Running an Airbnb sounds like quite a risky business. I mean, you are responsible for the guests that you host and you never know whom you might end up with. What if it’s some sociopath who goes about doing crazy things?
Jokes aside, Reddit user Samshine75 had some wild people stay at the Airbnbs in their neighborhood. However, when one of the guest's cars ended up blocking the original poster’s (OP) driveway, they had enough and asked them to move it, even texting the neighbor about it. But after being ignored by both, they called the cops, who surprisingly towed the car!
More info: Reddit
As the Airbnb business is on the rise, it has also created quite a few issues in community neighborhoods
Image credits: cottonbro studio / pexels (not the actual photo)
The poster's next-door neighbor runs an Airbnb and one day, the guests over there parked their car in the shared driveway, blocking it for the poster
Image credits: Samshine75
Image credits: Jonathan Reynaga / pexels (not the actual photo)
They requested that the guests remove the car, but they refused and drove off in another car, so the poster contacted the owner who had previously ignored them
Image credits: Samshine75
Image credits: rawpixel.com / freepik (not the actual photo)
Well, this time the poster didn't receive any answer again so they decided to call the cops who came and towed the car
Image credits: Samshine75
Unsurprisingly, that left the Airbnb owner livid, but the poster assured her that the guests had a chance to move their car away, and she also had a chance to answer them to avoid all the drama
Airbnb’s guests and an ignorant neighbor are what today’s story is all about. The poster lives in a neighborhood where they have had many problems with people staying at a neighboring Airbnb; one even included a gunfight! This one does not include any gory incidents, but rather, it has some absolutely entitled guests.
Well, these guests had parked their car in the shared driveway and completely blocked it for OP. However, a kind request to move it was ignored, so the poster was left with no choice but to inform the owner about it. But the owner had previously ignored OP’s messages, which didn't give them much hope of receiving help from her.
So, the poster called the non-emergency police line, who said that they would make the guests move it. Surprisingly, even for OP, they came and towed it away. Now the owner was also angry and texted the poster that they didn’t give a chance for the guests to move the car. And quite frankly, this was very unreasonable of her.
OP told us that they were going to respond to the owner and explain that they had indeed asked the guests and even contacted her about it. But they had faced ignorance from both ends. They were also going to explain that they were not aware that the cops were going to tow the vehicle.
After facing the neighbor's fury, OP was probably feeling confused, so they vented on Reddit and got a bunch of responses in favor of their actions.
Image credits: sarah b / unsplash (not the actual photo)
According to Statista, there are over five million Airbnb hosts renting out properties all over the world. So, while this industry is booming, there are also a lot of problems that are increasing because of it.
For instance, a study has indicated that while such short-term rentals have positive effects, the negative effects are greater in comparison. The study also reported that people were most worried about the sense of community being damaged.
And when you look at the experience that the poster had, we can easily understand people's concerns about short-term rentals like Airbnb. Folks online were also in favor of the poster as they claimed that they did the right thing.
People felt that it was not their duty to tell the guests about the shared parking, as the owner of the house should have clearly mentioned it in her listing. Folks also argued that they had informed the neighbor about it, which they said was very thoughtful. They felt that the neighbor was quite unreasonable in being angry with OP.
As they mentioned, they had no clue that the cops would come and tow the car. The lady also had no right to be angry with OP after she had ignored their past messages multiple times. Many folks advised the poster to complain about the incident and the house owner on Airbnb’s site. And it sounds like a pretty reasonable thing to do rather than constantly face such issues.
Wouldn’t you agree? Also, what advice do you have for OP? Leave your thoughts in the comments.
Folks backed the poster, claiming that it wasn't their fault, while they considered the Airbnb owner's negligence and the guests' attitude the culprits of the situation
