Sneaky Dangers Of Airbnbs You Might Not Have Considered

At first glance, staying in one of Airbnb's more than 8 million active listings worldwide can seem like a convenient option for your next vacation. These accommodations can handle large groups and enable you to feel more at home than in a traditional cramped hotel room. While there are a few enticing benefits to choosing an Airbnb, there are also some serious potential dangers that travelers need to be aware of before booking.

The reality is that hotels are run by professionals in the hospitality industry, and there is a lot of oversight to maintain guest comfort and safety. In contrast, Airbnb properties are managed by random individuals or rental companies who may not be able to provide the same level of protection and luxury. There are certain unavoidable problems with Airbnb that have driven travelers to stop using the app completely. Before you fully commit to staying in this type of dwelling on your next trip, carefully consider each of the very real risks of Airbnb.

Airbnb encourages its hosts to buff up their stays with basic home safety features, like carbon monoxide detectors and smoke alarms. In fact, they're so insistent that the platform even offers to send its hosts a free alarm if their property uses fuel. However, the keyword in all of this is "encourage." Hosts are not necessarily required to take these precautions, and many places around the world use that freedom to neglect their equipment or opt-out altogether. 

One analysis of complaints on Airbnb (compiled by Asher & Lyric) discovered that 581 people encountered dangerous safety features during their stay, such as problems with the carbon monoxide detector or fire hazards. An individual detailed their experience with such a dilemma in r/AirBnB, stating, "We quickly learn that a gas space heater is the only heat. We look for a carbon monoxide detector, none in the unit. I look at the listing and it states the unit has heat and air. I contact host and ask if the space heater is the primary heat and he states that it is. I look up the unit on the company website and it states that it is unsafe for sleeping and to always have the room vented and a carbon monoxide detector."

Before you officially book an Airbnb, it's smart to comb through the listing thoroughly to figure out what sorts of safety features will be provided. Unfortunately, even this preparedness isn't always enough. Another traveler in r/AirBnB expressed how they booked a place that said it did have carbon monoxide detectors in the listing, but there were none there upon arrival at the property. 

Imagine opening the door to your Airbnb only to be greeted by a putrid scent, dust covering every surface, and stained blankets crumpled up on the bed. That bubbly feeling of excitement for your trip immediately spoils to dread when you realize that you're stuck with dirty accommodation. While many people are aware of the common red flags of bad hotels these days, it is easier to be fooled by an Airbnb listing. Plus, there's a much higher chance of these spaces being unclean since it's not necessarily being tended to by a professional housekeeping team between each guest. 

The nastiness that people have uncovered at Airbnbs is genuinely shocking. One traveler shared the gross details of their stay in r/AirBnb, explaining, "As my husband and I were going to bed we noticed the pillows had black hair all over the pillows. Intuitively I pulled back the comforter and sheets. There were hard, yellow stains and hair on the sheets. I then decided to look at our kids beds. There was a lot of hair but also one of the pillows had dried blood stains on it." In the event your Airbnb isn't as pristine as it should be, the platform recommends taking photos of the evidence and submitting a request to the website for a refund. Even if you get your money back or are offered a new stay, it's still a giant hassle when you only have limited time to enjoy your vacation. 

Lurking among the thousands of legitimate Airbnb listings are tons of fake ones waiting in the shadows to ruin somebody's trip. In 2023 alone, the website had to take down 59,000 fraudulent listings. While you might think it would be obvious to spot one of these fraudsters, they can appear eerily real. It's possible for anyone to get caught up in this scam that thrives on Airbnb, and you may not even know that you've been bamboozled until you try to check in. 

There are a few smart tricks you can use to deduce whether an accommodation actually exists. One brilliant commenter on r/AirBnb suggested downloading the photos of the home or apartment and searching for them on a website called tineye.com. It can help you spot fake photos on an Airbnb listing by showing if the images have been used elsewhere on the internet. 

Even if the place does actually exist, you still face a lot of unpredictability. Your Airbnb host could cancel at the last minute and leave you completely stranded in a foreign city. It's true that Airbnb promises to fully refund you or provide credits to re-book another spot in the event that your host cancels without warning. Still, who wants all that drama on their plate during a trip? 

The idea that there could be tiny hidden cameras concealed around your Airbnb watching your every move sounds like the beginning of a horror movie. While it is terrifying enough to be a plot on the big screen, this situation has happened at numerous listings because cameras were actually allowed in Airbnbs for a very long time. In 2024, the company finally laid down the law and placed a worldwide ban on security cameras  recording inside their properties. They had good reason to take such drastic measures, as it was becoming a major violation for guests. 

Only a few years ago, a 54-year-old Airbnb host in Texas was slammed with criminal charges after it was uncovered that he was recording unsuspecting guests in compromising bedroom situations without their knowledge. The covert camera at the property looked like it was just a power adapter, but it was really capturing everything they did in private. Officers found that the host was holding onto 2,100 indecent photos of people who stayed at his Airbnb over the years. 

While the platform is clearly trying to take this type of thing more seriously, the Texas situation is far from a one-off incident. One person in r/travel described finding a camera tucked away in their stay, writing, "I encountered one in the living room and it was pointed towards the back door of the house, but looked like it still had a good field of view of the living room. It wasn't fully hidden, but wasn't in plain sight either (behind a photo frame on mantle of fireplace)." While this problem is becoming less frequent as Airbnb begins to take it more seriously, the feeling of being watched could be hard to shake off after hearing all the hidden camera stories. 

Even if you do your due diligence to research an Airbnb's location, it's difficult to tell through the internet whether a particular corner of a city is safe. There is a possibility that you could show up at the accommodation only to find that it's tucked away down a dark alley where you feel uncomfortable. Reading reviews from former occupants can be a good way to get familiar with the neighborhood from afar. 

But what if you're staying at an Airbnb with no reviews, and the reality doesn't dawn until your arrival? It can be a seriously dicey situation. This happened to one traveler who outlined in r/REBubble: "I stayed in an AirBnb a few years ago in Louisville. Was a very bad neighborhood. Heard multiple gunshots that night and the worst part was the guy wouldn't give me a key to the place he just left the door unlocked and expected us to do the same when we left. I ended up locking it and breaking in myself later that night." To avoid this development playing out in the middle of your vacation, Airbnb recommends asking hosts about the neighborhood and street location of a stay in advance to make sure you'll be at ease, although it is always best to do your own research as well.

You never have to worry about being tossed from your room at a moment's notice when you stay in a hotel. On the other hand, this is a realistic concern when you're spending your vacation in an Airbnb. There are several places around the world (like Japan, Singapore, and New York) where there are very strict rules for having short-term rentals; they may even be straight-up prohibited. The local authorities in these popular destinations have been known to kick vacationers out of their Airbnb mid-trip because the property is violating the regulations. 

There doesn't necessarily have to be any law-breaking for you to get unexpectedly booted from your Airbnb. A traveler told The Guardian that she returned to her Airbnb one evening to see that all her stuff had been left outside the building for anyone to take. It turned out that the host got confused about the dates and thought the guest was meant to check out earlier that morning, but it's still a very worrisome reaction that could've landed the guest in a perilous situation. 

Many people worry about the risk of getting pick-pocketed while traveling but assume that their belongings will be perfectly safe at their lodging. At a hotel that's crawling in personnel and plastered with security cameras throughout the common areas, this is probably accurate. However, security is much less straightforward at an Airbnb, and it has resulted in many horror stories of guests being robbed from the place they least expect. 

A traveler in r/AirBnb said this happened to them, reporting to the subreddit, "I was staying in Barcelona for a month and someone broke in on my second-to-last night and stole my laptops, passport, and a lot of clothing. Curiously, there was no sign of forced entry (I used a physical key during my stay) and the robbers did not steal any of the host's electronics. I immediately contacted my host and Airbnb. This was nearly a month ago. Since then, the host has gone radio silent, which honestly makes me think he was in on the robbery." This is a much more regular occurrence on the platform than anybody would like. Another person in r/AirBnb described being the victim of a devastating theft where their family had around $10,000 worth of electronics and jewelry stolen from their Airbnb while they were out eating dinner. 

There are a few precautions you can take to make your Airbnb stay safer and reduce your chances of being swindled. Keep anything important locked in your baggage and tuck it away outside of obvious view. It is also a wise idea to scour the reviews from former visitors to verify that the Airbnb you're considering is reliable and secure. 

One of the very first things that most people do when they freshly arrive at an Airbnb is connect their devices to the property's Wi-Fi. While this decision seems like you're just harmlessly taking advantage of the accommodation's amenities, it can come with some surprising threats. Generally, the Wi-Fi at these stays doesn't have the best security, leaving a wide open door for cyber-criminals.

There are a bunch of different ways that hackers can use an internet network to gain access to your information, such as setting up fake hotspots or even virtually breaking into the Wi-Fi to secretly spy on your data. As one user advised in r/cybersecurity, "A good rule of thumb: If you didn't configure the network, assume it's not safe to do anything sensitive on." This includes things like logging into your bank account or buying things with your credit card. 

Thankfully, investing in a VPN is a fairly simple way to overcome this potential danger. A virtual private network — dubbed VPN for short — encrypts everything you do online to safeguard your information. With your VPN switched on, you'll be able to connect to any Airbnb or public Wi-FI without worrying about unseen hackers peeping in on you. 

Splurging on a vacation is expensive enough. The last thing you need is to return home after a fun-filled trip only to receive an unanticipated bill from your Airbnb for apparent damages. Many travelers say that they've had hosts make false claims of defacement to squeeze a little extra cash out of them.

An individual in r/Airbnb revealed their brush with this tactic, saying, "I had this happen where they claimed I had spilt something on the bed and wanted a new mattress for like 500 euros. Firstly, it was a cheap ikea foam mattress, it didn't cost that, and secondly I had no food or drink near the bed at all." Many people urge travelers to take a video of the space before checking out in case a host tries to make false damage claims. A fellow commenter in r/Airbnb disclosed that they record a video of every single accommodation because it serves as both a memento and insurance.

Even if your host isn't blatantly scamming, many Airbnbs come with sneaky hidden fees that you don't see until after booking. One traveler told BuzzFeed that an Airbnb had the nerve to charge them a $10 fee if they wanted to lock their room in a shared home! These extra fees can swiftly turn a place from a great deal to a rip-off.

With the high probability of running across a problem while staying at an Airbnb, you would hope that the hosts would at least be readily available. Alas, there is a 50/50 shot of a property owner being a strong communicator. At a classic hotel, you could simply head down to the lobby to get clarification on an issue. With Airbnb, you must sit around and wait for a response. Then, when they finally do answer, you must figure out how to properly negotiate with the Airbnb host to address your concerns or needs. 

The correspondence struggles don't end with the hosts either. Travelers have gone through equally as frustrating communication issues with Airbnb's official customer service. One person broadcasted in r/AirBnB,  "airbnb has been charging my credit card monthly for a trip I cancelled in July I have been trying for months to get help and I can't get through to anyone." The possibility of your funds being left up in the air for weeks on end can scare many visitors away from the communication-challenged rental platform. 

Overpowering sounds around your Airbnb can infest the space and make it nearly impossible to relax. This exact scene ruined one traveler's getaway in r/Airbnb who proclaimed, "I recently stayed at an Airbnb for a night on my birthday, which I booked because it said it was in a quiet location and looked nice. Turns out it was not a quiet location and right behind a main road which you hear loud traffic, police sirens etc throughout the night. Not only this but I was woken at 12 a.m. to a loud man shouting and screaming nonstop outside my window literally." Visitors are welcome to file a claim or complaint to Airbnb, but this doesn't guarantee a ruling in their favor. 

Since exterior noises are outside of the host's control, it can be tough to figure out what to do if your Airbnb experience doesn't meet your expectations because of this. Chances are that unexpected sounds won't be perceived as a big enough issue for a full refund. While blaring horns and raised voices may not put your life in jeopardy, it could spell out the downfall of your vacation if you can't fall asleep at night. 

The dangers of Airbnb aren't limited to the guests who stay at the properties. These types of short-term rentals can actually be even more detrimental to the communities where they're located. When Airbnb listings start popping up, it doesn't take long for the cost of living around the area to skyrocket. It supercharges gentrification and makes it exceedingly difficult for the standard resident to afford housing.

A study published by the Social Science Research Network made the harrowing discovery that a 1% uptick in a city's Airbnb listings raised the local rent prices by 0.018% and the cost of buying a home by 0.026%. Many real people have witnessed the implications of this on their own home turf. One person addressed the issue in r/AirBnB, explaining, "I live in a tourist spot & it is almost impossible to find a long term apartment here. Every place is hiring but no one can find a place to live because it's all STR." Before you decide to support the platform by booking an Airbnb, think about the long-term impacts this decision could have on the destination's stability in the future.