Using a service like Airbnb is always a bit of a gamble, both for the homeowner and the renter, and sometimes you get dealt a really bad hand. According to ABC 7, one Menlo Park women recently discovered this truism when she returned home to find her house flooded and littered with items suggesting her guest was not a real estate agent as promised, but rather a sex worker.
"There was water pouring from the second floor to the first floor," homeowner Sharon Marzouk said in a video posted to Facebook. "The place is destroyed." CBS 5 reports that the damage totaled almost $25,000.
In a lengthy blog post detailing the aftermath of the rental, Marzouk describes not just discovering that the bathtub had been left on and the house flooded, but finding items leading her to believe her guest had been shooting porn in the bathroom. Those items included extra lighting installed in the bathroom and a checklist of "pics" to be taken.
"It was only after I brought these new revelations to my housemates that have been living with her for a month did they tell me the stories she told them of working in a 'Vietnamese coffee house' in San Jose where an old woman looked at her vagina and you serve coffee naked," wrote Marzouk.
If Marzouk's renter was indeed a sex worker, it would hardly be an unusual occurrence. Airbnb is reportedly very popular with sex workers looking to serve numerous clients in a manner not possible in a hotel without drawing the attention of staff.
Airbnb, of course, issued its standard statement following the incident. "We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and have removed this guest from our platform."
As for Marzouk? It doesn't sound like she'll be using the service again anytime soon. "This experience has severely shaken my confidence in this technology driven 'sharing system' and has put my safety and well-being at risk, and if left as is will continue to put more people’s property and well being at risk."
Related: Deplorable Teen Allegedly Pretends To Be Midwestern Adult, Trashes Oakland Airbnb