The company agreed to refund the woman hours after Gothamist reached out.
Airbnb for days refused to refund a woman who says she fled a Harlem apartment rental after realizing the host was charged with sex crimes — but the company finally reversed course just hours after Gothamist contacted it about her case.
It was only once Harrington settled into her room that another renter knocked on her door and advised her to Google their host, she said. Airbnb hadn’t provided her with his last name, so she typed in his first name and the apartment’s address into Google, according to Harrington. She said she found, Nguyen on 11 occasions between October 2022 and May 2024 pretended to be a teenager on social media to entice or try to entice teen students to send him “images of nudity and sexual performances.
“I was really scared,” said Harrington, who works as a preschool teacher in Manhattan. “I texted my sister and my partner to let them know that I was in a really freaky situation, but I wasn't even ready at that point to talk about it, to tell them what was going on. I was genuinely scared.” “It was extremely frustrating and it felt like even the live people I was talking to weren't really receptive to doing anything about the situation,” said Harrington. “Everyone kept asking me, ‘Well, have you talked to the host?’ — which of course I didn't talk to him.”
Harrington was at a loss about what to do and recounted her experience on Reddit. Commenters advised her to reach out to local media, and after telling Airbnb her plans to do so, Airbnb support told her they “take these reports seriously and are currently investigating.” The spokesperson also said Nguyen had “had next to no stays this year,” but didn’t clarify exactly how many.
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