Comedian Kai Choyce recounted his experience with what can be described as an exceptionally poor Airbnb listing following a series of red flags before his stay, in what he called, “the true story of AirBNB and the Very Bad No Good Stay.”
Red flags started appearing before he arrived at his Airbnb
He wrote, “I should’ve known something shady was up when they demanded off-platform contact info before I checked in, despite it being against AirBNB Terms Of Service. I said no…”
“Second Red Flag: The listing has not one, not two, but NINE co-hosts. At first you think, Oh dope — this listing has a Russian nesting doll of hosts, that must mean there’s always someone available to help! Oh sweet innocent me of yesteryear…”
Choyce went on, “Now we all know that some hosts don’t change the door code (or their sheets) between guests. I’ve had friends with belongings stolen at AirBNBs, and i am NOT paying to carry my valuables with me in a satchel every time I leave the room like I’m running away from home…”
“Yup, a cabinet/drawer latch. You know, the kind you use to make sure your toddler doesn’t accidentally drink Pine Sol. Imagine trusting your valuables to be safe in a room w/ a “lock” that anyone with a screwdriver can remove. Imagine sleeping in a room that anyone can lock from the outside.”
“I’m sure you’re thinking, but what about the bottom one, can’t you use that? NOPE, BECAUSE… They never gave me a key for it and none of the NINE co-hosts has one. Not even an *emergency* key. I’m talking to nine completely useless people like it’s the Supreme Court.”
“To clarify, I am *not* a fan of danger. Skydiving is a hell naw. The ocean and its hidden horrors are a hard pass. I unplug chargers before leaving the house to prevent electrical fires. I’m that dude.”
Airbnb hosts’ response to the issues
With all of these issues in mind, Choyce believed he was being reasonable in the requests he submitted to the Airbnb hosts and went on with his stay as normal.
Anyway, I alert the gaggle of hosts of the issues and assume the most urgent safety-related ones will be resolved without incident since a dead guest is a non-paying guest! Instead, as I come back to the building that night, I’m rushed by an off-leash, snarling white bull terrier,” he wrote. “The dog is leisurely trailed by a woman holding a half-empty wine bottle, who I soon learn is our esteemed co-host Sara. I back up into the street, exclaiming something to the affect of ‘Control thine canine!’
A true professional, Sara rolls her eyes and screams, ‘C’MON KYLE YOU’VE HAD EVERY COMPLAINT IN THE BOOK!!!’ My complaints so far:
1. I’d love to have more than one roll of toilet paper
2. I’d love to not inhale the black mold in the shower shared by 6+ people
3. I’d love a towel without someone else’s hair & dead skin on it
4. I’d love not to be murdered by strangers in my room
5. I’d love not to be murdered in the walkway by your dog
Sara was right, I was being unreasonable! Deciding that engaging me as a person was a beta move, Sara tried to appeal to me as a capitalist… ‘I’m losing money with your stay! I’m charging half my usual rate!’
Now I’m no accountant, but those two things seemed related. ‘You’re gonna give us a bad review now!’ Sara huffed, which was her way of asking if I was okay. In case you were wondering, she did finally leash her dog, but did not apologize. But don’t worry, she did tell the dog ‘YOU’RE EMBARRASSING ME!’ so it’s like she apologized to me, the black man she almost 1963-Birmingham-ed.
“There’s truly no way to paraphrase how insane her response was so I’ll just let you read these damn screenshots:”
“Fortunately, the next day they turn things around and graciously tell me I can either pay to fix it myself or leave,” he wrote.
Airbnb hosts reply, asking Choyce to rebook with them
“They also sent a photo of a curtain with what looks like a cigarette burn on it. Now reader, you will lose your shit, your mind, and your faculties when you see what Sara claims caused that burn.”
“We’ll get to that in a second, but this is probably a good a time as any to share my review:”
“Along with this reimbursement racket Sara’s cooked up (pun intended, you’ll see), she also posts the following review and review response on my page. My favorite part of her racist screed is how many stereotypes, dogwhistles, and buzzwords she managed to cram into a single paragraph:”
What Choyce thought was finally a done deal led to multiple back-and-forth conversations with various AirBNB representatives, as the hosts continued to report his review and his account, and share evidence against Choyce that the comedian stated was fabricated.
Choyce ended the thread with a warning message to folks using Airbnb, writing, “So, if you’ve ever seen an overpriced glorified hostel with zero bad reviews, this is most likely why. They keep a stable of rotating virtual co-hosts and use the fake screenshot scam to remove negative reviews on benched profiles before rotating them back in as needed. Diabolical.”
In a response to the Daily Dot, Kai Choyce wrote:
AirBNB confirmed the host violated their discrimination policy, rejected their reimbursement request/confirmed no damage occurred during my stay, and confirmed that they submitted fake screenshots but have not removed them or their listings from the platform so there was essentially no consequence for their behavior.
I think it’s also a major violation of guest safety and privacy that hosts are automatically provided with guest phone numbers upon booking as opposed to using a relay/proxy service for phone contact like Uber/Doordash/etc do, it makes it way too easy for them to act on nefarious intent.
Following publication, Airbnb responded to the Daily Dot’s request for comment, saying, “We take reports of issues like this seriously, and support our guests in the rare event something isn’t as it should be with a stay. We issued a full refund to this guest for their stay in December, and we have restricted the host’s account as we continue to investigate the concerns raised.”
“Hosts on Airbnb are expected to meet our ground rules for stays, and violations can lead to suspension or removal from Airbnb.”
Updated on Jan. 31, 2025.
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