An Airbnb host in Calgary is warning other hosts to consider creating safety plans in case they’re put in dangerous situations with their guests, after her life was threatened and part of her home was trashed by guests.
When Samantha Morahan received an instant booking through the app last weekend, she thought it would be a normal one-night stay. But it quickly turned into a nightmare.
Her partner was out of town and she was home alone when the man and woman arrived for their stay in her basement suite.
Morahan says she could immediately tell something was off, but depended on the fact that the guests’ Airbnb account was verified — even though the account was new and had no existing reviews.
“This is a process that I had a lot of trust and a lot of faith in,” said Morahan.
She was in her room when she could smell cigarette smoke coming from the basement. Morahan says when she sent the couple a message, and eventually went downstairs to speak with them, they repeatedly denied smoking.
It confirmed her bad gut feeling, she says.
So she decided to contact Airbnb for support, which gave her three options: ask them to leave, let them stay the night or call authorities to intervene.
“I was explaining to them that I really did not feel safe in my home. There was something seriously wrong with these guests and I want nothing to do with them after they leave,” said Morahan.
She decided to leave it alone — it was just one night, after all — until she could hear them fighting and getting increasingly aggressive after midnight. The man kept coming in and out of the front door, as the basement suite doesn’t have a separate entrance.
“This isn’t normal and I don’t want to deal with this anymore. So I phoned the police and I explained the entire story,” said Morahan.
The police agreed to come take a look. But as Morahan waited for them to arrive, she says the arguing started to escalate.
Then, Morahan says, the woman came upstairs and started to yell at the top of her lungs.
“I was like, who could she possibly be talking about? And as she’s screaming profanities, I realize that she’s talking about me. She thinks that her partner, who had been coming in and out of the house, had been having some type of relations with me.”
The woman threatened to kill Morahan, damaged decorations near the front entrance and stormed out.
“I had a chair propped on the door and I was in total fear mode, not knowing who these people were.”
She called the police again. When they arrived, and she was explaining the situation to them, the man came upstairs with blood running down the side of his face. She says he gave the police a different name than the one that was on his account.
Eventually, the police convinced him to leave.
When Morahan checked out the basement suite, she found cigarettes, damage to furniture, clumps of hair throughout the suite and blood on the walls, blankets and face cloths.
“It was so bizarre to be in your own home and not feel safe like that,” she said.
Morahan and her husband have taken down their Airbnb account, but she says they’ll honour existing reservations for people they’ve vetted and have had conversations with.
“But other than that, we’ve stopped our instant booking. We’ve stopped it all.”
She says she wants other Airbnb hosts to trust their gut, thoroughly vet each guest that requests to book and don’t be afraid to decline guests.
She also urges other hosts to consider a safety plan in case something similar happens to them — a plan that covers steps they would take, how they would handle it and who they would call on for support.
“It’s a wonderful opportunity, but it’s also a very vulnerable opportunity to invite people into your home.”
According to Ben Breit with Airbnb, the situation is extremely rare, but there are measures in place for when it does happen — like a 24/7 safety line that’s accessible to all hosts during active reservations, staffed with a team that’s trained in de-escalating dangerous situations.
He says there’s also an AirCover program that provides $3 million in property damage protection.
“But what we find works more often than not is just kind of asking questions on the front and making sure the guests understand in advance, ‘Hey, I live here. Hey, you know, I respect my neighbours….’ Things along those lines.”
In a statement, Calgary police said they were called to the northwest residence for reports of a disturbance on Dec. 4 around 2:20 a.m.
Upon arrival, they located one man, whose injuries appeared to be minor, according to the statement. At the time, the man confirmed the other guest left and also agreed to leave the home.
“Police escorted him to a friend’s house. After speaking with all affected parties, there will be no charges laid in relation to this incident,” the statement reads.
The people who booked the rental suite could not be reached.