An Airbnb guest is suing the platform and the owner of the short-term rental unit where he says after the host used video footage from stay to ruin his marriage – as payback for refusing to pay extra fees.
The Memphis home was described as a retreat capable of accommodating up to 12 guests, for a weekend gathering with friends. The man rented it for $567 per night and listed four guests, later informing the owner that there would be nine for dinner. However the owner cited city restrictions and her property’s capacity and limiting the number of people who would use the place to eight – and imposing additional charges for the guest count.
On the evening in question, neighbors complained about noise and profanity, so the owner evicted the guests. However the renter says there was no party, no noise, and no unauthorized guests.
- The guests left
- The renter left a negative review
- And the owner was livid
The Airbnb host apparently sent the guest a suggestive photo of him with another woman from the unit’s doorbell camera – and threatened to share it with his guest’s wife.
Airbnb backed the host in the dispute – removing the negative review, threatening to terminate the guest’s account, and supporting a $960 bill for house rule violations. When he refused to pay, the photo was sent to his wife.
Now he’s suing for violations of privacy as well as emotional and marital harm, but didn’t the guy harm his marriage by cheating in the first place? And doing it outside, in front of cameras – in fact the listing said, “Security cameras on the exterior of the house are in use at all times.”
I’m one of the biggest critics of how big a pain many Airbnbs can be, and it’s kind of a jerk move for the host to insert themselves into the marriage in this way, but – other than the listing advertising 9 guests being ok, and then trying to charge extra for that – isn’t this mostly on the guest?
Thing 1 holds back their opinion until viewing the doorbell-cam footage. C’mon Gary, get us a copy of the video!
Just when you think you heard all the reasons to never stay at an Airbnb
Pretty sure it’s not legal to blackmail someone. That seems more important to discuss than most of the rest of the article.
This is disgusting behavior on the host’s part. Let the suit be settled on its own merits. The host has no idea of the harm she may inflict on any involved children, the wife, or even the “other woman”. It sounds like she might have a good case, but I’m sure I’m not the only one sick of surprise charges added in the so-called sharing economy; Uber and Airbnb, looking at you.
“isn’t this mostly on the guest?”
The issue of whether she came about the video legally is (probably) not the issue. It’s the blackmail and extortion attempt.
Telling someone you better pay up or else they’ll publicize this unflattering video is textbook blackmail. The person who blackmailed David Letterman over his affair went to jail over similar circumstances.
Extortion and blackmail are illegal. I hope this guy (as rotten as he may, if he is cheating) sues the beJesus out of the host, and ABNB while he is at it – and wins a gazillion dollars.
The host deserves to lose every penny of her assets, including her home. What about our rights to privacy? What a nutjob she is.
It’s starting to seem to me that using AirBnB is like renting from Hertz. Generally no big deal but when it goes bad it REALLY goes bad.
Hey @Kathy, I’m 100 % agreed with your post, but I wanted to ask about your last sentence: It suggests that Uber is guilty of “surprise charges”. Maybe I’m just fortunate in where I live, because whatever Uber says in their App is exactly the price that I pay, there are never any surprise charges. Granted they use dynamic pricing (my price going to the airport at 4:00 am is a lot higher than coming back at a reasonable hour), but once again this is all crystal clear in the App up front. Does Uber engage in surprise charges elsewhere in the country ?
First of all there is no right of privacy outside so, to the extent this was caught on an outside camera, I’m not sure they have a course of action. Also, I’d argue the guy hurt his marriage by running around a lot more than the host did by sharing the video. Sure it was a horrible thing to do to him but I can’t see that he has a true course of action which his behavior caused it and the cameras caught him in a public place.
Intelligent people will never (1) fly American Airlines, (2) never rent a car from Hertz and now (3) not use AirBnB. Though these entities may generally be OK to use, they apparently are the ones with the most reported problems. Why take the chance – there are many other services/choices that are available.
Yes, there is no right to privacy in public (outside cameras), but blackmail is a felony regardless of how incriminating evidence is obtained. He should go to the cops, and since she admitted it in texts, he had proof. And then post that same review on every other platform (Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google, etc.) Obviously in addition to the civil suit.
Is there no right outside ones home? Your front porch is NOT a public space. My backyard is NOT a public space.
Bingo, @Patti!
This will be SO interesting to see how this plays out in court.
It’s pretty easy to get an “incriminating” still frame from an innocuous video. For all we know he was carrying his drunk friend into the house (been there, done that.) Or the angle made something appear in a way it wasn’t.
But even if the guest was stepping out on his marriage, he’s still not in any way in the wrong with regards to his AirBnB stay. The host tried to charge him for having fewer than the advertised number of guests, the host tried to charge him after throwing him out for NOT violating the terms of the rental, and then the host committed a likely felony by blackmailing the guest.
None of that becomes OK because the guest may or may not be living up to his marital vows.
And honestly can’t see how all this apparently went right over Gary’s head.
Blackmail is blackmail, doesn’t matter that he did wrong. Why are you supporting it???
She’s gonna lose the house for being a class A biatch. I’m kind of surprised you are siding with the Airbnb and their scammer host on this one. Typical of the company never to back up guests and the host is clearly a grifter looking to milk guests for as many bogus “fees” as possible.
Just once I’d like to read about a contentious case where AirBnB backed the guest.
Obviously, many (most?) people have a positive experience with AirBnB. But the one and only time I rented with them will be the last.
I have not had a problem with a few Airbnb rentals and have had great hosts. This host was something else. Hopefully this makes it’s way through court. As for the blackmail photo, yes they were fairly close but no funny business was going on in that one.
I don’t support or condone cheating, but the host also doesn’t know if there are any other circumstances on the guest’s end. Maybe the married couple has some sort of arrangement or open relationship. Maybe they’re already struggling with infidelity on both ends and are about to start relationship counseling and perhaps work things out. It’s certainly not the host’s business what anyone is up to. As someone in an open relationship, it’s frustrating enough to have to hide this from some people to avoid being judged (including at Airbnbs). I don’t create a scene or do anything disrespectful to the property, but this depth of my personal life isn’t their business.
Blackmail is still likely going to be a felony charge though, unfortunately for superhost.
How did the Airbnb host know that the woman in the doorbell photo was not the guest’s wife? Obviously the host is not the brightest light in the room if she resorts to outright blackmail and is dumb enough to put that in a text. If she does not lose everything in this lawsuit, I hope the Judge reminds her to engage her brain next time before she sets herself up for major trouble.
What an amazing story, with no “good guy” involved at all. The renter was a total jerk and not merely because of the screwing around; it sounds like he and his party were loud, obnoxious and didn’t follow rules. As for the host, what a total creep! Who does this?
Everyone involved in this sucks.
@David R. Miller
On Feb 10th you said this site is “dead to me”.
Your words mean nothing.
Leave.
I refuse to use Airbnb. Last time I used it the owner left extremely detailed cleaning instructions. Even with a cleaning fee added on beforehand we followed the instructions to a T. Later on I get a charge for additional cleaning, the owner claimed the place was left filthy. What the owner didn’t know is that we took detailed photos just in case they decided to scam us.
It took a while but we fought it with Airbnb and they eventually sided with us. But I’ll never use them again.
Generally speaking Uber sides with the driver or delivery person
Generally speaking hotel chains customer service side with hotel management
Generally speaking airlines fiercely defend poor employees
Generally speaking AirBNB does very little when their “superhosts” scam guests
if the AIR bnb states it can accommodate 12 guests they should accommodate that number at no additional cost. Air bnb is WRONG false advertising.