"Airbnb Won’t Ban Hosts for Anything" — Guest Slapped With $1 Million Extortion Charge After Stay

An Airbnb guest claims a host they rented a unit from slapped them with a $1 million "extortion" charge after they left a bad review for the rental.

Reddit user r/Automatic_Barnacle72 uploaded a picture of the charge in question to the site's r/legal sub. The post's title reads: "Host charging me 1 million dollars for extortion? Is this possible?"

Furthermore, their upload indicates that the rental was located in Texas, and judging from the pictures, the rental application was "reviewing" the charge OP was slapped with.

The Airbnb host, who is listed as "Matthew" on the application, says that the $1 million fee was in response to "attempted extortion" from OP.

Further context in the post suggests that the Airbnb host was miffed upon reading a bad review from OP, who stayed at the property with their family.

Additionally, they stated that the host attempted to slap them with a $675 charge, claiming that the renter had brought in additional guests.

However, OP writes that the property owner's purported evidence supporting this surcharge was just Ring camera photos showing his family multiple times.

So, where did Matthew get the idea that he was being "extorted" by OP and his family? The Reddit user speculated that it may have something to do with their complaint about the property's air conditioning not operating in the living room and kitchen areas.

Due to this, OP had asked for a discount on the rental, which, presumably, Matthew perceived as extortion after OP penned a bad assessment of the unit.

They asked other users on the application if they should worry about the hefty fee, because although the $675 charge was resolved rather quickly, the million-dollar charge was still up in the air, according to the application.

Another photo in OP's post shows that the $675 extra guest charge was issued as a "reimbursement request." Furthermore, a message from Airbnb reads: "Matthew has asked us to step in and review this request. We'll reach out if there's anything else you need to do."

Moreover, OP also included a screenshot of their correspondence with Matthew. In the message, they stated that the host confirmed the air conditioning in both the living room and the kitchen wasn't working.

They went on to say that having proper cooling in these parts of the house was "essential" to their stay. Consequently, they weren't able to enjoy either the living room or the kitchen as they had originally intended.

That's why they had asked for an $800 discount on the rental. "Given that this issue affects the entire duration of our stay and a key part of the house, I'm requesting a partial refund of $800 to reflect the reduced value of the property," they wrote to Matthew.

They also let Matthew know how bummed out they were to find that the outdoor grill was dirty.

"My mom had to wake up early this morning just to clean it so we could use it. That's really not something guests should be responsible for, especially considering the price we paid for this stay," OP wrote Matthew.

This tale is yet another entry into the online bestiary of "Airbnb Nightmare" stories.

This Reddit thread features some anecdotes of unpleasant stays folks have had at Airbnbs, along with how hosts work to ensure that their guests are comfortable amid unexpected occurrences.

Like this one Airbnb renter who had a place in Europe, got slapped with a heat wave, despite their independent wall AC units not arriving in time for a packed reservation.

Ultimately, they were able to get some cooling options in for the guests so those staying on the top floor weren't cooking in the upper-most portion of the house.

Vice also compiled some egregious Airbnb stays individuals have had when renting properties from hosts on the popular application.

The piece also touches on a common problem many users on the app have had: and it's the amount of work that they're expected to put in while inhabiting someone else's domicile. Taking out the trash, washing dishes, doing their own laundry, cleaning the whole place from top to bottom, not to mention surcharges they were hit with after staying at an Airbnb, has left throngs of guests wondering if they wouldn't have just been better off booking a standard hotel room.

One woman shared how she rented a spare bedroom from an elderly woman who had a laundry list of house rules. When they arrived at their unit, they discovered that the spare room wasn't separate from the rest of the house.

To make matters worse, the window to the room was smashed in, and they weren't allowed to make any noise after 8:30 p.m.

Ultimately, this prompted the Airbnb renter to bail on the reservation, which they had originally intended for three days. However, she and her pal could barely last eight hours in the home before they up and left.

Another user on the application said that a wooden plank fell out from under their bed frame whilst staying in a property from one host.

So, they decided to let the property owner know about the issue, and while they were in bed with their boyfriend, completely naked, someone walked into their room, unlocking the door.

The person said that the host had asked them to come in and check on the problem, which prompted their significant other to ask them to please leave. Following this, the renter had a falling out on the phone with the host, and they reported the Airbnb host to the reps for the property renting service.

The host had all of their properties on the application removed and in fit of vengeance, the host claimed the renter had lied about them destroying their furniture. Like the Texas-Airbnb-renting Redditor, they had to wait for these claims to subside pending Airbnb review.

When all was said and done, they didn't have to foot the bill for any of the false claims; however, Airbnb reinstated the host's properties, meaning others may rent from the same host.