Man Traveling to Florida Accidentally Stays in Stranger’s Home, Thinking It Was an Airbnb

Airbnb has become a massively popular travel solution for folks who are looking to stay in a place that's a bit more personalized, closer to a specific area that they're visiting/staying in, or are trying to save some money in locations where hotel prices aren't so budget-friendly.

It also helps folks who have properties/rooms that are mainly sitting empty that they can monetize for a little extra cash as long as they play innkeeper.

But like any business venture, especially ones that employ a more "hands-off" approach (i.e. leaving a key with some instructions so folks can have their privacy) it's not uncommon for there to be a few hiccups here and there, like maybe guests not following exact instructions set forth by the host, or even having difficulty getting inside the Airbnb.

And since you're dealing with individual people and not large corporate entities, you can come across some colorful characters, or folks who have downright gnarly intentions. But in the case of this man visiting Florida from out of town, while he thankfully didn't encounter anyone who leaves recording devices in their Airbnb, he had a bit of a scare nonetheless.

That's because he apparently stayed in a stranger's home instead of the Airbnb that he booked. It all came down to a simple address mix-up.

Paul Drecksler was traveling to the Sunshine state to officiate a friend's wedding and inadvertently broke and entered into someone's home, thinking it was the spot he booked on the popular application.

"This is the best possible outcome of breaking into someone’s home and spending the night in their bed," he said in an interview with local news outlet 7NewsMiami.

"I had accidentally got the address wrong going from the Airbnb app into the Google maps; the address became the house right next door."

What's more is that there were some similarities between the booking's instructions and the home he accidentally entered: he found a made bed and a pair of towels awaiting him.

After spending the night there, he was awakened to knocking at his door. It was the homeowner asking, "Hey can I help you? This is my house."

Paul said, "Um, no, this is an Airbnb that I rented."

The homeowner continued, "No, this is my house."

Yikes.

Once Paul realized the mistake, he was pretty grateful that the homeowner was cool because, by his own admission, things could've turned out really, really bad.

There are legal outlets that say in the state of Florida, homeowners are able to shoot intruders, that, coupled with the fact that Florida's gun laws make it fairly easy to obtain a firearm means Paul got off pretty lucky for the mistake.

While Paul stated that after the fact it was fairly obvious he stayed in the wrong home, arriving at 2 AM and being tired/just wanting a place to rest his head meant that he wasn't thinking clearly.

Have you ever had a similar Airbnb experience were finding the actual spot you booked was difficult?