An Ottawa woman said she repeatedly found wandering tourists outside her front door thinking they had rented her home on Airbnb. His questions about how this happened have, until now, gone unanswered.
The strangers, who insisted they rented her house using the popular website, began knocking on Camille Xu’s door about two months ago, even though the mother recently said she had no account. Airbnb and that, therefore, he was unlikely to list his house on the site.
When CBC contacted the company, Airbnb justified the series of unwanted visits by typo in the ad in question.
And that mistake repeats four times ?! Sounds pretty ridiculous to mereaction of Ms. Xu, who says he thought of leaving the place because of these strange and disturbing visits.
Si Ms. Xu, who lives barrhavenin the southern suburbs of Ottawa, explains that he encountered several travelers, with their suitcases on wheels, whom he had to convince that his home was unavailable.
Each time, the travelers try to prove to him that they actually reserved his house. In each case, Ms. Xu is forced to close the door, leaving complete strangers who have already paid non-refundable bills.
You are approached by strangers who want to move into your housesummary of Ms. Xu, who finally posted a handwritten sign on his front door to deter visitors.
A house for rent nearby
Ms. explained. Xu that he contacted Airbnb twice. In each case, he was promised that a team would be responsible for answering him. That has not been done yet.
They keep blaming it on you instead of understanding what is going on. How can no one solve the problem? he asked.
Ms. found out. Xu from unwanted guests called the host to offer his house for rent Books. He has finally downloaded the app Airbnb to check the calendar availability accessible on offers associated with this account.
I’m going crazyhis confession.
Airbnb declined an interview request to comment on the matter, but said CBC that when creating the ad for a new neighborhood rental, a user makes a typo when entering the property address.
The company said that to avoid misrepresentation, only Airbnb a residential address may change once an ad has been placed online.
The travelers arrived
Although Ms. contacted. Xu in the company about these unwanted guests for several weeks, travelers continue to be directed to his home.
When he was approached by CBC, Books denied any problems.
I heard no one tell me he went to the wrong address. Take care of yourselfhe simply replied, before preventing the journalist from continuing to send him messages.
Ms. wondered. Xu why the listings associated with this account are priced at approximately one-third the value of similar homes in his area.
An experiment spoonaccording to an expert
CBC failed to track down one of the four groups that arrived at Ms. Xu, because they did not complain to Books sent to the wrong address.
Asher Fergusonwho investigated the complaints filed against Airbnb for a few years, however it was thought that people were likely to complain. He called the experiences of Ms. Xu spoonsreminiscing on the 2017 encounter that prompted his research.
At that time, Asher Ferguson and his young family had a hard time finding their Airbnb rental. They were once redirected and then told they had to pay cash because of a payment processing problems along with the platform.
Asher Ferguson still believes the platform should do more to verify that listed properties are where they are claimed to be, and to ensure more security around verifying host identities.
He believes that some hosts continue to advertise properties that do not exist or make multiple listings for the same location at different prices, simply to cancel the booking of guests who book at a lower price. .
Asher Ferguson Travelers are recommended to avoid listings with reviews less than 4.85/5 and those with less than 30 reviews.
With information from Stu Millsng CBC News
Source: Radio-Canada
