Airbnb crept onto the scene in 2007 and has subsequently changed the face of travel for millions of people around the world. For better, or worse...
It all began with two hosts welcoming three guests to their San Francisco home in October that year. Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia were struggling to afford their rent, and came up with a rather novel plan to make some cash. They simply put three air mattresses on the floor of their apartment and invited attendees of a sold-out design conference to come and stay - at a price. The duo charged $80 a night for the modest accommodation.
What began as an accidental success inspired them to launch AirBed & Breakfast in 2008, along with developer Nathan Blecharczyk.
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Today, the Airbnb platform has more than 5.5 million hosts who have welcomed over 2.5 billion guests around the world. “Every day, hosts offer unique stays, experiences, and services that make it possible for guests to connect with communities in a more authentic way,” reads the Airbnb Newsroom page.
With that many listings there are bound to be some blunders...
In 2017, travel blogger Asher Fergusson released a damning report claiming that the home-sharing service “has multiple dangerous loopholes and scams that are going unchecked.” Fergusson came to this conclusion after analyzing more than 1,000 negative Airbnb reviews.
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Fergusson said that some of the alleged schemes included things like hosts canceling bookings at the last minute and demanding that guests pay in cash, and the advertising of non-existent properties. There were also reports of hosts creating several listings for the same location at different prices and then cancelling on the guests who booked at lower prices.
In 2021, Fergusson conducted a follow-up study in which he “analyzed 127,183 Airbnb guest complaints to find out which problems are most likely to be complained about via Twitter.”
He found that 22.27% (more than 28,000) of all guest complaints were related to scams. These included multiple listings of the same property, property not as described, fraudulent charges, fake listings and/or reviews and other scams.
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Airbnb seems to have since taken note. “Last year, Airbnb’s anti-fraud systems blocked over 250,000 suspicious listings before they went live and cut clicks on risky links by more than 20 percent following a new feature launch," said Roger Kaiser, the company's Vice President of Airbnb Fraud and Safety Operations, in 2026.
Scams aside, Fergusson's 2021 study also found over 7,000 complaints about unsafe conditions. More than half of these were related to infestations, unsanitary or unhealthy homes. Other negative reviews mentioned obnoxious hosts, unsafe or broken amenities, hidden cameras (251 complaints) and theft. 3.81% of the total complaints were about unfair discrimination.
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While many people would rather steer clear of dodgy listings, it turns out that there are some very brave souls among us. In 2020, UK-based YouTube vloggers, Passion Squad, decided to pull a practical joke purely for content. They “opened” the absolute worst accommodation, took a few photos, and listed it on Airbnb, not really expecting much to happen.
“Earth house hosted by Jamie” boasted an outdoor location, and showed a mattress in the middle of an open clearing, with nothing but a tree to keep guests sheltered from the elements. They also included a bedside table, featuring just a lamp and two glasses of complimentary water.
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“This is inspired by one of the most exquisite and unique hotels in Europe. It has got easy access to wildlife, fresh air, and some peace. During your stay, you will find everything very nearby, including train station, bus station, and the local town,” read the listing.
“We gathered together a load of items we found on Facebook for free to assemble a terrible Airbnb experience,” travel-updates/travel-stories/youtubers-create-worlds-worst-airbnb-in-north-london-photos/news-story/25855139f93ba4710c6514936dc859f1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">said Passion Squad co-founder Rhys Simmons. “But to our surprise when we uploaded this thing on to Airbnb, we had an insane amount of interest for people to come and stay within our establishment.”
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They advertised for a “private swimming pool”; without mentioning that it would be shared with another suite, or that the owner’s private house windows give directly on the pool or that there is a camera pointed towards it.
We explained our ‘bad’ note, it had nothing to see with it being a suite.
In 2021, the content creators took it a step further and listed what they believed was even worse “accommodation.”
“They placed a chest of drawers, an inflatable mattress, some carpet and a questionable piece of art, overlooking the iconic arch at Durdle Door, Dorset, one of the UK’s most visited tourist destinations,” reported Metro news. Once again, their prank proved that some people tend to have really low standards when it comes to where they’ll rest their heads while on holiday.
“Some of the responses were absolutely hilarious, within the first 24h we got over 10 request[s] which was very surprising,” said Passion Squad co-founder Jamie Kamaz.
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