My Victory over a terrible AirBnB “Super-Host”
A few years back, I found myself staying at an Airbnb just outside of Stockholm that was owned by some Swedish “celebrity”…
This joint came with a cleaning deposit hefty enough to fund my next unicorn startup, yet it looked like it hadn’t seen a mop since Napster’s era.
The grand claims of a waterfront location turned out to be swamp. Oh, and they conveniently forgot to mention the goose farm on the property they owned, but a stone’s throw from the bedroom window, complete with the stench and noise of thousands of birds fattening up for some future Christmas dinner.
So, here’s what I did. I snapped photos to match the ones on their Instagram and Airbnb pages, then set up a parody Instagram account mocking the owner’s shady integrity.
I posted the raw, unfiltered horrors of the place, each photo a stark contrast of goose shit stains to the sanitized lies in the original ads. Next, I created a doppelgänger Airbnb account, complete with these unflattering pictures.
I filed a complaint for a refund, laying out how the place was a bait-and-switch scam. The owner, predictably, launched into a defense as graceful as a drunk goose.
My counter-move? A follow request to their Instagram from my new account, showcasing the grim reality of their property. I got my refund within the hour.
The next day, Airbnb and Instagram had nuked the clone accounts.
Victory was mine, albeit a small, petty one, but oh so satisfying, and why I will never use another fucking AirBnB again.
