Couple Gets Revenge on Airbnb Host Who Wouldn’t Cancel Booking

1.4K

Whoa, y’all! I know people can do pretty revengeful stuff sometimes, but this takes the cake!

OK, so, with the proliferation of Airbnb all over the world, its rules and policies about cancellations have been plainly laid out. Essentially, Hosts are allowed make their own cancellation policies, although they have to be in line with Airbnb’s guidances. Therefore, the amount of any refund depends on the Host’s cancellation policy and the time and date you cancel in relation to your arrival date.

Obviously, one should take an Airbnb’s cancellation policy into account when making a reservation. Then again, one should also take everything else about an Airbnb’s listing into account when making that reservation (say, for example, where it is), or you wind up with a situation like this…

Seoul Broadcasting System is reporting that an unidentified Chinese couple got their revenge on an Airbnb owner in South Korea, only identified as “Mr. Lee,” when he wouldn’t cancel their upcoming reservation.

The couple apparently used Airbnb to book a stay in the man’s vacation home in Seoul for 25 days, beginning on March 6th. However they eventually somehow realized the home wasn’t in the city center, but more on the outskirts of town and not in an area that would “work” with their intended travel plans.

Three days before their accommodations would have started, they asked the owner if they could cancel, stating they had covid (covid-related cancellations ended in the U.S. for bookings made on or after May 31, 2022. The rules in South Korea are different). Mr. Lee asked to see proof of their illness, as per Airbnb’s regulations.

To this, the couple said they would continue with the reservation as planned. However Mr. Lee said they then changed their name and nationality on the account. He added that the couple also asked him several times if there were cameras in the home. He told them there were not.

The couple checked in and as far as Mr. Lee could tell, there didn’t appear to be any problems. But on March 27th (21 days into their 25-day stay), he got a phone call from his local gas company. They said there was a suspected gas leak in the vacation home that needed to be inspected. Mr. Lee left word for the guests, asked for their understanding, and met the gas company at the home.

Mr. Lee said he arrived at a house with no sign of any customers. But it did have a wide open window, the gas in the oven and stovetop burners turned on full blast, and every single light and tap in the house turned on.

All told, they had used up 645m’ of gas, costing 640,000 won ($484) and 120 tons of tap water (Seoul Waterworks Headquarters suggested it was, “the amount used by eight adults for two months”), costing 169,920 won ($128).

Although there were no cameras inside the house, there was a CCTV camera that showed the outside of the home. Mr. Lee looked at that footage, starting with the time when the couple began their stay. They had actually only remained in the home for 5 days, at which time they took all their things and left. After that, they came back to the house once every 3 or 4 days, just for a few minutes, and then would leave again.

Mr. Lee left a message for the couple. Their reply said they had already left South Korea and were back in China.

Mr. Lee then asked Airbnb to help him. Their reply was, “According to the terms and Conditions, you can force guests to pay for property damage, but in the case of utility bills, you can’t do that ‘without the guest’s consent.”

Mr. Lee sent one last message to his former house guests, but their reply was, “There was no problem with their use.”

Unfortunately, Mr. Lee is going to be stuck with the $612 in bills. SBS suggests if the Airbnb guests lived in South Korea, he potentially could sue them through domestic civil lawsuits. But since enforcement against foreigners is virtually impossible, he’s out of luck.

Poor guy.

So yeah, that was SOME revenge! Really crappy revenge, too, since (A) it was the couple’s own fault they decided to cancel and (B) Mr. Lee was only following the rules set up by Airbnb.

The couple were a couple of A-holes.

Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.

Want to sponsor a post, write something for Your Mileage May Vary, or put ads on our site? Click here for more info.

Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and sign up to get emailed notifications of when we post.

Whether you’ve read our articles before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!

This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary