Airbnb guest shocked to find belongings thrown on the street by host who mistook check-out date in Washington, DC

A customer of Airbnb had a shocking experience when they found their belongings thrown out on the street by their host, who had mistaken their leaving date.

The customer, who was identified as “PM” by The Guardian, said they had booked an apartment in Washington, DC, for a night and returned late to find it cleaned and ready for a new guest.

The customer told the British outlet that they saw their passport and other items in grocery bags on the sidewalk. They contacted the host, who claimed that they had overstayed and that another guest was arriving in the morning.

“I showed my booking confirmation stating checkout was 11 a.m. the following morning, and she looked sheepish,” the customer said of the host’s reaction.

The host let the customer stay for the night, but refused to offer any compensation. The customer also said that Airbnb was unhelpful and did not respond until 3 a.m. The company told them repeatedly that it could not do anything.

Jake Shuter-Ross, a spokesperson for Airbnb, told Insider news that this was a “rare” issue and that the company had apologized and refunded the customer. He said that Airbnb also gave the customer some extra money to make up for the inconvenience, but only after The Guardian raised the case.

According to the British newspaper, the compensation consisted of half of the money back and half of it in credit for a future stay.

Shuter-Ross also said that the company had warned the host about their behavior and that they were a “Superhost” who had never received any complaints like this before.

He added that the company had reached out to the customer to try to make things right, but did not specify how.

This is not the first time that Airbnb has been accused of being slow to react to problems. In 2018, a couple who had their window smashed by their host had to wait for months to get a refund from Airbnb, which only happened after The Boston Globe intervened.

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In 2022, a man whose home was falsely listed as an Airbnb for months tried to alert the company for more than a year, but nothing was done until Insider contacted them. The home was likely used in a scam to trick customers.

And in 2023, Airbnb took several months to compensate a couple whose host smashed through their window in a frenzy.

Though the company promised the couple a refund of $708, the money came through only after The Boston Globe made inquiries.

Airbnb declined to pay the couple the $5,000 compensation they requested, offering $2,700 and therapy sessions instead, the paper reported.