AirBnB "Super Host" Crashed Through a Window and Attacked His Houseguests!
Jaleesa Jackson, 29, and Chiedozie Uwandu, 28, are both anesthesiology residents who reside in Boston. The couple recently decided to take a dream trip to Los Angeles to unwind and have a romantic getaway. The pair used AirBnB, the popular home rental service, to book a nice beach property and were met by a chilled bottle of champagne courtesy of their "super host" "JJ". Their romantic dream vacation took a serious turn for the worse when a strange man jumped through a window, shattering glass, and the couple ended up taking refuge in the kitchen with a knife!
Via Boston Globe:
"They were asleep at about 2 a.m. when a man came crashing through a large window in their darkened bedroom, sending shards of glass everywhere and leaving him sprawled on the floor, face down.
“I had no idea what was happening,” Uwandu recalled. “But I reacted like we were under attack.
”Uwandu, who is 6 feet, 230 pounds, bolted out of bed and jumped on the man, getting a knee into his back to pin him down. He screamed to Jackson to call 911. His mind was racing: What does this man want? Does he have a weapon? Are there others about to come into the house?
Jackson, still in bed, struggled to understand what was happening: Am I dreaming? Am I watching TV? Am I delirious? She grabbed her phone and crawled under the bed.
The man wore a gray sweat shirt with the hood pulled over his head. But when Jackson got a glimpse of his face, she recognized him: It was JJ, Airbnb’s vaunted “super host.”
"As Uwandu loosened his grip to brush broken glass from his feet, which were bleeding, the man broke free and disappeared out the door.
Jackson told police on the phone they had been attacked by their Airbnb host and needed help right away.
“Your Airbnb host attacked you?” she remembers being asked in a skeptical voice.
Jackson and Uwandu armed themselves with the biggest knives they could find in the kitchen as they waited for help.
Soon, they heard the sound of a helicopter overhead. Then, the courtyard between the guest house and the main house was bathed in blue light.
It didn’t take long for police to bring a man in handcuffs back to the property. One of the officers told Jackson and Uwandu he had been babbling about Airbnb cleaning fees. “He told the police that Airbnb had ordered him to evict us, over cleaning fees,” Uwandu recalled.
IT GETS WORSE!
"At about that time, an elderly woman came out of the main house. “Who are you?” she asked Uwandu and Jackson.
The woman said she was the owner and that JJ rented the guest house from her but that he wasn’t authorized to rent it to others. “But he rents it all the time,” Uwandu and Jackson told her. “Didn’t you notice all the people coming and going?”
“I thought those were JJ’s friends visiting him,” she said.
Still shaking, Jackson called Airbnb in the middle of the night. Airbnb said it would refund the $708 they paid to rent the guesthouse. . ."
AirBnB offered to relocate the couple, at no expense, and also to refund their money. Jackson and Uwandu, however, were put off and wanted nothing more to do with the company. They checked into a nearby Hilton and spent $2,300 for their room, parking and other expenses for the duration of their trip.
"They have asked Airbnb for $5,000, fair compensation, they believe, for the terror they experienced. After days on the phone with the company, Airbnb’s final offer was $2,500.
As a bonus, it offered five therapy sessions to “overcome the trauma.” No thanks, the couple said."
This isn't the first, second or even third time that guests of color have been treated poorly while staying at AirBnB properties. Just last year a South African filmmaker was assaulted by her AirBnB host. I guess it's time we all start using the AirBnB alternative that were created for people of color called Innclusive!
