A homeowner expressed feeling “betrayed” by Airbnb after an unexpected guest turned her once peaceful home into a chaotic environment.
Barbara Jordan, residing in Southfields, London, anticipated a visitor named “Juliana” for a fortnight stay in her spare room. However, to her surprise, an entirely different individual, “Katia,” whose appearance deviated from the profile photo on the platform, arrived instead.
Despite Airbnb advising that the decision to host Katia was hers, Jordan hesitantly agreed to let her stay, initially finding her to be “charming” and “considerate.”
Unfortunately, the situation quickly deteriorated as Katia’s demeanor shifted to “obnoxious,” “arrogant,” and “discourteous,” with repeated instances of her allegedly “yelling” at Jordan.
The tensions escalated when Katia reportedly “lost her temper” over her laundry being taken in from the rain, ignored recycling rules, and cluttered the kitchen with boxes from takeaways and shopping.
Reflecting on her six years of hosting with Airbnb, Jordan shared with the Daily Mail, “She turned into a nightmare, consistently responding rudely whenever I made a request.”
‘I said to her that I’d brought her washing in on the rack and it’s beside my table. She absolutely hit the roof. She just completely lost it and was shouting at me for bringing in her wash.’
Airbnb has confirmed personal travel home reservations must be booked by the guest staying at the listing, and that they are investigating Katia’s stay.
Ms Jordan feels ‘let down’ by the short-term rental site, she said, believing more measures should be put in place to protect hosts.
Barbara Jordan (pictured) claims she was ‘let down’ by Airbnb after a woman booked to stay in her spare room – only for a different person to show up and turn her house into a ‘nightmare’
The guest bedroom in Ms Jordan’s home in Southfields, which she rents out on Airbnb
Katia appeared to use Juliana’s Airbnb account to leave Ms Jordan a one star review, which the homeowner fears could impact her business
‘I felt that Airbnb should not permit this to happen, but the fact was she turned out to be, for the first few days, really nice. She was charming, and appeared to be considerate,’ Ms Jordan said.
Days after checking in, Katia requested to extend her stay by a further two weeks, asking to pay by cash, Ms Jordan claimed.
The homeowner reluctantly accepted, but insisted Katia pay through the official Airbnb website via Juliana’s account.
According to Ms Jordan, Katia claimed to work as a stylist to footballers wives, and booked her stay via her ’employee’ Juliana, who is listed as a film director.
Within days of her approved extension Katia showed her ‘ugly personality’, allegedly ‘screaming’ at the homeowner on multiple occasions.
At one point, she shut herself in her room for 17 hours, Ms Jordan claimed, causing the Airbnb host to fear she was ‘unconscious or worse still, dead’.
‘I went and knocked on her door because I was concerned because of her mood change – I don’t know what had happened,’ the homeowner said.
‘I was concerned – I hadn’t seen her – she could be lying dead in there or taken an overdose. I knocked on the door and there was no answer; I opened the door and she screamed at me that she was resting.’
Meanwhile, Ms Jordan said Katia frequently refused to recycle, despite the homeowner warningshe could be hit with a council fine for not doing so.
‘The third time I asked her to do it she virtually just shut the door in my face,’ Ms Jordan said.
The modern bathroom in Ms Jordan’s guest bedroom, where Katia stayed
The guest kitchen in Ms Jordan’s guest room, which comes with its own sink and fridge
Ms Jordan, who has been hosting on Airbnb for six years, told the Daily Mail: ‘She just became a nightmare, and she was always rude when I asked her to do anything’
‘There were so many different little boxes and packets from her shopping, and nothing was done properly. She just became a nightmare, and she was always rude when I asked her to do anything.
‘She was getting food deliveries practically every night. There was sushi mixing with perfectly good paper that could be recycled. But she didn’t like me asking her to do it.’
After her extension, Katia allegedly asked to prolong her stay again by another two weeks, but Ms Jordan declined.
‘I just sent her a message saying Katia, I’m sorry but I can’t have you stay – I’m not going to accept your next extension, I just can’t do it. I said I’m quite happy to refer you to other posts in the area that I know,’ the homeowner claimed.
After she left, Katia appeared to use Juliana’s Airbnb account to leave Ms Jordan a one star review, which the host fears could impact her business.
Within the review, she wrote: ‘This was by far the worst experience I’ve ever had with Airbnb. The host didn’t respect my privacy and kept knocking on my door to vent about personal issues, which made me feel very uncomfortable.’
But Ms Jordan claimed she only knocked on Katia’s door five times during her 27-night stay – one of which was to check on her welfare and another because she left the front door wide open.
Responding to the negative review, Ms Jordan wrote: ‘You chose to be rude, discourteous and plainly display a very arrogant and ugly personality.’
She added: ‘The review left here about me and my home is in sheer retaliation to my refusal to give Katia a further extension and to the fact that I gave her notice to leave because of her obnoxious behaviour.’
Ms Jordan said she feels ‘let down’ by Airbnb, which she believes should have done more to prevent a person staying in her home after using a different account to book.
Airbnb said they are investigating the situation.
