keys, with a tag on it that said the flat number we'd been told. He didn't ask our names, or for ID or even identify himself, just handed over the keys and drove off. It was at this point that my other friend suggested we should just bite the bullet and go see if we could get a hotel room, because this was kinda sketchy, but as we were all so tired, we decided to just see if we could get into the flat, and if it was the one in the pictures, we'd stay at least that night. It was (it was super nice, actually!), so we stayed.
We messaged the owner a few times during our stay, but didn't get a response until the night we were due to leave, when we just got told to leave the keys on the kitchen table and pull the door shut behind us. No reply to any of our questions about anything else. Weird experience.
33points
#7
I'm not sure if this applies,we ALMOST got the room but bailed out quickly.So,here's my story: My parents and I were on vacation,and we were searching for a place to stay (yes,I am aware it was dumb of us not to make a reservation beforehand) as soon as we got out of the bus. It's normal for people renting rooms there to approach you and ask you if you'd like to rent a room,and soon enough we were approached by this bald guy.That's the only thing I remember about him, the fact that he was bald.And shady.I didn't have a good feeling about him,even though I was only a kid. So he comes towards us,and starts talking to my already exhausted dad(who probably wasn't thinking straight at the time) and tells him he has a nice apartment nearby. We agree to go. My dad is carrying our stuff, and walking parallel with the guy,and my mom and I are walking behind them. We enter this neighborhood and we pass a café. The waiter,a young guy of I'd presume 16-17,comes near my mom and I and quietly tells us not to go with the bald guy,because he's up to no good. At this point I was scared sh*tless,and my mom was worried,but we decided to check the place out anyway. We arrived at the apartment and there were a LOT of stairs. When we finally went into the room,it was all stuffy and clustered and dark,bunker-style.I remember the furniture being colourful but unsettling. He asked us what we thought and my mom and I started protesting about it,saying we'd like to check out another place. He started getting weirdly desperate,telling us we wouldn't find a place cheaper, that he had other rooms,we should think about it etc. His demeanor instantly changed from calm to frustrated and almost angry. My dad finally told him we wouldn't stay there and we booked it out quickly. When we passed the café again, the waiter said that the guy had criminal ties. We got another apartment,thankfully which was pretty nice for a 10 day vacation,but God,the claustrophobia and anxiety that overcame me when we stepped into that room is still real,years later. I can't help but wonder if something happened there.
29points
As far as why Airbnb appeals to so many travelers, Kashlee says there are a variety of reasons. "Many people still believe they are staying at a local's home, usually to their surprising disappointment once they arrive," she noted.
"Some visitors feel they are injecting their tourism dollars back into the pockets of locals instead of large hoteliers, but now that’s not the case, with most properties being owned by chain hospitality groups," Kashlee says.
"[And] of course, many tourists want the extra space, or even a full working kitchen, which I agree is most definitely harder to come by affordably in a standard hotel," she added.
#8
I was travelling solo in Prague, and i loved my AirBNB apartment. It was the only time ive used them. As i was going into the apartment, this old czech guy starts yelling at me in czech, i say sorry i dont speak czech, and i go up the stairs. He follows me but heads up another flight. I didn't go into the apartment until he was out of sight. 10 mins later the doorbell rings, and i look out the peephole and it's the guy. I obviously dont open the door but my heart was beating so hard. He leaves after a few minutes. I talked to the host about it and he came over right away to calm me down and assure me. He was great. The guy never showed up again.
28points
#9
Had a week long trip to Iceland. Our last night of the trip was just before a 6am flight, so I booked a cheap spare bedroom through Airbnb, close to the airport in Keflavik. I was honestly considering pulling an all-nighter at the airport instead, and in retrospect I wish I had. I probably would have gotten more sleep.
We checked in with the Airbnb owner's 9 to 12 year old son (I'm terrible at guessing age) who didn't really speak English (even though the owner knew what time we would be arriving). The place was a mess, we really felt like we were invading someone's home, but we had a bed and a bathroom and that's all we needed for one night...
The horrible part was overnight: I admit this is partly my fault as I forgot to put the lock on our bedroom door. I happened to wake up overnight to see the owner's son standing at the foot of the bed just staring. I asked him what he was doing and he just turned around and walked away. I woke up my boyfriend who was still asleep, but he didn't really register what I was saying and just went back to sleep. I then locked the door, went back to bed, but didn't get a wink of sleep the rest of the evening.
I let the owner know what happened after we got home, but he didn't really do anything or offer any explanation. 0/10 would not recommend at all...
27points
Kashlee shared that her favorite alternative to Airbnb is just sticking to an old, classic hotel. "Hotels are listening to the demands of tourists and have started offering things like longer stay discounts, kitchenettes, better wifi, and more roomy suites," the travel expert told Bored Panda. "Hotels, especially if they are historic, have some of the best addresses in the world. Why try and change a perfect model?"
#10
I messaged the host asking for towels. She told me they were under the bed in a drawer. They were in the second drawer that I opened. The first drawer was stuffed full of sex toys and bondage supplies. To each their own, that's her sexual expression. But you gotta put that somewhere else when you have guests staying over. I shouldn't have been surprised since she had about 30 framed photos on the wall in the tiny studio apartment. Photos of herself from various pole dancing competitions and boudoir shoots.
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26points
#11
A last minute long weekend to Montreal, my first trip to this incredible international city that is affordable and close for people up north in the US. My card was hacked during booking. I arrive and the address doesn't seem to exist. It was just northeast of mile end, I forget exactly where, but it was right near a freeway that split the road in two. Google maps showed the air bnb to be right where the highway was that divided the street. I almost gave up as scammed and returned home. On one last loop I found the address, tucked behind an iron stairwell. I parked, walked up, and the front door was unlocked. I was freaking out because I thought someone was home and didn't know they had been the target of an air bnb hack and things might get out of control. I sit there for a few and a big guy walks in through the back door. I'm now s******g bricks. He says "oh, hi, you must be [username]. I'm [whatever]. Did you have trouble finding the place?" Turned out to be a super nice guy who was a decades long, successful professional musician and couldn't have been nicer. When I told him the story and asked about door locks, he replied "you must be from the States. Montreal is the safest city in North America. I never lock the door and nobody will ever bother you here." That was mostly true. On one hand, I saw a guy blink out a contact lens and everyone stopped to help him find it and not crush it. On the other hand, a group of quite rough people who hang out near McGill gave me s**t for not having a Canadian accent, as if my feathers are ruffled by a bunch of addicts.
26points
"In regards to safety, I find hotels much more secure than Airbnbs," Kashlee added. "They usually have maintenance staff on hand around the clock for thing like burst pipes or problems, guards and security cameras, on call doctors, high quality safety boxes in the room, variety of locks on the doors, and protocols in place for things like earthquakes or other emergencies."
#12
A couple years ago, my friend and I (18/19 F) were travelling in the Southeast USA because we were on spring break. The AirBnB we rented for the night turned out to be a couch in this guy's front room. In the middle of the night, these two people come in through the front door, drunk as hell, banging about, cursing, just overall being loud and obnoxious (they were NOT our AirBnB host), and start talking in front of our bed. I was awake, as was my friend, but we were unsure of what they were doing or what they would do, so we didn't move. They left the house and came back a couple of times, creeping us out the entire time, and we didn't find out until the next morning that our host had been renting one of his guest rooms in the back of the house to them.
Also, one of them ended up s******g on top of the toilet seat in the middle of the night. We got a full refund.
24points
#13
Not very creepy but some Paris AirBnBs just don’t exist, like there’s just no house at the address. So I showed up in Paris and guess what, no AirBnB, just great.
24points
"Of course, creepy situations can happen in any type of accommodation, but myself as someone who spends an average of 200 nights on the road per year, I feel much safer staying in hotels than the property of someone who decided out of the blue they would like to be a hotel," Kashlee shared.
#14
My sister and I were staying in a cute little detached house in a wealthy part of San Diego. It was right by the beach, but the house was super hippy and relaxed, the man who lived there was out of town, so some of his stuff was out, he was literally making his own kombucha. He had a bathroom attached to his little house that had a door that led to outside. He shared this bathroom with a tenant in another house who didn’t have one. Around 4am she comes home drunk, goes into the bathroom, and starting banging on the door to our room viciously. She’s screaming about how he stole her phone yesterday...this man has been out of town for a week. It was scary to wake up to in the middle of the night, but our stay was still great.
22points
#15
I stayed at one, they had halloween decorations and a mouse infestation, I went up stairs to check out the pounding noise, skeleton with red eyes scared the s**t out of me.
21points
#16
My friend used to air bnb her one bedroom apartment a few times a month for extra money. She came back to a huge mess one time like there was a party. She peaked into a garbage bag they left and saw a huge box of used enemas. Her poor cat must’ve witnessed an orgy.
21points
#17
Two years ago my husband and I went to Boise Idaho for a Joe Rogan comedy show. We lived in Utah, so it was just a couple hour drive.
Upon arriving the only directions sent to us was the code to the front door and that he wouldn’t be home. We pull up and the house is MASSIVE. We walk in and are kind of confused as to where to go. The pictures of the advertisement was a room in the basement with a bathroom next to it. So we went and settled in. The comedy show was that same night so I hopped in the shower, and as I was getting out my husband told me the host had messaged him told him we were in the wrong room and to go into the room upstairs?
Ok... but how did he know we were in the wrong room if he wasn’t home?
So we took our stuff upstairs and began looking around, trying to figure out which room. We opened a few doors and there was several bedrooms but the only bedroom that had new towels, and water bottles on the nightstand was the master bedroom.
Still a bit confused we put our stuff down and noticed all of the owners stuff was still in the nightstand drawers, and their closet was full of clothes and jewelry. Directly next to the bedroom their was an office and a bunch of dog toys and bowls of food and water... but no dog.
We were a bit confused but the owner told us he wouldn’t be home all weekend and to make ourselves comfortable.
The night came and went, and we went to our show. Explored some of Boise and headed back to the house.
We both kept telling each other something felt off, but didn’t know why. We agreed to wake up and take our time getting back on the road and to our kids.
Fast fwd to the next morning and were woken up to a dog running down the hallway and barks echoing throughout the massive house.
My husband hops out of bed and opened the door to see if someone was there, but saw nobody, or nothing. We packed up super early and left way faster than we originally planned.
It was SUPER weird, and uneasy feeling. Like we were being watched, and someone was with us the whole time.
Upon arriving the only directions sent to us was the code to the front door and that he wouldn’t be home. We pull up and the house is MASSIVE. We walk in and are kind of confused as to where to go. The pictures of the advertisement was a room in the basement with a bathroom next to it. So we went and settled in. The comedy show was that same night so I hopped in the shower, and as I was getting out my husband told me the host had messaged him told him we were in the wrong room and to go into the room upstairs?
Ok... but how did he know we were in the wrong room if he wasn’t home?
So we took our stuff upstairs and began looking around, trying to figure out which room. We opened a few doors and there was several bedrooms but the only bedroom that had new towels, and water bottles on the nightstand was the master bedroom.
Still a bit confused we put our stuff down and noticed all of the owners stuff was still in the nightstand drawers, and their closet was full of clothes and jewelry. Directly next to the bedroom their was an office and a bunch of dog toys and bowls of food and water... but no dog.
We were a bit confused but the owner told us he wouldn’t be home all weekend and to make ourselves comfortable.
The night came and went, and we went to our show. Explored some of Boise and headed back to the house.
We both kept telling each other something felt off, but didn’t know why. We agreed to wake up and take our time getting back on the road and to our kids.
Fast fwd to the next morning and were woken up to a dog running down the hallway and barks echoing throughout the massive house.
My husband hops out of bed and opened the door to see if someone was there, but saw nobody, or nothing. We packed up super early and left way faster than we originally planned.
It was SUPER weird, and uneasy feeling. Like we were being watched, and someone was with us the whole time.
20points
#18
My and my friends went to Spain on holiday. We got to our Airbnb and met the owner, he showed us around and left, we never see him again.
About two days after we arrived I posted a picture to my Instagram. Sometime later an old man comments on it, something like “party hard into the morning , beautiful” (my s****y translation from Spanish) , I just laughed about it to my friends and didn’t take much notice of it , but one of my friends looked into the account and it was.. our Airbnb owner.
This was weird to me because my friend did all the booking for us through her account and we just sent in whatever we owed to her back, so there would nowhere where he could have found out what my name was. I still don’t know how he managed to find me :/.
18points
#19
I stayed in one that used to be a love hotel in Ikebukuro, Tokyo last year. Found out a few months later there was a guy going around m**dering people in their hotels in that area.
16points
#20
new orleans. TWO TIMES. i used to drive out there a lot to dance, and usually stayed at a hotel on bourbon but twice i thought maaaaybe i could cut down on expenses with air b n b. yes i have learned my lesson..
1st time:
check into a cute little shotgun back house. not the best area but whatever it's nola. get inside and go to the bathroom. toilet doesn't work and overflows. i end up having to squat and pee in the side yard while waiting for the owner to respond to us. look up to see a guy on his balcony watching me, all angry-looking, as i am mid-stream. had to move all our stuff to a hotel across town (which the owner paid for- she was actually really nice)
check into a cute little shotgun back house. not the best area but whatever it's nola. get inside and go to the bathroom. toilet doesn't work and overflows. i end up having to squat and pee in the side yard while waiting for the owner to respond to us. look up to see a guy on his balcony watching me, all angry-looking, as i am mid-stream. had to move all our stuff to a hotel across town (which the owner paid for- she was actually really nice)
2nd time not so friendly. show up to a weird office type building with my boyfriend. creepy homeless people are staring us down, not in a curious way but malicious vibes. we get an eerie feeling. go upstairs and there are no keys, just keypads on the door, and the passcode to get into our room is a VERY easily guessed code, i think it was just our room number or something, i don't remember. we get inside and it looks like a place that was not meant to be lived in, again like it's supposed to be an office building, with the cheapest furniture and bedding. it had a kitchen but everything was from walmart and smelled weird, didn't look clean either. we try to brush it off and i go to work that night. my uber driver tells me this area is dangerous. later on my boyfriend goes out for several hours by himself, eventually showing up to buy me a drink at the strip club and we leave together. when we get back to the room it seems like someone has moved our stuff around and then we see a rat scurry by. we are freaked out and decide to read reviews of the place. another recent reviewer reported someone breaking in and leaving blood all over the sheets. we left and got a room on bourbon at a nice hotel and i'm not allowed to book rooms anymore lol
(oh yeah and as a bonus, when my boyfriend left an honest and accurate review, the owner responded super hostile and childish, cursing him out and calling him racist).
16points