Is AirBnB the new Tinder?
I've been busy preparing for my trip to Australia these past few days, including booking accommodation. I'll have a weekend in Sydney, and because the hotels are mega expensive and I'd like to be within walking distance of most things, I decided to save my company some money and go the AirBnB route instead. I booked a room in the heart of Sydney with a friendly American who had excellent reviews.
We exchanged a few messages through the site, and then he asked if I had Whatsapp. I do, and I thought "Oh yeah, that could be useful if I have any trouble getting from the airport to his place", so I sent him a message. That message has now turned into daily messages from him, and I'm starting to get a little bit nervous.
His texts have been really flirty, asking what I plan to do for fun in Sydney, if I like to go out, do I want to do a wine tasting with him, etc. I've been trying to emphasize I'm coming for work and will need to detox over the weekend, so no partying etc, but he just won't give up. Yesterday morning's message was "I know all the best hikes in the area with wine tastings at the end".
So today I went back into his AirBnB profile to read a bit further. I'd already read the first few pages of reviews before booking, and they were overwhelmingly positive. A lot of them mentioned things like dinners out or having breakfast with him on his balcony. Then I went back and read his profile again, and saw at the bottom that he says he's a Tinder expert (so much so that he has even written a book on it!). And 90% of the reviews on his page were left by women, which is also odd - you normally don't see many women staying with a solo man on AirBnB.
All of that plus the messages he has been sending me has me now wondering - are the kids nowadays using AirBnB to hookup? Are there secret clues in his profile I should have been aware of? I mean, I guess I can definitely see the appeal for the hosts - you meet people from all around the world, have sex AND get paid.
Or I'm reading too much into this, and he's just bored and being a nice guy, which is why he has such good reviews. What do you guys think?
A mon avis....
Either way, I wasn't planning on bringing the pocket taser I bought for India to Australia, but maybe I will just in case lol.
posted by Ksam @ 8:59 AM
7 Comments:
woa he sounds weird, can you find another place? We do airbnb with our garage apt & don't push ourselves on any guests, if they ask, we give suggestions & on occasion, have them over to our porch for wine......but it is strange that a single guy has nothing but women on his reviews. I have stayed in airbnb & vrbo places & usually have very little if any face to face contact with the owners. Look for a new place but dont write off all airbnbs because of one perve.
Definitely don't stay there. This reminds me so much of a situation I ran into on Couchsurfing when I went to India. I'd found this nice looking guy who had a ton of positive reviews and thought, "Well he has lots of good reviews, so he must not be a creeper". We exchanged a few messages and he seemed fine, albeit quitefriendly. As luck would have it, I'd also messaged the CS "ambassador" of the city to find out some tips on what to do while I was there (he wasn't available to host those days). I told him who I was staying with to see if he knew him, and he wrote back saying, "I'm not going to tell you what to do, but be careful with this guy. Go back and look at his profile. See that it's mostly women he hosts. Read between the lines." He was right, and I was sufficiently creeped out that I ended up cancelling with that guy.
I'd guess that AirBnB has a small share of people looking to hook up just as CS did. That said, I've used AirBnB a bunch of times and it's been great. Though I've only chosen places where I get the whole place - no hosts staying with me. Usually I get very minimal contact from the host, and it's all business. Don't give up on AirBnB, I've had some great experiences, but definitely dump this place!
If you can cancel and find another place without too much trouble or expense, I would. I imagine this guy's not going to actually do anything dangerous but he sounds pretty annoying. I mean I would be annoyed already by the messages and some people just won't take a hint!
I had a similar experience to A Tank on Couchsurfing once, though it was after I stayed with the guy, so all I had to do was block him on MSN (yes MSN, it was a few years ago...).
Oh man...I would lose some money if I cancelled, but you gals have me thinking twice now! And I have used AirBnb a ton of times in the past, though only once alone - and that particular time I went out of my way to pick a female host.
Hi there! So, I agree that he might be looking for more than just a guest for the weekend. BUT, given all the positive reviews - by women (who are stereotypically picky and alert to very creepy men) - who have actually stayed at his house... I tend to think that he's probably harmless. What do the 1-star reviews say? Has anyone outed him for what he really is? Or is he just a guy looking to find people to do stuff with? Could you send him a firm, but friendly message that clears up where you stand while also acknowledging his obvious preference for socializing? Something like, "I noticed from AirBnB the reviews that your previous guests were interested in going out to go hiking and such with you, but I'm not actually interested in hanging out much. You seem super nice and you're probably fun to hang out with, but I prefer to fly solo, if you know what I mean..." Would something like that work? :)
I just came back from an bad AirBnB experience (ok host, sketchy roommate and very sketchy neighborhood). I slept maybe 4 hours all weekend and I really REALLY wished I had listened to my gut and forked over the $ for a hotel or stayed in a nicer neighborhood. I really didn't feel safe and I came back exhausted. So I guess that's something to ask yourself...at 2 in the morning, are you going to feel safe if you wake up there? That's the only thing that matters IMO. If he's just flirtatious and NOT a predator, I'm sure it's fine, but if you have any doubt....please let go of the $ and stay somewhere you feel safe.
I just went to Sydney this summer and stayed with a wonderful (female) Airbnb host walking distance to everything. Her listing info is: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2239063. Good luck!
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