Four hostages rescued in FBI raid of Houston short-term rental home, court documents confirm. (2024)
Mother, daughter duo accused of giving illegal butt injections in Cypress. (2024)
Wylie woman accused of sexually trafficking 8-year-old, using Airbnbs in Plano and Dallas (2023)
Airbnb’s silent killer: 19 carbon monoxide deaths in the last 10 years, but the company still doesn’t require detectors. In February 2014, Airbnb made a commitment: The company would require hosts to confirm that carbon monoxide detectors were installed in every listing by the end of the year. Nearly a decade later, the company has not made any such mandate — and more lives have been lost along the way. (2023)
Study explores Airbnb and crime in Auckland suburbs. A study examining house prices, Airbnb prevalence and crime has found that the more Airbnbs a suburb has, the more property-related crime there is. (2023)
In the past year, U.S. Border Patrol agents in the El Paso Sector have arrested smugglers using rental properties as stash houses and often find these people damaging properties, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). (2023)
Senior couple kidnapped, held hostage by 3 men at Airbnb in North Texas – NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth (2023)
Armed Guards and Shootings Plague Airbnb’s Party Ban. (2023)
Two party boys’ Airbnb drug-dealing empire unravelled after police made a crucial discovery. (2023)
The Party House Adjacent to Hidden Hills. The party was at a home listed on the upscale party rental site Giggster ; the fee for over 150+ attendees is $600/hr with a 6 hr minimum (2023)
Police: $5.4M worth of illegal drugs found at Scottsdale short term rental property. (2023)
3 dead, 4 hurt in ritzy LA neighborhood - another Airbnb shooting. (2023)
Cocaine bust ranks among largest ever in Buffalo; authorities suspect Mexican cartel. Following a 3½-month-long investigation led by the Erie County Sheriff's Office Narcotics and Intelligence Unit, authorities raided an Airbnb rental house on the edge of downtown Wednesday night, Jan. 18, 2023. Three people were arrested and 14 kilos of cocaine, shown to the media at a news conference Friday, was seized. (2023)
8 people arrested after human trafficking investigation in Gwinnett County. A Snellville short-term rental is where investigators say multiple suspects helped sell a minor for sex. The home, a mile from Shiloh High School, has been a concern for some neighbors for months. (2022)
Calls for more regulation of short-term rentals grows after shootout outside Tempe Airbnb. Ron Tapscott of Tempe Neighborhoods Together points not only to noise complaints, public intoxication & shootings, but he also said big business is ruining the fabric of neighborhoods & furthering the affordable housing crisis. You have ownership now that is “corporatized & industrialized.” The short-term rental where this weekend’s Airbnb party shooting occurred is owned by an LLC that owns 39 other properties in Maricopa County. (2022)
"Do you want your children and your family living next to a brothel?" Dallas police raid Plano short term rental property used by alleged sex trafficking ring (Fox4); SEX TRAFFICKING - Plano Short-Term Rental Used as Brothel, Arrests Made: Dallas Police (NBC5) (2022)
Airbnb’s Party Ban and the Challenge of Neighborhood Crime Control. Zoning is a tool for overseeing and maintaining public safety. This is why we see commerce activities located in some areas of town and residential activities located in others. (2022)
Why movies about deadly Airbnbs hit such a nerve right now. With the release of ‘Barbarian,’ the burgeoning subgenre of Airbnb Horror has come into its own. (2022)
Did you know? “[Airbnb does] not verify the identity of all of our hosts and guests nor do we verify or screen third parties who may be present during a reservation made through our platform.” Nor do the verify the suitability or safety of their listing. See pg 45 of Airbnb IPO Investment Prospectus S-1 or download this excerpt.
North Side mass shooting victim sues Airbnb and apartment owner. A victim of a mass shooting at a North Side apartment has sued the property owner and rental platform Airbnb for enabling an unruly gathering that ended with a shooter spraying bullets inside the building and onto the surrounding streets. (2022)
Florida Woman Believes The Host Of Her Air BnB Planned To Sex Traffick Her And Her Friends. A woman from Florida went to stay at an Air BnB in Tulum and hoped to have a fun vacation. Instead, it was fraught with tension starting on arrival. The main guest, Amber Jackson, and her friends believed they were about to become sex trafficking victims. (2022)
Short-term rental industry must do a better job vetting travelers. Nice to finally see an STR industry insider acknowledge that they need to do a much better job of vetting its renters. (2022)
California woman rented Michigan Airbnb for a month to meet with 14-year-old, police say. (2022)
Airbnb raises violent crime rates in cities as long-term residents are pushed out, says study. Researchers in the United States say there is a link between Airbnb rentals and violent crime in cities. Researchers found there was a positive correlation between higher penetration of Airbnb properties in an area – for example buildings containing multiple Airbnb lets – and a rise in violence. (2021)
Why Do Some Crimes Increase When Airbnbs Come to Town? A study finds that violent offenses rose in neighborhoods where more homes were converted to short-term rentals. (2021)
Is Airbnb Safe? 127,183 Airbnb Guest Complaints Expose Scams, Safety Concerns, Infestations & More. (2021)
Airbnb Fights Its ‘Party House Problem’ - The New York Times. Noise. Damages. Safety questions. Airbnb is racing to address the risks posed by partying guests before it goes public. (2020)
Massive party at NY mansion busted with 400 people. The owner rented the mansion to the party's host on Airbnb. Airbnb is continually finding it impossible to prevent party houses with Short-term Rentals. (2020)
Airbnb’s S-1 filing says in black & white they can’t guarantee the safety of hosts, guests or 3rd parties, and that they do not verify the identify of hosts or guests or other third-parties who might be present during a rental. (2020)
How Airbnb Deals With Crime - The Journal. - WSJ Podcasts. After a deadly mass shooting, Airbnb faced questions about how much responsibility it has for safety at the properties listed on its site. (2020)
Shooting, Sex Crime and Theft: Airbnb Takes Halting Steps to Protect Its Users. Employees who pushed for more stringent safety measures were overruled. (2019)
Orinda Airbnb violence fits pattern — at least 42 people shot at short-term rentals in last 6 months. At least 42 people have been shot inside or just outside short-term rental properties across the United States over the past six months — and 17 have died, according to police and news reports. (2019)
“Is this about them trying to put lipstick on the pig for the IPO?” Skepticism over Airbnb addressing the problem of party houses. (2019)
Shootings And Wild Airbnb Parties Renew Calls For Crackdown On Short-Term Rentals. (2019)
Airbnb has a hidden-camera problem. (2019)
Men arrested in connection with alleged human trafficking used Airbnb to stay off Police Radar (2018)
Half of Americans think using sharing services is risky. The analysis showed that 60 percent of American consumers believe they are putting their personal safety at risk by using sharing services (such as Aribnb). (2018)