A Chicago couple said a popular house-sharing website would not take responsibility after bedbugs covered them in bite marks during a recent vacation in New Orleans.
Arielle, who requested that her last name not be published, said she and her husband enjoyed their recent trip to The Big Easy until they started itching.
“We happened to be walking through a cemetery and garden district doing tourist things and found a cluster of bites,” Arielle said. “I thought I got bitten by mosquitos.”
She said the itching continued the following night.
“We lifted the mattress and we literally found additional bugs crawling around on the mattress,” Arielle said.
Arielle had booked a New Orleans apartment through Airbnb. She said she complained to the owner, who responded quickly by arranging a refund through Airbnb.
“He was very concerned, certainly, and he reacted pretty fast,” Arielle said.
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Still, the couple did not want the unwanted guests traveling back to Chicago with them. So they threw out their luggage. Arielle also expected Airbnb to pick up the $304 cost of two new suitcases and a bed bug trap to make sure none of the pests made it home.
She said the company refused at first.
“It was a little unnerving to think that they had the capability to do so, but they were just resisting me,” Arielle said.
NBC 5 Responds contacted Airbnb asking if the company could look into the matter. Within days, the couple’s costs were covered.
“More than 80 million people have had safe, positive experiences on Airbnb and if something goes wrong, we work quickly to make it right, just as we did for this guest,” wrote an Airbnb spokesperson.
Arielle said she is grateful for the refund. But she said she hopes home-sharing companies take responsibility for their customers in similar situations.
“At the end of the day it’s frustrating to think that there’s probably others like me in the same situation that have no recourse, in that, I’m not sure if Airbnb going forward is going to figure out how to handle these situations and assume responsibility for tenants of people who are renting on behalf of Airbnb,” Arielle said.
Airbnb does have a guest refund policy and it appears the company went beyond what its policy covers.
Meanwhile, the US Environmental Protection Agency urges travelers who return home to unpack directly into a washing machine and inspect their luggage carefully.
