‘XXX Freak Fest’ at Airbnb rental a lesson in online dealings

Airbnb, the company that lets users rent their apartments and homes to others, found itself working overtime this weekend to help a New York man whose apartment ended up being used for an adult party.

Ari Teman, who identifies himself as a comedian on Twitter, messaged the company through Twitter on Saturday after discovering that the person he had rented his Manhattan apartment to had used it for an “XXX Freak Fest.�

As recounted by a blog posted on Tumblr and a report by Gawker, Teman agreed to rent his apartment to a man who has been identified only as “David.� Teman went out for dinner and returned to his building to pick up a suitcase before leaving the city for the weekend.

Upon returning, Teman found David in the building lobby and heard him telling others “they’re shutting us down.� Teman quickly began investigating the Gmail address and phone number David had provided and found that the number was associated with tweets that had been sent promoting an “XXX Freak Fest� at his apartment.

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In his apartment, Teman found “18 large, heavyset men and women who were in informal attire.� He also found music equipment, liquor, bags of condoms, overturned furniture and some stuffed animals that “were abused.�

“You just sent a porn sex fest into my apartment, and now I’ve got over $87,076 in losses,� Teman wrote on Tumblr. “I had to call 911 and have these ‘XXX Freak Fest’ people removed from my apartment, my super is having me evicted by my landlord, and I do not feel safe here anymore since hundreds of people got a text saying there’s an XXX sex fest in my apartment and continue showing up, according to the doormen who I’ll never be able to look in the face again.�

Fortunately for Teman, Airbnb responded quickly. The company said it has changed Teman’s locks for him, set him up with a hotel for the next week and wired him $23,817. Airbnb said it will also continue to help Teman as he moves on from the incident.

“Over 11 million guests have had a safe and positive experience on Airbnb and problems for hosts and guests are incredibly rare, but when they happen, we try to help make things right,� the company said in a statement. “We were appalled when we learned about this incident and we took immediate action to help this host. The individual who rented this space has been permanently removed from our site.�

As mentioned by Gawker, the whole episode isn’t a reason to avoid using online service like Airbnb. But it is a reminder that when users deal with others through the Internet, they must do so with a level of caution.

Had Teman simply searched David’s information on Google before agreeing to rent out his place, he would’ve seen David’s “XXX Freak Fest� tweets beforehand.

So if you use Tinder to find dates, Craigslist to buy and sell items, or Airbnb to look for places to rent or find users who are willing to rent your properties, make sure you at least look up the people you are meeting with before you meet them.

In the age of Google, Facebook, Twitter and so many other services, it’s possible to find someone’s digital trail and get a feel for the kind of person they are.

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