Auckland teens who trashed Airbnb caused thousands of damage, owner mocks

A group of teens who trashed an Airbnb after holding a drunken party are now mocking the property owner on social media.

But the owner, who did not want to be identified, does not back down and has already found some of the young people who attended the party and has reported the matter to the police for investigation.

The woman said she knew when she opened the door to the new apartment in central Auckland, which she had posted on Airbnb in July, that something was wrong when she was filled with the stench of alcohol and urine.

“As soon as I walked in I could smell the stench of alcohol and urine, they hadn’t flushed the toilet. It was horrible.

“There was a lot of dirty clothes and all these crumbs and other things on the floor, stains on the carpet. A huge hole in the wall and a broken door.”

She said she had been contacted by a person through Airbnb who wanted to rent her property for Saturday night.

They told him it would be for two people who were in town visiting their family. The man said that his “younger brother” would collect the key, to which she agreed.

As Auckland is at level 2.5, he did a contactless check-in, which means he saw it on CCTV footage but never got to meet him in person.

When he checked the reservation app the next day, he noticed that the reservation was gone and all communication with him was gone.

He finally went to the property that afternoon and made the discovery.

While Airbnb would cover the costs of the damage through its host guarantee policy, it was now more upset by the antics of the teens.

“Apparently there was another party hosted by a group of high school students in Auckland on the same night, and I think it’s a problem that needs to be stopped.

“These high school students can’t think they can book under a false name and think they can get away with damaging the property and then laugh at it.”

One of those who helped organize the property had sent her a message on social media, under the name “kefe mata usi”, which is a swear word in Tongan, laughing that she would never find him.

“Hahaha (reservation name) is just a random person on Facebook. I decided to use his name when we hired this airbnb. Use nva gon find the realppl,” he wrote.

He had spoken with the father of a 14-year-old girl who had been at the party for only a short time.

The father told the Herald that his daughter found out about the party on social media.

Arriving with a friend around 8:30 pm, there were already around 25 people, between 14 and possibly 17 or 18, drinking.

“There were really drunk people there, then these teenage boys really started getting into the liquor and they were fighting and doing stupid things like that and then it started to get out of control and she left, with her friend.”

He also witnessed someone fall through the door.

“She’s in a lot of trouble right now … but she didn’t do any of the damage. [Daughter] he has learned his lesson well and truly. “

He said he didn’t know any of the people at the party and that he sympathized with the property owner.

The incident now left the owner and her family wondering whether to go to the trouble of continuing with Airbnb.

“It’s actually making me question whether it’s safe to do all of this. We’re rethinking this whole Airbnb thing, we just don’t want to take any more chances.”

Derek Nolan, Airbnb’s head of public policy for New Zealand and Australia, was “deeply disappointed” to learn of the incident and suspended the guest’s account while he investigated.

“We are ready to support the host through our Host Guarantee. Reported behavior is completely unacceptable and has no place on Airbnb.

“While negative incidents are extremely rare, Airbnb has a zero tolerance for such activity and we continue to communicate this to our community. The vast majority of hosts and guests are good neighbors and respectful travelers.”

Airbnb guests must be at least 18 years old.

Between August 1, 2018 and July 31, 2019, 0.03 percent of trips on Airbnb had a major claim paid (US $ 500 or more) and 0.05 percent of trips had a problem related to the security reported by a host or guest.

A police spokesman said a complaint was received on Sunday regarding reported damage to an Airbnb property in Auckland’s CBD over the weekend.

“More information has been provided to the police today and this information is currently being evaluated.”