When it comes to travel, there are more options now than ever before in terms of where to stay during the length of the trip. For those who have enough money on hand, they might either stay in a nice hotel or a condo that’s available for rent. But for people who can’t afford those, there’s usually one hostel in any major city. Though because of the bad reputation they’ve earned, which wasn’t helped by the Hostel thriller films, they tend to be a last resort for many. Enter Airbnb, a house rental service where people can put their home up for rent to be occupied by someone while they’re on vacation.
While other house rental services have existed beforehand, Airbnb is so far one of the more popular options due to the affordable prices on rent. It has also become one of the most notorious house rental services as multiple stories have floated around on the Internet about bad guests who’ve stayed in Airbnb rental homes causing trouble for not just the hosts but even the local law enforcement. Apart from throwing wild parties and causing property damage, the two main annoyances that bad Airbnb guests have done is either leave something behind that wasn’t in the house before or steal an item or two before they leave.
24 Left Behind - Busted Furniture
Apart from gaping holes in floors and appliances, another annoying thing that some Airbnb hosts have to deal with is furniture that’s been busted by their guests such as the couch in the above picture. Now it may not look bad at a glance, but imagine having to sit on a couch like that from now on and how much money it would take to repair. Yet the amount of damage this couch got is nowhere near as bad as the one at the Airbnb-rented home of Mark and Star King which got completely torn WORLD OF BUZZ states.
23 Left Behind - Pieces of Glass
As bad as having busted furniture can be, that’s nothing compared to having pieces of shattered glass everywhere. Depending on the sizes of the shards, they can get embedded pretty easily in any part of the body and be difficult to get out. Not to mention the amount of money it takes to repair things with glass in them such as windows. Among the worst-case scenarios related to Airbnb homes, a lot of them tend to be caused by parties that wind up getting out of hand. As the above picture shows, even the police don’t always emerge unscathed.
22 Stolen - Laptop
Of the expensive items that are likely to get stolen, laptops are the most common. Because we use them all the time for various tasks including storing and connecting to various sources of information, a thief with a decent knowledge of computers could find a way to hack into a laptop once it’s in their possession and extract the data before potentially selling it. Even Airbnb hosts have had their laptops stolen, as there was such an incident described on Airbnb Community though the company did nothing about it because the host apparently “Took too long to report” the theft.
21 Left Behind - Peanut Butter
Now it may not seem like a big deal for an Airbnb guest to leave behind a jar of peanut butter, or a similar substance like the kind shown in the above picture, but it’s noticeable. This is especially the case when there’s a lot of them left behind, as that happened to an Airbnb host living on the West Coast according to Kitchn who kept finding multiple jars around. As for why this kept happening, it’s hard to say since the host didn’t apparently install security cameras. But Kitchn speculates that the house was rented to families with kids.
20 Left Behind - Ice Cream
Since children often eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, at least in America anyway, it’s easy to assume that as a possible reason for why there would be so much peanut butter in an Airbnb home. Now ice cream, on the other hand, is not an unusual thing to find in any given house whether it’s an Airbnb rental home or not since the majority of us like to indulge on this sweet treat every now and then. Except for those who are lactose intolerant, though. Even leaving it behind isn’t a mystery since ice cream typically doesn’t travel well.
19 Stolen - Antique Chess Set
Though laptops can get stolen, there are methods that the various software companies have developed which ensure the customer’s data will be protected in case such a scenario does happen. Now depending on the model of the laptop that was taken, the prices for a replacement range from relatively reasonable to pretty expensive. Yet regardless of the price, a laptop can still be replaced. The same cannot be said, though, for something like “An ebony and ivory delicately hand carved antique chess board” which was taken from an Airbnb host’s home according to Air Hostess Forum and it was a special heirloom.
18 Left Behind - Pizza
Another food item that isn’t that strange to find in an Airbnb home is pizza. While it might imply there was a party going on, there’s also the underlying notion that, “People order pizza when they're on the road” according to Kitchn. It makes perfect sense if one thinks about it. After all, pizza is one of those food items that’s relatively cheap (depending on where it’s ordered from) and offers enough toppings to satisfy a bunch of people who are tired from a long day of traveling and/or going to various places around the place they’re staying at.
17 Left Behind - Adult Beverages
If one isn’t a big fan of sports or energy drinks, it can be annoying for any Airbnb host who happens to find some in their fridges left by guests who weren’t courteous enough to take them or at least throw them away if they’re empty. But while sports and energy drinks can be used by just about anyone, alcoholic drinks are more of an adult indulgence. So finding these in an Airbnb home can arguably be more irritating for an Airbnb host since they find “Plenty of empty bottles” according to Kitchn or low-quality drinks they wouldn’t want.
16 Left Behind - Old Leftovers
When traveling to a new place, it’s natural to “Want to try out all the local specialties” Kitchn says. Yet our appetites can only consume so much, so naturally we bring the food we like home as leftovers. This applies to Airbnb homes as well, but this kind of practice becomes problematic when guests leave their leftover food in the fridge and don’t bother to take them when they leave. As a result, Airbnb hosts are left with strange foods that have been sitting in the fridge for an indefinite amount of time and therefore might not be edible anymore.
15 Left Behind - A Microwave with Mold Inside
In any given house, furniture and appliances are the most important things to have as they serve a variety of needs for the people living there. This even applies to guests in Airbnb homes, yet as the previous incidents in this article have shown there seems to be a dissonance about taking care of the house properly since it’s not theirs. As a result, we get moments like a guest leaving a moldy plate of food inside the microwave as shown in the above picture. Though the nature of the food is uncertain, that doesn’t make it any less disgusting.
14 Left Behind - Stained Linen
Whether it’s clothes or bedsheets, it’s always annoying to deal with any stains that happen to be on them. Though depending on what caused the stain, and the material of the thing that was stained, it might be difficult to remove. For instance, one of the more notorious substances that’s hard to get out is wine due to its dark coloring and thickness. So imagine the irritation of an Airbnb host that had to deal with a guest who “Poured red wine all over expensive new white linens” as described on WORLD OF BUZZ on top of many other bad things.
13 Left Behind - Sports Drinks
For the same reason people don’t take ice cream with them when they leave someplace, pizza is another one of those food items that doesn’t travel well and hence why it’s not strange to find them in places like Airbnb homes. The same logic could also apply to certain types of beverages that are left behind, such as sports drinks which need to be refrigerated in order to stay refreshing. With that said, this seems to mainly apply to people who ask their hosts “Where they can go for a run” as claimed by Kitchn implying they are athletic types.
12 Left Behind - Energy Drinks
Depending on how one feels about them, energy drinks can be useful but detrimental to one’s health if taken in excess. After all, one of the key ingredients is caffeine which stimulates one’s senses for time-consuming things like travel. Yet compared to other caffeine-related beverages such as coffee and tea, there's a stronger likelihood of physical burnout which happens when more than one energy drink is consumed. Now even though energy drinks don’t necessarily require refrigeration, they are better quality-wise if kept at a refrigerated temperature which might explain why some get left behind by Airbnb guests.
11 Left Behind - Raw Meat
Of the various leftovers that an Airbnb host might find in their fridge left by a previous guest, nothing is more disgusting to deal with than some kind of raw meat. For instance, Kitchn describes an incident where an Airbnb host found “An unwrapped chicken carcass in the freezer” leading to “A mass disinfecting of the entire kitchen”. No matter what the reason was for why the guest left such a thing in this house, that doesn’t excuse the act itself. This is especially the case when others have to suffer the consequences of it, like this Airbnb host did.
10 Left Behind - Unwashed Garments
Unlike hotels which hire dozens of people to clean the rooms, Airbnb homes don’t have that luxury. Therefore, it’s all on the hosts to make their places as presentable as possible to the guests who in turn should keep the place nice like it was their own home. Yet some guests aren’t so courteous, as was the case with two young Russian women that stayed in an Airbnb home. As recounted by the host on WORLD OF BUZZ, they left it “In a general state of mess and uncleanliness” which included leaving rubbish and unwashed clothing all over the place.
9 Left Behind - Messy Sheets
While having clean clothes is considered to be a necessity for interacting with others in public, the same kind of logic arguably applies to bedsheets. Sure, they may not seem like that high of a priority to clean compared to clothes. Yet if one has guests over at the house, how would they react to a smelly bed? Then if one is staying in someone else’s house, it’s especially impertinent to clean the sheets for the sake of courtesy. But some like a German couple that stayed at an Airbnb home didn’t bother to do so according to WORLD OF BUZZ.
8 Left Behind - A Gaping Hole
Having to clean up after someone else’s mess is never fun for anybody, especially for Airbnb hosts. But while cleaning sheets is relatively manageable, depending on if they are stained or not, it’s harder to deal with objects that are more difficult to fix. One such example is a hole that’s punctured into the floor (as shown above). There was even a case where an Airbnb host found “A huge hole had been burned” into the tank section of their toilet according to WORLD OF BUZZ. The guest claimed the hole was already there, which turned out to be false.
7 Stolen - Trash Can
Up until now, we’ve discussed incidents where Airbnb guests leave behind something either mildly annoying or undesirable to the hosts involved. But as bad as these things are, a guest that steals something from the house they are renting is even more problematic. It shows not just disrespect on the guest’s part, but flat out arrogance. Yet some things that have been stolen, like a trash can, make one wonder what was going through the guest’s head when they took it. After all, trash cans are available at a variety of stores anywhere. So what's the point of stealing one?
6 Stolen - A Three-Ring Binder
Now stealing a three-ring binder may seem strange in of itself, but compared to three bottles of Hershey syrup it’s pretty mild. Plus, depending on what’s in the stolen binder, it could be useful. Such was the case for one host whose three-ring binder was taken which “Had the best local restaurant menus and an assortment of tourist information” according to Airbnb Community. With this kind of knowledge on hand, the former guest now has something they can rely on in terms of figuring out where to eat and go if they happen to be in the area.
5 Stolen - Laundry Basket
In contrast to the unusual items that have been stolen as outlined in this article, ones that are actually useful tend to be more annoying for Airbnb hosts who’ve discovered such a thing has gone missing. One example is a laundry basket, as described by Airbnb Community which the host thinks, “Had to be intentional” on the guests’ part. Now compared to other items that most of us tend to ignore to the point of not realizing if they’re gone, laundry baskets are pretty hard to miss. After all, they are a convenient way to carry and store unwashed clothes.