5 Airbnb Horror Stories That Will Keep Insurers Up at Night

Of course, working in the insurance industry, we know that there is always a chance that something could go wrong. And when things go wrong with Airbnb rentals, they go very wrong.

Click "next" to read a few horror stories from home sharing sites that are sure to keep you up at night.

Wedding guests gone wild

(Photo: Ari Teman/Gawker)

In March 2014, comedian Ari Teman used Airbnb to rent out his apartment to a user named David who told Teman he was hosting his brother and sister in law for a wedding. After handing his keys over to David in the afternoon, Teman left his bags with his building's doorman and went out to dinner. When he returned to retrieve his bags, he couldn't believe what he found.

In the lobby, David was talking to some people about being "shutdown," which made Teman suspicious. He returned to his apartment to find damage to his furniture as well as musical equipment, bags of condoms, and liquor lying around that he said weren't his. Teman researched David's e-mail address and found a Tweet advertising a "XXX Freak Fest" at his apartment that night.

Teman called the police to clear the apartment and was threatened to be evicted. He quickly contacted Airbnb through social media including a post on his Tumblr account. According to Gawker, within 24 hours, Airbnb sent a locksmith to change his locks, made plans to put him up in a hotel for a week, and wired him $23,817.

Trashed penthouse

The disgusting condition Rachel Bassini's bathroom was left in after a guest used her penthouse apartment for a massive party. (Photo: Rachel Bassini/Business Insider)

Rachel Bassini's East Village penthouse was trashed after a man named Jeffrey booked her condo through Airbnb in February. Bassini says Jeffrey had no reviews on Airbnb, "but his profile was of him and his wife and young daughter — seemingly harmless," she told Business Insider.

When Bassini returned home, she found feces all over the bathroom and couch, used condoms all over the bedroom, chewed gum on the floors, walls, and couches, and much more. She also found Instagram photos and videos showing a massive party in her house. Jeffrey also failed to return her keys, including special elevator security keys to her building and penthouse. She estimated the damages cost $2,000.

When Bassini first called Airbnb, she was told the damages were not covered, so she never filled out a claim. However, after making her story public on Business Insider, Airbnb reopened her case, apologized and promised to cover damages if she submited the proper paperwork, including the cost of the keys.

Renting out to vandals

A San Francisco resident who only identified herself as "EJ" rented out her apartment to someone identified as "DJ" while traveling. When she returned, she found her home damaged and vandalized.

According to EJ, the renters smashed a hole through a locked closet door and retrieved a passport, cash, credit cards, and her grandmother's jewelry that was hidden inside. They also stole her camera, iPod, laptop, and external harddrive. EJ also believes the vandals found her birth certificate and social security card and used her printer/copier to take photocopies.

But it doesn't end there. The vandal guests also went through EJ's drawers, wearing her clothes and shoes and leaving them crumpled up in a pile of wet towels on the closet floor. Some of her clothes were stolen. Her kitchen was a huge mess, with dirty dishes piled high, and her bathroom smelled and was caked with a yellow substance. The vandals even made odd changes to her apartment, such as hanging up photos she never had before and cutting the tags off of her pillows.

Airbnb apologized to EJ and compensated her after she posted a blog about how her home was ransacked.

Guests leave meth pipes and a cat

Troy Dayton felt unsafe after he returned to his Oakland, Calif., home to find it trashed. He discovered the woman he rented it out to brought friends into his home and went through everything he owned, he told Techcrunch. Like EJ, the guests stole his birth certificate and left behind evidence that they were running an identity theft operation. They also stole a computer and small amounts of cash.

There was damage to the bathroom and closet doors, and any electronic device with a light had been taken apart, presumably because the guests didn't want to be monitored. Dayton says the guests unscrewed everything in his refrigerator and mixed food together. They stole or shredded his clothes–except for a sweater he found in the freezer.

What shocked Dayton the most was that his home was strewn with meth pipes, claiming that they were "everywhere." The guests also oddly left a cat behind, and Dayton was able to find its owner who was able to return his key's to him. The cat owner was a friend of the guest who rented the home's boyfriend and had no idea what happened or how her apartment ended up in the trashed apartment.

Troy didn't ask Airbnb to compensate him for the damages because he felt it was his responsbility for letting the woman in. In return, he asked the site for a month of free rentals.

He said, she said

(Photo: Ankkit Aggarwal/Business Insider)

Ankkit Aggarwal submitted a claim to Airbnb after guests trashed his luxury condo worth $2.5 million and damaged an expensive Italian bed that would cost over $6,000 to repair. In response, Airbnb "decided he had broken their rules, cut him off, blocked his account and cancelled over $25,000 worth of upcoming bookings [...] and then told those guests that it was him, not Airbnb, who cancelled the rooms," reports Business Insider.

The company told Business Insider it cancelled Aggarwal's account because they had received too many complaints about him. Airbnb claims Aggarwal was collecting money outside the Airbnb system, and that before kicking him out, it tried to work with him.

Aggarwal denies Airbnb's claims.