EXCLUSIVE: Peninsula woman says home trashed by Airbnb guest possibly using rental to shoot porn

Byby Cornell Barnard KGO logo
Thursday, August 18, 2016
This image shows a woman's bathroom after she said it was damaged by a guest whom she rented it to on Airbnb.
This image shows a woman's bathroom after she said it was damaged by a guest whom she rented it to on Airbnb.
vod-KGo-TV

MENLO PARK Calif. (KGO) -- A Peninsula woman is left to deal with a massive cleanup at her home. She says a guest trashed it after renting it out on the popular home sharing website Airbnb.

What's even more shocking is that the she claims evidence suggests the guest who rented her home was a sex worker and was shooting porn.

The woman who asked not to be identified posted video on Facebook showing a huge mess. Her home had extensive water damage after a guest, she found on Airbnb, left the bathtub running.

"There was water pouring from the second floor to the first floor," she said.

She believes it was an accident, but damage estimates now top $10,000.

"The place is destroyed," she said.

She says Airbnb was slow to respond when she called to report the damage, but worse is that she didn't realize who the renter was. The woman renting the room told the owner she was a real estate agent, but things didn't add up.

"As the pieces fell into place that she was more than likley using my bathroom as a business for her to take photos of herself," the homeowner said.

She believes her guest was a sex worker who left behind sex toys and installed extra lighting in the bathroom, and left behind a handwritten shot sheet, too X-rated to show, of sexy pictures she was possibly planning to take.

"I gave my key to someone who Airbnb didn't check their ID," she said.

In a statement, Airbnb said: "We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and have removed this guest from our platform."

Airbnb offers safeguards. It says hosts can verify ID on its website, requiring guests provide a government ID.

The homeowner says her guest is now gone and Airbnb says it is working cover the cost of damage.